Olivia is 18 months old and has never been to day care. We’ve been lucky that both our jobs have been largely remote lately and have afforded us some pretty great flexibility so she has stayed home with us for all of her life. We’ve had a few nanny’s here & there when we needed extra support but for the most part, she’s seen big sis go off to pre-school every day and she’s been at home. With me working over here and the world returning to whatever normal is going to look like, we decided that we needed full time care for her. Plus, Olivia is really our hope to learn German first - she’s just starting to use English words and I think she’s probably in the best position to absorb a new language.
In Lichtenstein there is a state run program centers called “Kita”s. Some are traditional daycares, some are more focused on after school or summer care for school age kids and some are a mixture. Based on the 4 that we’ve visited, all are super clean and have very friendly people working in them. We are also super excited that there is one across the street from my office. When we registered for it, however, we were waitlisted until August :( So we went in search of plan B. We toured a couple other locations and even some outside of the Kita network, but very few of the locations liked the fact that we just wanted care for May - July, the response we kept getting was that it went against the pedagogic system of the schools to only have short term care then switch locations. Aside, several places used the word ‘pedagogic’, which I admittedly had to look up what it meant the first time - it’s the educational philosophy of the daycare system in case you wonder.
Now, I don’t disagree that all of this transition will be hard on Olivia, but at the same time unless a location can open up more slots, I don’t have much of a choice. We need to work at least some before August. So we finally convinced a place to open a slot for two days a week from May 15 - July 15. Again, not ideal, but it’s something. And maybe going to a temporary place for a couple days a week will get her used to the idea of going somewhere for school. The place that accepted us in the complete opposite direction than anything else we regularly frequent. Luckily, it’s a small country, so the “complete opposite direction” takes me an extra 15 minutes of driving. Annoying, but for a temporary situation, not the end of the world.
Continuing with their pedagogic philosophy, you don’t just drop your kid off at daycare on day 1. You have to go through two weeks of “settling in” time. Every day for two weeks, Olivia & I went up to the daycare and for the first three days, I stayed with her, we played, we went on a walk with the rest of the kids, we ate. Then on day 4, I stayed for 15 minutes then I left for 30 (I just went and sat in the car outside) then I came back for 15 minutes. She cried most of the 30 min I was gone. We slowly worked our way up to me being gone for four hours (that time I went to the grocery store – by myself, do you know how amazing that is???). When I returned at the end of the four hours, she was on the patio in one of those Little Tikes ride in cars (you know the red & yellow one with the roof & the door that opens & closes - you’ve all had one). And guess what y’all. She looked up at me and goes ‘mama’ then turned her car and scooted away back towards the other kids. I’ve never been so happy to be rejected.
We are, as of today, officially “settled in” to this daycare. So she’ll go two days a week for the next two months then we get to do settling in all over again at the new facility. My petition to skip it since we’d just done it at the other location was denied…pedagogic nature and all…
In Lichtenstein there is a state run program centers called “Kita”s. Some are traditional daycares, some are more focused on after school or summer care for school age kids and some are a mixture. Based on the 4 that we’ve visited, all are super clean and have very friendly people working in them. We are also super excited that there is one across the street from my office. When we registered for it, however, we were waitlisted until August :( So we went in search of plan B. We toured a couple other locations and even some outside of the Kita network, but very few of the locations liked the fact that we just wanted care for May - July, the response we kept getting was that it went against the pedagogic system of the schools to only have short term care then switch locations. Aside, several places used the word ‘pedagogic’, which I admittedly had to look up what it meant the first time - it’s the educational philosophy of the daycare system in case you wonder.
Now, I don’t disagree that all of this transition will be hard on Olivia, but at the same time unless a location can open up more slots, I don’t have much of a choice. We need to work at least some before August. So we finally convinced a place to open a slot for two days a week from May 15 - July 15. Again, not ideal, but it’s something. And maybe going to a temporary place for a couple days a week will get her used to the idea of going somewhere for school. The place that accepted us in the complete opposite direction than anything else we regularly frequent. Luckily, it’s a small country, so the “complete opposite direction” takes me an extra 15 minutes of driving. Annoying, but for a temporary situation, not the end of the world.
Continuing with their pedagogic philosophy, you don’t just drop your kid off at daycare on day 1. You have to go through two weeks of “settling in” time. Every day for two weeks, Olivia & I went up to the daycare and for the first three days, I stayed with her, we played, we went on a walk with the rest of the kids, we ate. Then on day 4, I stayed for 15 minutes then I left for 30 (I just went and sat in the car outside) then I came back for 15 minutes. She cried most of the 30 min I was gone. We slowly worked our way up to me being gone for four hours (that time I went to the grocery store – by myself, do you know how amazing that is???). When I returned at the end of the four hours, she was on the patio in one of those Little Tikes ride in cars (you know the red & yellow one with the roof & the door that opens & closes - you’ve all had one). And guess what y’all. She looked up at me and goes ‘mama’ then turned her car and scooted away back towards the other kids. I’ve never been so happy to be rejected.
We are, as of today, officially “settled in” to this daycare. So she’ll go two days a week for the next two months then we get to do settling in all over again at the new facility. My petition to skip it since we’d just done it at the other location was denied…pedagogic nature and all…
 |
| All ready for our first official day of daycare! |
 |
| "I like it here. There's snacks." ~Olivia |
No comments:
Post a Comment