By ANNE YOUNG
The first day I dropped my son off at his childcare centre – conveniently located several streets away I spent the day sitting at the shops waiting for him. I was torn between wanting him to have a wonderful experience with friends and my own uncertainty about wanting to look after my son myself. I rang the centre several times during the day. “He stopped crying about three minutes after you left,” they assured me. But please call as often as you like. I found their reassurance really comforting. They genuinely seemed to understand what I might be feeling and wanted to build relationships with me as well as my son.
I made the decision to put my son into care a couple of days a week not because I was scheduled to start work yet but because I wanted to make sure he had more social contact. It was always just him and me at home, shopping, or meeting up with friends… Most of the time it was so much fun but I also wanted him to form his own friendships. I wanted qualified educators to interact with him,to support him to become more independent; for him to be curious and to explore and discover…I wanted him to have a wide range of experiences which would encourage his thinking and creativity.
I visited several centres in my area and just as you know when you meet ‘the one’, I knew I’d found the right place when I walked into the centre. Everything just seemed so warm and welcoming. The educators acknowledged my son, as well as myself and I knew this made him feel really special. They really listened and engaged with children’s ideas and I could see that children were respected in many different ways. There was documentation which showed some of the learning that children were involved in – everyone seemed so relaxed and friendly.
“I wrote my name Mum,” he announced proudly when I picked him up at the end of his first week.
He held up a piece of paper which had his first initial written in the middle of the page. That is how children show us they are interested in reading, said his educator, they always start with their first name. I wrote my number too, he said happily. I acknowledged the large numeral 3 written under his initial. I kissed him and told him I was very proud. He talked about his friends and what they ate at snack time; of the songs they learned and the sheer fun that was experienced in a day.
It was a little easier with my second child. I knew what a positive experience it had been for my first child. I also knew the educators by now and trusted them to do their job – supporting my child’s learning and wellbeing. My second boy was also happier to go because he wanted to be like his big brother. He too had a marvellous experience and made many friends.
I don’t feel any hesitation with my daughter. She already has a bag she calls her ‘school bag’, a drink bottle and shoes she is saving for play. Her brothers tell her how lucky she is to be going to their centre and remind her of the toys they played with and the songs and stories she will hear.
The early learning they gained really supported them as they moved into the school environment…. supported them for life really. They were familiar with sharing their ideas, co- operating and listening to their friends; they understood the give and take of social groups and experienced routines; they learned to persist with challenges and most of all came to see themselves as confident learners. My children have benefitted greatly from their time at the centre and I believe the relationships I formed with my son’s educator also supported me to grow in confidence.
I realised that as a parent, we don’t have to do this task of parenting on our own. There are early learning professionals in child care centres who are keen to help us in this role. High quality childcare is a godsend, to both children and parents.
Goodstart Early Learning is Australia’s largest early learning and care provider with more than 650 centres across Australia. The Goodstart team of 15,000 staff educates and cares for more than 73,000 children from 61,000 families nation-wide.Our mission is to provide high quality, accessible, affordable and community-connected early learning in our centres and partner and openly collaborate with the sector to drive change for the benefit of all children. We’re for children, not-for-profit and believe the first five years matter and last a lifetime.
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Have you got kids in childcare? What do you look for in a childcare centre?
Top Comments
Goodstart are the worst childcare centre they are all for profit they lack resources are all inconsistent in they way they are run, their policies contradict one another and have no idea or vision of what children at this age in today's society need,they are becoming a free flowing play based centre yet the centre I worked for lacks in the play department they are grooming children to be future juveniles with no education, boundaries or structure, that to me is not preparing them for their further education and not to mention the progressive eating they have implemented in centres were the child eats when they want not at lunch time when it's served, correct me if I'm wrong but when they transition to school they have a bell for recess and another for lunch, yet here they teach and allow the child to make that decision. What a Joke,,,. Oh and they don't give staff support when it comes to complaints.
Hi, I am planning to put my buh n good start learning center but after reading your review I am now bit hesistant to put him there.can u tell.me the location with which u had problems with.may be its just tat center
I hate seeing people that have the option to stay at home talk about their horror at people putting babies into care. I recently returned to work after 14 weeks paid leave, unfortunately my bank manager, through my mortgage contract, suggested it might be a good idea.
My partner and I are both rotating shift workers and family daycare (FDC) would have been the best, or most flexible option, for our situation. Instead though as my partner and his sister had bad experiences at a FDC centre he didn't want to consider that as an option. So 7 months before the birth of our son we trawled the local area centres, we met the staff that run the centres, the staff that work the babies rooms. We found some were 0-1 (or walking) rooms, some were 0-2 rooms allowing more staff flexibility due to the same staff to child ratios, some had separate sleeping rooms. We made up a spreadsheet with all the information. The local council ones were a third of the cost of privately run ones but allowed all children to roam free between rooms, so babies were mixing it with 4 year olds. The manager claimed the kids loved it, we didn't like the idea.
We chose our favourites, put our applications in and chased them up when our son was born. The staff dote on him and he is never upset. None of the other kids ever seem upset when we do drop off and pick up. My father in law does sit for us if we work weekends or late nights and I am far more relaxed about leaving our boy in daycare than I ever am on the days/nights when the family are doing the care.
As there is no daycare (other than FDC) for shift workers we have a booking for 5 days a week, if we don't work that day we pay for daycare but don't use it. Not because we don't like the quality of care but because we want to spend time with our son. The amount of guilt that I felt putting him into care was enormous, thanks to well meaning people with strong opinions. However my decision to remain working to ensure we have a roof (that we love in an amazing location), and also to remain current in my industry so that we can afford to provide a good education for our son is incredibly important and all factored in our decision to start daycare at 4 months.