My idea of a good childcare center

I started to look for a childcare center two weeks back, I visited three centers so far, there are good and bad points and I have not made up my mind on which one yet. In fact I have called a few more to check on vacancies. It is indeed a difficult decision to make! In desperation I went online in search for other people’s feedbacks or advises, I ended in some popular local parenthood forums but I had so say the result was not a very satisfying one. Many people are just as unsure as me. Some are overly negative or criticizing, just because they had one negative experience, they talked bad about the center all the time. Hardly I can have consistently positive comments about any one center.

After I became tired from my online searching I decided to quiet down and reflect, what am I really looking for? What are the things that I hold dear to my heart? What’s the ideal environment I want my child to grow up in? After much thinking it became clearer to me. Prices and locations are actually at the top of the list, but before I start my search, I have already narrowed down the options base on my budget and my living location, hence with them excluded, below are the things that are really important to me, in order of priority.

(1)   Loving and caring principal and teachers

Before you visit a childcare center, you call the center to make an appointment, and you would have a chance to speak to either the principal or the supervisor on the phone, that encounter pretty much can give you a first impression of how the principal and teachers are like. If I call a center and the principal or whoever is in charge is too busy, too occupied and too impatient to answer my queries, I am already not very keen to visit the center.

I called one center two times and I spoke to the principal and supervisor on each occasion and both of them gave me extremely good impression over the phone. They spoke gently, they were very patient answering my questions, and they are genuinely excited at meeting me up. To tell you the truth, this center is now my top 3 options even though I am yet to visit them next week, and the internet has very little information about them.

This is how important a good teacher is to me. I want to see childcare center teachers loving and caring, they also must be patient and encouraging, and they also need to be firm when it comes to disciplining the children, and they should be happy and passionate about their work and the children.

(2)   Emphasize on good behaviors and values

Basically I want to see the teaching not just focus on intellectual development, but also emphasize on children’s character development, especially for the younger age group (Playgroup and Nursery). It is equally important as intellectual development and often it is difficult to correct and un-train later if they are not properly trained from start. Some of the things I would like to see are:

1.      Be polite to people (Saying “Please”, ‘Thank you” and “Sorry”)

2.      Be gentle, kind and caring to others (Helping others, sharing toys with others, show concern to a sick friend)

3.      Be obedient and with good self-control (Be quiet during class, do not play toys when told not to)

4.      Be patient (Taking turns for food/snack, taking turns to play a certain toy)

Two or three year olds are in the sense “social morons” because they are self-centered. Hence it is vital the childcare center preaches these values and ensures they are being emphasized in daily activities.

Of course these things are abstract and hence we can’t tell till we ask the teachers how they conduct their classes or we go for the trial lessons ourselves.

(3)   Environment

Most childcare centers, at least those I have been to, are bright, cheerful and clean. The rooms are organized and you can see display of pictures and artwork everywhere. That’s great. But I would also like to see the place being quiet and homely. There is one center I visited, it was located at the ground floor of a multi-story carpark, hence the area is really spacious, but they do not have separate rooms for different classes, instead dividers are used to separate each class. Although it looked very pleasant and orderly, I was not keen in the center because I can imagine how noisy the whole place is going to be when class starts, especially from the K1 and K2 group, the children will never be able to learn to be quiet and focus. I prefer each class is in a separate room.

Another important criteria for me is spacious outdoor play area. I can’t imagine my child being confined in an air-con room for 11-12 hours a day. I myself will be bored to death if I do, let alone the little children. The ideal childcare center should have an outdoor playground, with organized outdoor activities daily, for the children to get some sun, to run about and work out themselves. Unfortunately a lot of childcare centers at residential blocks (HDB flats in Singapore context) do not have outdoor facilities; hence I am looking at a few centers at the private estate though they are further and slightly more inconvenient to access.

(4)   Curriculum

When you have loving teachers and good environment, the curriculum becomes secondary. Most registered centers do have a well developed curriculum to cover every aspect of a child’s intellectual development, including language, mathematics, arts and craft, music and movement, speech and drama, some even have science and computer class at this young age. Different centers may have different approaches, like I shared before, being it multiple intelligence, or Montessori, or integrated learning approach, holistic approach, child-centered approach, etc.

They all look fine to me and I can hardly tell which is better than the other. Important thing is, I prefer childcare center to do more reading to children and to encourage a love for books. A love for reading will almost lead to excellence in study when the kids are in school. That’s what I believe. And I strongly believe in multi-linguistic, in this aspect, most childcare centers are doing very well. An equal amount of effort dedicated to both English and Chinese, is what I would love to see. Enrichment classes are good but I am most likely going to enroll her only from K1 onwards.

I am still looking and it seems so difficult to find one that meets all the criteria and expectation. Good luck to myself.

Meet Kah Yen's friends

Finally I got some photos of Kah Yen and all her friends. Her friends have been mentioned by me here and there before. As you have probably guessed, they are already part of the family.






Baby Pooh - Baby Pooh is the all time favorite. It is irreplaceable. It is huggable and kissable no matter how many times it drops on the floor and how dirty it looks. Its backside is especially prefered because it is more cuddly (and maybe more tasty, I don't know because I never tasted it). When I first picked Baby Pooh from the discount section of the toy store at mere $6, I was extremely worried that I would be laughed by the husband for making a lousy and "cheap" choice. Truth is, Kah Yen fell in love with it at first sight and never wanted to be seperated from it again, except bath time. Baby Pooh is the only privileged member who follows us everywhere we go - to Malaysia, China and Indonesia. The next thing we need to do is probably applying a proper passport for him!

Piglet - Piglet is Baby Pooh's best friend in the Winnie-the-Pooh classics. At our home, she continues to be a best friend by always staying behind Baby Pooh. She never tries to take the front seat, never tries to win favor. She is a little bit quiet and timid, but Kah Yen loves her too, just a little less than Baby Pooh. When we have to wash Baby Pooh on emergency cases, Kah Yen would first cry for Baby Pooh but after a few minutes she would go to hug Piglet and be contented enough to sleep.

Tigger - Tigger is small in size but it has a bright and cheerful countenance and a broad smile. So it will stand out among all others even though it is a size smaller. The only thing I have against Tigger is it interferes with my teaching Kah Yen name of animals, because everything tiger or tiger-like has become "tigger'' instead.

Donkey - Donkey actually has a real name Eeyore, but it is too difficult to pronounce so we call him Donkey instead. Donkey is the smallest among them all. He is so grey that he looks gloomy all the time. He also looks like a lazy fellow 'coz he lies on his stomack all the time. I hardly think it will become a favorite soft toy of anyone's, we bought it because we want to make the Pooh family more complete. It is nevertheless a faith friend by always being there and never complains.

That's my version of Kah Yen's friends. I wonder how Kah Yen will introduce them when she is old enough to tell. And the above photos of them altogether is typically seen at bedtime, after she was changed and ready to read a book. It is a ritual of hers to have them all on our bed to read together.

They surely enjoy themselves every night.

The world's most popular bird

I was the one picking up Kah Yen last night. I carried her in one hand, and pushed the stroller with the other into the lift. The light inside the lift was dim. And as we turned around and the lift door closed, Kah Yen pointed at something on the floor and said "Aiya!" - her usual exclamation when she sees something dirty or broken. I looked down on the floor, there was a small piece of slighted crumpled paper on the floor, it is about the size of a 50 cents coin, but it is not round, it is irregular shape. It is red in color. And many people must have stepped on it, because it looked dirty.

"It is just a dirty sticker." I told Kah Yen. Her eyes were still fixing on it.

"Aagery beard" She said something.

"What? What did you say Kah Yen?" I seriously had no idea what she was talking about.

"Aagery beard" She repeated it again.

It sounded familiar. I must have heard this word before from elsewhere. It was the first time I heard Kah Yen saying it and I searched my memory on all the things I have taught her. I don't recall anything similar to this word.

When she pointed and said it persistently the third time - I could hear from her rising volume she was demanding an acknowledgement from me. The lift was almost going to reach the ground floor, so I quickly bended down, pushed my glass closer to my eyes and suddenly it all came clear to me. It is the red color angry bird!

A lot of things went through my mind in the next 5 seconds.

"Wow, Kah Yen is really a very observant girl."
"Good that her eyesight is much better than Mummy's."
"She can say the word 'Angry bird' pretty well. She is surely learning to talk fast."
"Wait! I have never taught her the word 'Angry bird'!"
"Where did she get to know about 'Angry bird'? We have never showed her the video game, we have not a single angry bird related toy in our house."
"It must be Korkor at our Nanny's place. He likes to play video games on iPad."
"I hope Kah Yen is not learning to play video games from him."

...


And guess what? The final thought that came into my mind which rendered all the others trivialities is that I have to agree angry bird is really a popular and influential bird.

Seriously, neither my husband nor myself ever played this game, we don't have it in our smart phone. We never bought anything related to the bird. She has probably saw our Nanny's 5-ear old grandson played with it on his iPad. She must have overheard him saying the word. And then she can identity a dirty and creaseD angry bird sticker at the corner of a dusky lift, when Mummy can't even see clearly what is it.

To add on when I was teaching her ABC, she never said the word "Bird" when I asked her what is 'B', she said the chinese word "Niao niao" instead. So I thought she found "Bird" too difficult to pronounce or she couldn't comprehend that the same thing can be called in two different names (Chinese and English).

So I guess it is no doubt angry bird can be called the world's most popular bird. And I am just glad she has not learnt to ask "Mummy Can I play angry bird?" yet.

20-month and counting

Kah Yen is growing up really fast. She is going to be 21-month old soon. For her language development, she is picking up words daily and she can repeat short sentences after us. She speaks both English and Chinese. For her physical development, she barely walks now, she runs all the time when we are out in the park. For her behavior, she seldom has tantrum or meltdown, except when she was not feeling well, she may be a bit more whining.

She likes to observe what bigger kids are doing and follow them. For example, sitting on the "swing" side by side with this Jiejie in the playground. This big girl is a sweet four years old whom I see very often in our neighborhood. She adores Kah Yen and even asked once if I can leave Kah Yen with her to babysit while I go alone with my grocery shopping.

Being like one of the big kids

And since big kids can climb up this structure she also wants to give it a shot.

Doing what the big kids do

She doesn't have much chance to play with other toddlers because she doesn't attend any playgroup yet and most of our friends with kids are not staying nearby, hence it is hard to arrange any playdate. I try to bring her to the neighborhood playground as often as I can, so that she has a chance to play with other kids. Although most of time they still play on their own, it is still heartwarming to see moments like this, when they start to show some social interaction.

Trying to be social

She is also able to focus much longer during playtime. Her favorite activites are still drawing board, sticker book, building blocks, crayon and ball. This tiny toy was in her toy basket since she was born but she never played with it for more than a minute - usually involved only shaking it and throwing it. The other day she took it out by accident and I like how engrossed she looks while playing with it after I showed her how.

Learning to be focus

She continues to love books and library trips, although the two do not link at all to her, because she hardly sits still and read books in the library. It is more of a place for her to run about, play hide-and-seek, pull as many books as possible off the shelf and bring to Mummy. She enjoys her library trip so much that we have concluded it is the cheapest and happiest trip of all for her and for us. If your family has not started going to library as a ritual, you totally should. This is from our last trip to the library, again she can be doing anything other than reading books, anything also includes being like a real model.

Acting like a grown up