u/MainSea3985

Hi everyone,

I'm a dad to a 4 year-old girl in Oshawa, and I started Durham Dads Club about two months ago as a way for local fathers to connect through things like playground meetups, coffee, family-friendly activities, and social activities just for dads around Durham.

My wife is part of a couple of mom groups, and I always wondered why there wasn’t something similar for dads, so I decided to start it myself.

There has been some early interest. We have a WhatsApp group with around 40 people and an Instagram account with around 200 followers. We also ran a Brews and Braids event in late May, which was a hairstyling session for dads inspired by the Pints and Ponytails event in the UK. I’m also planning a playground meetup this Saturday at McKinney Park, and there is an indoor soccer event for dads and kids in the works for mid-July with Mini Mavericks in Pickering.

The part I’m finding harder is building consistent momentum and getting more dads actively involved. I’m good at coming up with ideas, organizing, planning, and getting things started, but I think this would work better with another local dad helping shape it because I’ve realized I’m not the strongest person for every part of it.

I’m especially looking for someone who is stronger on the people side of things. Someone who enjoys promoting events, talking to people, getting people interested, helping run events with me, and making it feel easier for other dads to show up and get involved.

Just to be clear, this is not a business and I am not trying to make money from it. I just think it would be good to have a simple way for local dads to connect.

If you’re a dad in Durham and this sounds interesting, send me a message or comment here and I can reach out.

Hi everyone, and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there :)

My 4 year-old daughter is interested in skating, and I'm looking to put her in lessons. I don't know where to start though- I only moved to Canada as an adult in my late 20s, don't know how to skate (yet) and not sure how it all works.

First, is she too young to start? What kind of program should she join? I'm not sure if she just wants to skate for now, or eventually play hockey, but I imagine that is not important at this stage. Should she start on synthetic ice first? And of course, are there any centers/schools you'd recommend? Looking anywhere between Pickering-Oshawa.

I know there were a lot of questions in there, so I apologize haha. Just want to make sure I get things right. Thank you!

Hi everyone,

I'm helping organize an event with Mini Mavericks in Pickering for an event called Kickin’ It With Dad on Sunday, July 12 from 3–5 PM.

It’s for dads and kids ages 3–8 and will include:

• A coached indoor soccer session
• Soccer-themed arts and crafts
• Pizza
• Time for dads to meet and connect

Location: Mini Mavericks, 1735 Bayly St #13, Pickering
Cost: $25 per dad + child, plus $15 for each additional sibling

Registration link: https://app.minimavericks.ca/programs/cbdb1004-b931-4361-b804-d15b1a7df3bf

Happy to answer any questions!

Hi everyone.

I posted last week about a dad and kids playground meetup on June 14 (tomorrow) in Whitby. Unfortunately, the weather forecast is calling for rain tomorrow morning, so this event is now postponed.

I will reschedule this, likely for the weekend of June 27, but will post once I have a new date ready. Thank you!

As the title says, I'm looking for tennis lessons in Durham for the summer. I'm 37 years old and played a lot as a child, right up until about 15 years ago. I've restarted in the past 3-4 years, but I'm terrible and seem to have lost all my form and skills.

Seen a lot of tennis lessons about for children, but are there any specifically for adults? I'd also be willing to pay more for 1-1 lessons. Just looking for some help to get back to a reasonably adequate level.

Thanks!

Bit of an ironic question from me since I've been trying to organize dads' meetups across Durham, yet here I am wondering how people actually make friends with the families living right next door.

We live in a townhouse complex in North Oshawa and there are probably 10+ households around us with kids. My daughter is 4. Some of the kids seem a bit older (7-8ish), but there are definitely a few around her age too.

Everyone seems nice enough and we do the usual wave and small talk, but we've never really gotten beyond that. I'd love for my daughter to have some neighbourhood friends she can just knock on the door and play with, the way a lot of us did growing up.

For those of you who have managed to make friends with other families in your neighbourhood, how did it happen?

Did you just introduce yourselves? Invite people over? Organize something for the kids? Would it be weird to host a small summer get-together and invite a few families?

Curious to hear what's worked for others.

My inlaws are visiting for a couple of months from overseas and my MIL would like to volunteer at the retirement home down the street. Of course, this wouldn't be paid at all and she understands that- she just wants something to do during the weekday.

Is this something that's possible to do? We can of course go down to the home and ask, but wanted to check here first if anyone has ever done something like this short-term.

Sharing for visibility, looks like there's a job fair tomorrow in Oshawa.

https://www.durhamradionews.com/archives/212058

I feel like we have a lot of questions asked in the sub asking how neighborhoods are from people who are considering moving there. While there's definitely value in getting opinions, I also wanted to share this cool tool I came across recently. You just provide the postal code, and it gives you a profile of the area/neighborhood.

Hope this helps! https://prizm.environicsanalytics.com/

Came across this on Instagram today and thought I'd post in case anybody is looking. As the title says, Fun Factory Play in Pickering is hiring a barista.

On the post, it says resumes to be sent to info@funfactoryplay.ca . To clarify, I am not affiliated with this employer in any way, just posting for awareness since I know a lot of people are looking for work.

Good luck!

Hi everyone, hope you’re enjoying the long weekend!

I run the Durham Dads Club and I’m planning our second event just after Father’s Day with a local indoor play place.

Our first event, Brews & Braids (dads learning how to do hair), is happening next week and actually sold out faster than I expected, which was pretty cool to see. For this next one, we want to do something more hands-on with dads and kids together.

We’ve thrown around ideas like mini pizza making, DIY BBQ spice mixes, simple crafts/building activities, or little dad/kid games and challenges. Before we lock anything in though, I wanted to ask what kinds of activities would you actually want to bring your kids to?

Trying to avoid making it feel too structured. Just something fun where dads actually get involved while also having a chance to bond and socialize a bit

Would love any ideas or thoughts. Thank you!

Hi everyone.

I am renewing a mortgage for the first time, with the renewal due this October. My mortgage is with RBC, and I've got a pretty good 3 year fixed deal (3.8% on an insured mortgage) that I can see on the app. I've held the rate until May 20th and will likely go ahead with it.

The only thing holding me back is I'm wondering if it makes sense to wait a bit since renewal is in October. Should I start looking in August instead? I do believe fixed rates will go up though, so I'm not sure it makes sense.

Thank you!

I'm thinking of signing my 4 year-old up for gymnastics lessons. Does anyone have recommendations for places in either Whitby, Oshawa or Bowmanville?

Thank you!

I’m not sure if this is the best place to post this, but I was wondering if anyone would be interested in helping clean up a couple of local parks in North Oshawa. I take my daughter to Sandy Hawley and Steeplechase parks regularly, and it’s disappointing to see how much trash has been left around lately.

If there’s interest, it could even be a family-friendly cleanup where parents bring their kids along as well. I’d also be open to organizing cleanups at other parks in Oshawa/Durham over time.

Let me know if anyone would be interested!

I’m not sure if this is the best place to post this, but I was wondering if anyone would be interested in helping clean up a couple of local parks in North Oshawa. I take my daughter to Sandy Hawley and Steeplechase parks regularly, and it’s disappointing to see how much trash has been left around lately.

If there’s interest, it could even be a family-friendly cleanup where parents bring their kids along as well. I’d also be open to organizing cleanups at other parks in Oshawa/Durham over time.

Let me know if anyone would be interested!

My wife and I have a 4 year-old so we've listened to a lot of Wiggles music. I often find myself singing their songs even without our child around, and my wife asked me why. I told her that their songs are catchy, and if you ignore the lyrics, a lot of them could be 'normal grownup music'. She thinks I'm crazy lol.

Do you agree with her? Or are there any fellow Wiggles fans here?