Stay at Home Parents Support

If you live in Alberta and have children under the age of 6, this will be of great interest to you! A friend tuned me into this yesterday (Thanks Roxane!!), and I immediately came home and started looking it up.
Click HERE to go to the official Government of Alberta Website for more information. There are other subsidies out there too, check out the links on the right hand side of the Government Page!
If you qualify, each child under the age of 6 (and not yet in grade 1), qualifies for up to $100 per month for each month enrolled in a learning program. So a pre-school program, a developmental program etc. From what I understand, gymnastics, swimming lessons, dance, baby signing programs etc. qualify! There is a limit for household combined income, but I think it's a pretty high limit, and it changes depending on how many children you have. You have to have your child already registered for a program to apply, and I think you have to reapply for each program, but what's a few minutes of forms compared to getting some activities paid for that you might not otherwise be able to do?

Here is a list of what they say are eligible programs: (Kind of a broad list so I need to phone to confirm different programs)

1. Programs that promote parent and child literacy
2. Play-based early childhood programs (e.g., moms and tots programs)
3. Educational programs that help parents meet their child's learning and developmental needs (e.g., Positive Parenting, Nobody's Perfect); community-based recreational programs (e.g., Swim and Learn, Baby Steps)
4. Licensed pre-schools

The MAIN requirements is that one parent must be a stay at home parent. This means that one parent must be at home to care for at least one child under age 6 and cannot work or go to school for more then 20 hours per week. 

I had no idea this was out there so I figured I had better share it now that I do know! I have a hard time getting my kids into activities because most require a parent to be there. With 2 kids, that's hard. But starting at age 3 most programs are un-parented or just require a parent to watch but not participate. My son will be 3 in January so hopefully I can get him into something and take advantage of this subsidy! In the meantime I am on the hunt for a program that accommodates one parent with 2 children ages 13 months - 27 months. Any ideas?