Danielle has three children 7, 11 and 15 years old.
Danielle’s parents expected her to do very well in school and achieve a university education. Her mother completed Grade 9 and her father completed Grade 10 with correspondence courses, equivalent to a college diploma. He also completed technical and environmental courses and was a Natural Resources Officer with the Department of National Defence.
Danielle saw her dad doing courses at home while she was growing up. Both
of her parents wrote letters (her father more so) and read the newspaper every
day. Her parents also read books; her father read work-related texts and her
mother read mysteries and fiction books. Danielle’s parents watched television
every night. “We had peasant TV so it was whatever was on; sports, sitcoms
the Wonderful World of Disney. We were the first ones in our neighborhood to
have a color TV, so our neighbors would come to watch Wonderful World of Disney.”
Her mother modeled singing and rhyming, especially in church every Sunday when
she was young. Danielle reports that her parents did not help her with homework;
she said that they were unable to help. Her parents read to her sporadically.
The family did not participate in cultural outings because “we lived in
the boonies.”
There was also no public library access although Danielle’s
school had a library beginning when she was in Grade 6.
Danielle is a Senior Research Consultant with a Doctor of Philosophy in social sciences. She learns at her job but did not receive specific on the job training. She has taken a communication course and attends meetings for the American Society for Quality and the Quality Council of Alberta. She recently attended an American Society of Materials presentation on trace elements in forensic investigations and is an executive member of the Canadian Evaluative Society. Danielle does not watch television or videos and goes on the internet for one hour a week, primarily to do research and some banking.