{"id":726,"date":"2025-08-06T14:41:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/?p=726"},"modified":"2026-04-20T19:07:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T19:07:40","slug":"bgc-clubs-want-the-best-for-canadian-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bgccan.com\/en\/bgc-clubs-want-the-best-for-canadian-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"BGC Clubs want the best for Canadian kids"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Owen Charters, President & CEO, BGC Canada<\/p>\n

November 18, 2024<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t have to want to get down on the floor and play mini-stick hockey to love kids \u2013 and you don\u2019t need to provide shoulder rides for photos.\u202fYou just have to believe in their possibilities and want to give them their opportunities.<\/em><\/p>\n

For some reason, the debate about kids \u2013 whether we like them, want them, and what we\u2019re supposed to \u2018feel\u2019 if we\u2019re a parent are all over the media right now.<\/p>\n

Debates about parenting \u2013 do you have to like being a parent to be a parent? Do you even need to like kids to be a parent?<\/p>\n

My friend from university, who swore she didn\u2019t like kids \u2013 ended up as a teacher, and then had three kids of her own that she adores. And my childless friends who love kids, work with kids, and are basically surrogate parents to many kids.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>[vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

Each of our individual relationships to kids is fraught. Maybe we love kids, but we don\u2019t love working with kids. Or maybe we\u2019re drawn to the kids with challenges \u2013 we see something in them that needs help, needs a relationship, someone who cares.<\/p>\n

It would be unusual to work for Clubs and not like kids. It\u2019s possible, but unusual.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”86939″ img_size=”large” css=””][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]

Yet within our Club world, there are so many versions of why we want to work with kids, or at least, for kids.<\/p>\n

I have always loved working with kids \u2013 trying to figure them out, what makes each one tick, and cherishing the good and the bad ones.\u202f(Badly behaved, that is \u2013 I really don\u2019t believe there are bad kids.)<\/p>\n

Related: BGC Clubs are a modern solution to help parents<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n

A few Club staff have been surprised when I got down on the ground to interact with Club kids, had them climb on me for a photo, engage in a conversation or exchange silly jokes.<\/p>\n

Whatever our motivations are for working for kids, it is the spark of joy in their eyes that I believe we each live for, the opening up of ideas, options, and possibilities for them.\u202fThat\u2019s not just our responsibility as parents, but as Clubs.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>[vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner]

BGC Clubs provide opportunities that set young people up for success<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″]

Wanting the best for young people is an age-old tradition that Clubs perpetuate, indefinitely. That\u2019s not up for debate.<\/p>\n

Since 2022, Clubs have collected over 20,500 survey responses and conducted over 850 interviews as a part of the Learning & Impact Project\u2014making it the largest evaluative study of its kind in Canada. The Learning & Impact Project<\/a> has found:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”774″ img_size=”large” css=””][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]