Daycare woes - options and advice

[Burbage]

Is there no Mr KK?

[azzam]

No, there's not Burb. Just as there was no Mr Azz and there is no Mr Poss and no Mr A.
But we do it anyway, and we rock.

[BFG]

Well done you.

[azzam]

Well done Dads like you, too.

[azzam]

Well done all of us!!

[Fat Bob]

I know many people find in OT the amount of time some parents put into the choice of nursery’s or schools but the environment you place your child in during their developmental years has a huge impact on the adult they become.

Have your parents take you to OT? Now that os an environment to place your child in!

[kittykat]

Well progress today. I have a great boss (who's also my friend) and I explained her the hassles I was having and she got right on the case with me. We have a service that helps locate childcare centres and I obtained a list of those close to my office. I'm going the city option as I'm close to him during the day. So I started dialling and was lucking out time after time after time. Then I found one near work that has just opened so they had places. It's a smaller place - there were 8 3yr olds which beats 39 which he currently has in his class. My boss came with me and she gave it her stamp of approval. Smaller and new and the teachers seemed to be very nice and friendly.

So watch this space.... One thing I have learnt is that there are so many childcare nightmare stories out there.

Thanks for all your advice and comments....

Ohhh and am with Az - yay for us....

[slinky]

Wow! Good work, KK!! That's got to be a load off your mind. Sounds like a much better place - I would think with daycare, smaller is nearly always better. Good luck to BabyKK in the new place

[azzam]

Good, kk, that's a relief. Great that he's nearby, you'll be able to have lunch with him some days.

[Pinklepurr]

Great news KK. Really great.

[Lili Von Shtupp]

Oh that's great news! And you guys can commute together and share stories from your day. Congratulations on having such a supportive boss. She sounds like a keeper!

[Scrummy Mummy]

Sounds great. Hope it all works out and you can breathe again

[kittykat]

My boss is also my professional mentor and has been for 12 years. She's the reason I came back. She has two teenage boys and said she knows the whole dilemma as she dealt with it her whole career at a time when daycare was worse than now. When I rang this centre the woman was nice and friendly and when I asked to come straight away she hesitated then explained that all the staff were in their pjyamas - they were fundraising for the homeless. All the staff looked great in their flanelette pjs and the kids all running around. I especially love that the owner is Asian and when I asked her about her approach and how she sees herself in comparison from Asian daycare to mega corporates such as ABC she gave an really impressive answer. The teacher for the 3 years olds is also from Beijing and when we walked in she come up and smiled and welcomed us.

The whole daycare thing here is weird. A room with abut 10 babies under 1 with about 3 women in there was really hard to watch. I said to my boss it must be tough dropping off your baby and she said "you get used to it"... The director told me that women come in their lunch hours and breast feed their babies then back to work. Amazing.

Azz - I asked about lunch and the director said absolutely I can come anytime and take him out for lunch. My boss said I can bring him into my office so he can see where I work and show him how close I am. There's a park between my office and the daycare so I can take baby KK for sandwiches in the park when the weather gets better.

LVS - the commuting is great as I will have to drive in with him which gives me another 90mins with him each day to chat and sing together in the car. My helper can come to her classes in the city as well (she studies from 9am to 3.15pm) so she can pick him up some days to break it up a bit.

I'm still sending him back home for a couple of weeks while I get everything sorted here for him - plus my family are all geared for it. It will be a logical break for him and he can start afresh....

We are so lucky in SG to have the incredible care options that we do!

[Satellite]

that's great news KK! It's really great that you can visit him during lunch hour!

[Aliya]

Wow that sounds soooo good KK, I am really relieved for you, kept putting myself into your place and felt sick, what a dilemna. Got to say, being a mother has opened my eyes to so many things child related that I really just ignored beacuse I had no reason not to - the scary world of kids care.

[Scrummy Mummy]

You know, thinking about your primary school problem, perhaps the solution is there SHOULD be a Mr A. Identify a school you want the girls to go (mixed, obviously) then find an old-boy to marry.

Voila!

[Scrummy Mummy]

In fact, we could advertise you on Singapore E-bay!

[Aliya]

Why not, they sell everything else there

[slinky]

But, but, I thought Aliya was banned from ebay.....

[Aliya]

I reregistered under a different name and IP . Just complained about that idiot who sold something I bought via his email address on the advert. And gave him the feedback he deserved

[slinky]

How do you change your IP?

[Aliya]

got a new laptop

[baloo]

How do you change your IP?

got a new laptop

Where is the head in hands smilie ?

[Aliya]

what am I missing??

[canuck]

breathe baloo, just breathe