About Little Salmon
Tallulah Paterson
Owner
My name is Tallulah Patterson and I have been running Little Salmon for the past 9 years. I have always run this child care business from my home on 1st St, Courtenay, right across the road from beautiful Puntledge Park.
It has been a joy to run this business and to evolve it constantly into something very positive and exciting and so full of love.
I began Little Salmon when my daughter Malila turned 1 year old and I have never looked back! The business has evolved from full-day child care for little ones, to a pre-school style program in the mornings with an after-school care later in the day, full day vacation camps, and now… a school support program in the mornings for elementary age children, still with after-school care for Puntledge School.
I have consistently felt it was an integral part of the day to take children on outings to experience different environments, meet different people, explore the nature around us, to become connected with our community… I have always loved using our surroundings as a way to teach children important skills and lessons.
My experience working with children now goes back more than two decades – hard to believe!
My very first job with children was teaching in a tiny village in Sri Lanka during the civil war. Teaching resources were nonexistent though there were plenty of snakes, large spiders and water monitors to keep me entertained! It was certainly quite the steep learning curve.
Since this job I have worked in language institutes, elementary schools, middle schools and universities in South Korea; a Russian high school in Mongolia; a language institute in Spain; a high school in the NWT, a teenage boys’ residential treatment facility / ranch in Alberta…oh and throw in a little sled dog handling, Swiss dairy farming and horse training in between!
Going back even further…I was born in London and grew up in the south of England. Once I finished secondary school there I began adventuring and working internationally, returning for an Asian politics degree and then was off again, mainly back to Asia before starting to explore Canada in earnest in 2009. It took me a few years to discover Vancouver Island but once I arrived here for the first time with my baby and two dogs, I knew we had found our forever home.
We bought this special house within 3 days of arriving on this island and I have been thankful I did ever since! Things aligned so well for us since the move and I am so grateful for what we have here. In fact, I think it is the gratitude for this beautiful land with its many kind and compassionate souls that gives me the motivation to do what I do. I try hard daily to share my love, gratitude and appreciation for this area with the children in my care.
