Well after a year of mainstream childcare, Grace still wasn't enjoying it. She had settled in for a few months, but the last few months have been unbearable for both of us. If school is mentioned she insists that she doesn't want to go. Dropping her there has been a nightmare, full of crying and clinging desperately to my legs. Every time I've picked her up she is upset and apparently has been since after sleep time. The carers all seem nice enough and insist that she has had a good day, but been shy, quiet and upset.
Every time I go into the childcare room it just seems so chaotic with kids running everywhere, screaming and yelling. In the 3-5 y/o room there is about 30 kids, with all but 5 being boys. In the room beside that is the 2-3 y/o's, with another 25 or so kids. The kids are separate for eating and sleeping, but mix up together for the majority of the time. So you can imagine how many children are together at the one time, crazy. The carers all seem to have it under (some) control, but I can see how some kids get lost in all the chaos. Grace seems to be one of them.
I know that its harder for her as she only goes 1 day a week and effectively has to refit in every week. Most of the other kids go either for the whole week or at least 2 days, so they tend to rule to roost.
Anyway, I have found a perfect alternative. It's a Steiner pre-school for 3-5 y/o's. It's not too far from here and is set in a house that has been turned into a little school. The house is set on 1/2 acre of lovely shaded land, with a gigantic sandpit, large tree house cubby, swing set, worm farm, vegie garden and chooks wandering around.
After picking Grace up from Daycare last week and once again being greeted by her being so upset, I went straight to the Steiner centre to see how far up the wait list she was. It must have been my lucky day cause there was a space for a Monday and even though she wasn't at the top of the wait list, we got the spot!!!
She was excited and I was excited. So her old daycare was cancelled (she still has to go next Friday), and she started the new one today!
I left Xav with Wendy, and Grace and I headed up to her new school. She was excited as she had remembered playing with the wooden eggs and kitchen last time we were there. When we arrived only 1 child was there already, so we headed out to the backyard to have a look around. Grace was a little shy to start with, but after a while she was playing on the obstacle course and yelling out for me to watch her as she balanced on the beams. I showed her where the toilet was, where her bag would be and also where to get a drink when she wanted one. Each child is assigned a symbol for the day and the symbol will be on all the things that they use, ie chair, cup, plate, locker etc.
The kids all play outside until 9.30am when everyone gets together in a big circle to sing the morning song and to say goodbye to the parents. I gave Grace a big hug, her eyes were a little misty, but she was happy to go off with everyone to play. I can't describe how much nicer it is to leave her relatively happy and not bawling her eyes out.
She was so happy when I picked her up, busy taking the baby clothes on and off the line. She had a great day and spent the rest of the afternoon excitedly telling us everything that she had been doing.
I know that she is going to do so much better here, there is such a better feel to the place.
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