Family Life

The Yukon is a great place to raise a family. What’s Up Yukon shares some of the great Family activities and events around the territory.

Diapers

Pooped Out

Every parent goes into the process of having a child while knowing that diapers are unavoidable. Those sweet and precious little babies…

A pregnant woman exercising at home

A Northern Pregnancy

I had high expectations coming into the second trimester. I thought it would be like waking up from a bad dream …

cookie cutters in the shape of a heart

Heartfelt (mis)Adventures

Valentine’s Day was always fun for me as a kid. Handing out brightly coloured paper hearts, to all of my classmates…

A New Year’s display

My 2023 Parenting Resolution

I have a question for all you parents out there: When does worrying about your child getting hurt become a self-fulfilling prophecy?

A child in an elf hat

His Third, 1st Christmas

The holidays through a toddler’s lens For many of us, that first Christmas as a parent is something very special. So special, in fact, that it is difficult to describe just how many emotions you go through as the holiday season progresses. And if you’re anything like me, you just can’t wait to provide a …

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Fabric wrapped Christmas gifts

DIY Eco-Friendly Christmas

According to Zero Waste Canada, only 1 per cent of everything the average person buys is still in use six months after Christmas.

A woman showing her 12-week pregnancy

 A Northern Pregnancy

So it’s official: I’m pregnant! Yep, the Aussie girl (who said and wrote, for years, that she would never have kids) is having a kid!

A family in homemade Halloween costumes

DIY: Low-Waste, Halloween style!

Initially, Halloween—namely, All Hallows’ Eve—was a ritual dedicated to remembering the dead. But now it can bee all about the fun!

A lone leaf on a branch in late Autumn

Eco-Friendly Halloween

In a few days, little feet will be racing over crunchy leaves (or crunchy snow), from house to house, fuelled by vast quantities of sugar.

A woman sitting on a dock beside the calm waters of a lake

Returning Home to the Yukon

Tears streamed down my face as our airplane began its descent, preparing to land at the Whitehorse airport.

A toddler riding on a merry-go-round

My Dearest 2022 Two-Year-Old

The terrible twos, they say, will be difficult. As I look back at old photographs, I often find myself thinking, Oh, how things have changed.

A mother and child smiling into the camera

Toddler-Friendly Skies

The time had come. We had waited two years to be able to introduce our toddler to his extended family and now, at last, it was finally going to happen. However, in order to do that we first had to become the parents I have always looked at with a mix of trepidation and sympathy. We had to become FWAT parents. You know the ones: the “flying with a toddler” parents.

The author's bounty from her great-grandmother

New Adventures, Old Heirlooms

About eight or nine years ago, my dad’s cousin’s widow called out of the blue to berate me (in her high-toned British accent) because I didn’t let her know about my mom’s passing. I didn’t want to explain that I didn’t even know this relative was still alive or that she was still in touch …

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Parenting: ‘Sit’ Happens

My love for my 2 yr old whirlwind of chaos I’m certain of, everything else has me confused. Parents know true one doesn’t mean true the next.

field of pumpkins

Pumpkins in the North

Getting Pumpkins to the Yukon isn’t easy. There’s a lot of shipping logistics to bring them from B.C., maybe Alberta, maybe even California.”

Colourful bookmarks

Today we’ll make our own colourful bookmarks. connecting reading and art with other fields in our life—let’s start!

Dino-riffic!

November 1 heralds the start of DiNovember, when my daughter’s pet dinosaurs, full of mischief and hijinks, take over the house for a month.

Zoom, Santa, Zoom

It’s tough to sit on Santa’s knee from a distance of two metres, but many of our seasonal traditions have required a pandemic-appropriate makeover this year.

Bubbles

Looking back, I did not know how important bubbles would become in my life. As a child I have no recollection of blowing bubbles.

An ABC Aviation Adventure

There are all sorts of ABC books out there, but they are seldom as focussed on a particular subject as this one, which manages to do the job of introducing all the letters while remaining firmly in the air.

Parenting in a Pandemic

Having my kids home all day isn’t a new thing, as I was a stay-at-home parent for the last six years of my life. But being home all day with my kids while simultaneously watching the world fall apart around us is a new thing, however.

Recycled mixed media art cards

Go outside for inspiration, then we’ll take our ideas inside, and, using some of that recycling that’s been piling up around the house, make some colourful art!

Cool schooling for homeschooling

Ever have dreams about homeschooling your kids, but never got the opportunity to? Now that you have no choice because of school closures, are you constantly fighting with your kids to get their work done?

Art education wherever you are

Kids Kreate, the Yukon Arts Centre’s education program, needed to bring art into the lives of Yukon’s youngsters. The solution, go virtual.

Check-ups for stuffed noses (and arms, legs and bellies)

This year’s Teddy Bear Clinic will feature some new experiences for children and families. Karen Forward, Yukon Hospital Foundation president, said she and the staff at Whitehorse General Hospital (WGH) are looking forward to the event, which enables children to visit the hospital and have a positive experience. “Kids are much happier there than a …

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Mother is coming

  This is a phrase I have said, myself, as I rolled my eyes. We have all read stories and watched sitcoms where adult children are saying this to their friends, clearly intimating that the upcoming visit will be difficult. And it always was, when my mother came to visit. But now the shoe is …

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Celebrating the role of mining in the Yukon

The Yukon Chamber of Mines has prioritized outreach and community engagement as part of their programming. Heading into its 10th year, the annual Mining and Exploration Camp, which is held during Yukon Mining Week each spring, is one of two major events geared towards that work. (Family Day, held during the annual Geoscience Forum in …

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Raising a Child with FASD: Eleanor Millard’s new novel chronicles the early days of FASD

There was little documentation on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in the early 1980s when Carcross writer Eleanor Millard adopted a child who had been exposed to alcohol in utero. Millard has tapped into that experience for the setting of her new novel. The book, called Summer Snow, follows protagonist Amanda Corelli as she adopts …

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From Prairie to Polar: A Saskatchewan-born family moves north

3:30 a.m., January 5th, 2013 I’m running around the house trying to sedate a cat. Of all our family members, she is the most unwilling traveler. After months of debate, decisions and details, the Alberts family is leaving the prairies and heading to Whitehorse. Most of us anyway. Our daughter is staying in Regina to …

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French Toast: Taking the Blame Off the Victim

Les Essentielles, the Yukon’s Francophone women’s organization, is proud to have a new male asset on their team. Scott Carlson is the project coordinator for Men Engaging Men, a program to encourage men to work towards ending violence against women. “Over the past few years, a shift has been happening nationally in conversations about violence …

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A Family Who Plays Together, Stays Together

Pack up the seniors, the toddlers and the teens because there are lots of free, Family Week events. A nation-wide celebration, Family Week runs Monday, Oct. 7 to Sunday, Oct. 13, and in the Yukon there are events taking place in five communities: Carmacks, Destruction Bay, Teslin, Watson Lake and Whitehorse. A schedule on page …

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Free Fun Centre

The little heritage building beside the river in Whitehorse might be sardine-packed with kids if the sign out front said Free Fun Centre instead of Family Literacy Centre. The centre has activities scheduled from noon to 5:30 p.m. every day — free activities to make cool stuff. Last Monday participants could made cultural crafts such …

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Bright Colourful Budgies

Next to canaries, budgies are probably the most popular pet bird in the world. They are colourful, entertaining and have great personalities. Budgies, also called parakeets, are one of the smallest members of the parrot family. Part of the reason they are so popular is because they adapt rather well to living with us. It …

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For Those Who Love Horses and Helping

A flood of teenagers are about to finish school for the year and descend upon couches across Whitehorse, or wherever teens go. If you’re a parent looking for something productive and community-oriented for your kids 14-years-old and up to do, consider sending them to Freedom Trails Riding Association to volunteer. Freedom Trails offers horse-riding therapy …

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Ground Control to Commander Chris

For 10 minutes on Saturday, April 18, Commander Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut currently onboard the International Space Station, addressed a packed gymnasium at Grey Mountain Primary School in Whitehorse. Fifteen students from the school asked Hadfield questions about his experience on the shuttle and his life in space. Parents and other students listened as …

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Assignment: Fred Penner

About six years ago, Fred Penner came to town and I was very excited. I was freelancing for the Yukon News at the time and I pitched the idea of a profile to my editor. Alas, it had been promised to someone else. But now I am an editor and, when I heard Mr. Penner …

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Crafting With Kids

There’s nothing like doing crafts with your kids to celebrate major public holidays. There’s nothing like browsing the vast number of craft blogs on the internet to dampen your Christmas spirit. I was searching for some easy, but sophisticated crafts to do with kids over the winter holiday. Besides learning that you can make a …

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Youth in Style

This fall, back-to-school fashion trends I like for girls are racer back tank tops, lacy back T-shirts, and hair up in a ponytail with feather earrings (like Selena Gomez wears her hair in a scene in her music video “Hit the Lights”). Fashion I like for boys are high tops, hats and cool T-shirts. I …

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