Hello Families!
My name is Chloe and I am an educator and parent at Creative Childcare Hunter Street. Its that time of year where holidays are winding down and school is starting back up again and maybe for you and your family it’s the time you head back into the work force and begin searching for that perfect place to bring your little ones. I want to talk to you about 5 things I think you should look for in a service that not only will impact and improve your child’s future but will make your child care provider experience a positive one. Before I get into what you should look for I highly recommend you look through the Child Care Australia website and understand the different types of care available as well as how to get assistance for the cost of care.
In my experience the most important thing to look for in a centre is the interactions you can observe between staff members. No matter how wonderful a centre looks, cooks, or cares for your child if a positive relationship between staff and parents isn’t there then as a parent you will never feel completely confident about your choice of care. Something to look for when you visit our centres is how staff will greet you and your child. Look at drop offs for educators who are sitting with children and engaging them in an activity or physical comfort. Welcoming spaces where child care providers are helping make those drop offs as smooth as possible are a great indication to their level of care and attention. Engage educators in a conversation and share whatever information you can and feel comfortable doing, it’s funny how the little things can impact our child’s day and influence their moods and responses to various activities. Having a centre that as a parent you can place your confidence in and be able to have a dialogue about what ever may arise truly makes all the difference.
I choose to send my children to the centre that I work at for more than just convenience, I’m blessed enough to be an active participant in the inner workings of a child care provider which I like to think makes me an expert on what took look for and see how Creative Childcare strives to meet those expectations. While finding and having confidence in your child care provider are important, there are many different benefits of attending a child care centre.
One that I believe has the greatest impact on my child’s everyday life is the added immunity. While you will start off feeling like your child is catching everything and that can sometimes be discouraging it is a short tunnel with a bright light at the end which will sometimes make you wish your child could have a temp, just so you can get a day off. Children who attend care from an early age receive an added immunity that those starting later in life miss out on. There is a window of opportunity for children who begin care under the age of 2 ½ (Denise, 2010).
I find that my son has advanced more quickly then my eldest whom spent most of his time at home with me, his language and social awareness is more developed, and he makes connections between subjects and concepts more quickly and with less explanation and more exploration. Socially I find that my son is more likely to initiate an interaction than some of his peers who don’t attend care. His play interactions are more in depth or tend to cross over into different subjects or more complex forms of play. While this may seem inconsequential now, in the long run it will help my child be okay with failing, even look forward to it, so that he has the opportunity to try again. He will understand the work required behind success and celebrate achievements with those who supported and participated in those achievements. But that’s not all, child care providers help more than just children, we help families and the communities in which they work.
Did you know that parents of children in care are statistically shown to have a more enriched quality of life? That not only do the physical benefits of a child being in care impact the child, but the time parents must work, earn and take a little bit of time to themselves, compounds and impacts their children and their grandchildren. Research has shown that parents of children in care are less stressed and have improved health. (Miller, 2017)
Take the time to come visit our centres, ask educators questions about how they would solve problems or issues that you want reassurance on or genuinely are unsure of yourself. Creative child care, in my opinion is a progressive centre with an outstanding staff. Come see for yourself!
References
Denise, M. (2010, December 6). Daycare Babies: More Infections Now, Fewer Later. Retrieved from CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/12/06/daycare.kids/index.html
Miller, C. C. (2017, April 20). How Child Care Enriches Mothers, and Especially the Sons They Raise. Retrieved from New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/upshot/how-child-care-enriches-mothers-and-especially-the-sons-th…