Childcare or no Childcare?

[fristrom]

Charmaine_chong:

Can anyone share how is the life for putting children in childcare?


Do you guys still send them for enrichment courses? Would the children benefit from childcare?

Would they be more independent? So that you can do housework without them disturbing you.

I am considering the possibilities to put my son 4yo and girl 2yo to childcare next year. They are currently look after by maid & my dad.

Just wonder how things would change.

I am not sure how things would change as mine has been going to childcare since 18 months. For the first 1.5 yrs half day. For the last 1.5 yrs full day.

As both of us work, without grandparents around, the choice between maid and childcare is obvious.

It depends on how you define enrichment. If you define it as giving your kid a more rounded education/experience, my answer is yes: mine has violin and swimming. If you define it as reinforcing what they learnt in school or given them an \"edge\" in primary school, personally, I don't think it is necessary.

Independence: at 4.5, I found mine very independent. Not sure how much school plays a role though as I found that the classmates behavior is different.

Good luck!

[Charmaine_chong]

Thanks fristrom.


My current maid has been a great help in education part when i am at work. She teacg my son to do craft, writing, right brain stuff, phonics,reading… Whereas for my 20mth old, she has started to teach her all the basic concepts through arts and crafts. She reads loads of books to my children.

I am starting to search for child care as she will be leaving end of the year. She wants 2 months breaks if wanna to continue.

I am trying to find out whether it is worthwhile to put children in childcare without attending anymore enrichment.

[foreverj]

Charmaine_chong:

Thanks fristrom.


My current maid has been a great help in education part when i am at work. She teacg my son to do craft, writing, right brain stuff, phonics,reading..... Whereas for my 20mth old, she has started to teach her all the basic concepts through arts and crafts. She reads loads of books to my children.

I am starting to search for child care as she will be leaving end of the year. She wants 2 months breaks if wanna to continue.

I am trying to find out whether it is worthwhile to put children in childcare without attending anymore enrichment.

hi charmaine

childcare at the end of the day, is stil childcare. it provides basic learning (can be good enough for pri 1) but wil not be able to achieve what enrichment can do - deeper, and more advanced learning and understanding. eg. if yr kids attend math enrichment, they wil likely be able to do more advanced math than what the cc can ever teach.

so it depends on what you want for the kids (a) deeper learning for academic subjects (such as english, chinese, math etc) and/or (b) depending on the interest, u may wish to sign up for art, music, dance etc which wil cc wil not be able to cover becos the teachers do not have the expertise/qualification/experience. do note that some cc can provide additional enrichment classes at a cost.

[zechraffie]

Hi Newbie here so pardon me please


If you have a choice, i'm inclined to suggest that you find your child a good child care and stay away from enrichment for a while.

My reasons are as follow:
- he needs a childhood
- a good child care will prepare him sufficiently for P1
- over-preparing your kid is detrimental. He will appear to do well for P1 and P2 for obvious reasons. But his interest in learning may have been reduced by then as his first year in primary school bores him. the outcome is that from P3 on, he will begin to show signs of strain in his learning process.

HTH.

[foreverj]

hi zechraffie


welcome to KSP! nothing to pardon cos we r all sharing our views and experiences to facilitate learning n discussion would like to ask if your comments stem from your own observations of your kids and other children?

i agree in general abt your comment and 2. in general becos i feel that some kids hate the enrichmt their parents signed up for them but r forced to continue. but if the kid actually has interest/show talent in certain enrichmt, i feel there is no harm in letting the kid progress faster than others.

its not easy to find a good cc that prepares the child sufficiently. for parents who can't, it makes sense to supplement with enrichmt so that the kid does not suffer.

i believe your comment 3 is valid for a minority batch of students. however i tend to think most kids suffer a drop in grades to a certain extent once the \"honeymoon\" is over in P1 and 2. so there wil b an adjustmt period where everyone adjust their expectations as to what is a reasonable grade to get. this is my own experience on my pri school days and also observation of comments by other parents of pri sch kids nowadays. so showing signs of strain in learning process may not be due to the kid having been thru enrichmt programmes?

anyway, seem to drift off-topic liao. moderators, if there is another more suitable thread, can help move us? thanks!

[jkids]

anyone has difficulty looking for a cc centre? i have! or is it coz i enquire too late?! i plan to put my kids for 2011, but all the centres tell me no vacancies/full house. only can reserve for 2012. i m dishearted!


what should i call? call all the centres and juz dump them into any or? i have no car and this gives me limitation to the cc centre i can go to.

[Charmaine_chong]

Hi,


Does anyone knows which site is useful for checking kindergarten or childcare centre by locaion or km?

[schellen]

Charmaine_chong:

Hi,


Does anyone knows which site is useful for checking kindergarten or childcare centre by locaion or km?

http://app.mcys.gov.sg/WEB/serv_dss_disability_main.asp?Services_Id=4

as for kindy, i'm sorry i don't know.

[Yerdua]

jkids:

anyone has difficulty looking for a cc centre? i have! or is it coz i enquire too late?! i plan to put my kids for 2011, but all the centres tell me no vacancies/full house. only can reserve for 2012. i m dishearted!


what should i call? call all the centres and juz dump them into any or? i have no car and this gives me limitation to the cc centre i can go to.

I share ur sentiments too.

Had plan to enrol dd to cc by june this year.
Hve shortlisted and placed on waiting list since jan.
Sad to say, the cc are shortlisted based on the walking distance from my place, not on curriculum, or clean premise or even the teachers...
B'cos the cc are so popular, the principals dun even need to do the \"sales talk\"to parents anymore.

[Charmaine_chong]

Schellen,


Thanks.