THUNDER BAY – There’s a baby boom at Lakehead Public Schools.
On Thursday more than 20 teachers and other staff members on maternity or paternity leave gathered together with their infants and toddlers for the board’s annual Celebrating Baby Day, which saw parents sing song with other new parents while learning about programs services available in the community for those with young children.
Laura Bortolin, a teacher at Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute, brought along three-month-old son Samuel Landversitch, her first.
Bortolin wasn’t sure what to expect and was pleasantly surprised when she arrived at the board’s Victoria Park Training Centre.
“I think it’s important to build your school community and get people to appreciate what people are doing in their daily lives, especially when they come back to work,” she said.
“It’s also important to make those connections when you need support or for kids to grow up together and get them ready for school all together as a group.”
The social gathering is an annual event and what that seems to be picking up steam, said DoNica LeBlanc, the board’s early years lead.
“We invited Best Start Thunder Bay here and also the Thunder Bay District Health Unit comes and we talk about healthy babies and we weigh babies and we do a circle with the children to talk about movement and all those things,” LeBlanc said.
“But most of all, the most important piece is to celebrate our babies and have a good time and all our moms and dads can interact with each other and have a day out.”
Disclosure: The author's six-week-old son Nolan took part in this year's Celebration of Babies.
