Alright alright, just chill! Just treat it as a lesson learnt so that you can be more mindful when looking for another CC. Like you said, how much do you trust me or the Centre, well, trust is akin to how Rome was not built overnight. It takes two hands to clap, so if 1 party is not open to giving the other the chance to build a trusting relationship, clearly nothing positive will happen. In my case, I gladly place my trust in Globalkids because I know the teachers there have dealt with so many kids in their decades of experience in this line as care providers versus me, a greenhorn mom who often feels exasperated by my active kid! Would having an Orientation really reflects the actual happening during a typical day in a CC? Of course one may beg to differ that its better than not having the chance to observe. The best way to verify the claim is to watch CCTV footages (perhaps something you can consider when looking around for the new Centre) of what transpires during a typical day without parents around in the premises. I had meant that parents shouldn’t follow kids to school as in Cc, not pri sch. My intent was never to change your mind about it (no point crying over spilled milk right?) nor to rally anyone to my side. I just felt the pressing need to address some issues discussed in your posts and to right the wrongs. One’s man loss is another man’s gain. Thanks to you withdrawing your daughter, a vacancy is now made avail to another child (and hence another happy set of parents), whom I reckon have no complaints about being a happy ‘prisoner’ in ‘jail’ haha! Good night!

My son joined Globalkids’ Infant Care Unit when he was 13 months in Dec 2012. Then, I was a SAHM who took a one-year sabbatical to look after my firstborn. As a first-time mother, I did intensive research by visiting several centres in my neighbourhood but was not impressed. My friend recommended that I checked out Globalkids@Serangoon which was near her place but not within walking distance of where I stayed. Thinking that I have nothing to lose, I arranged for a visit to the centre with my husband.


During the visit, I was impressed with how happy the kids were and how patient Teacher Karen was in addressing all my concerns and questions. One of my worries was regarding my son’s feeding issues. First, he doesn’t drink milk from a bottle. Second, he doesn’t take well to semi-solids. I was very positive about Teacher Karen’s sharing of her experience in dealing with her daughter with similar feeding issues and her assurance that my son will not be go hungry; if he doesn’t drink from a bottle, they will use other ways to get him to drink his milk. Another worry I had was that of my son going to Toddler class in 5 months’ time, I requested for Teacher Karen to share the curriculum, schedule, feeding menus and a tour of the toddler class premises with me (in addition to the tour of the infant unit), which she gladly did. In fact, Teacher Karen was very warm and forthcoming in addressing my questions and concerns. As an educator myself, I am very particular about awareness towards Special Educational Needs which I believe can be better managed with early intervention. Therefore, I posed Teacher Karen some questions on this topic and was heartened to note how teachers at the Centre had previously handled such cases. Another observation I made when I was at the Centre was how happy the kids were. The teachers were very friendly and given the tight enrolment (i.e. they have only 1 class per level from Toddler to K2 class), the teachers and kids from the different levels know one another. I also noted that the rapport between teachers and kids is very good. All in all, I spent a good and fulfilling 2 hours during that visit.
Given the very positive experience that generated good vibes from the first visit, I called up the Centre and confirmed my son’s enrolment. Teacher Karen was very understanding and thoughtful in in that she didn’t felt it was necessary for me to pay another trip down just to collect the forms, so she emailed them to me. My husband then went down to the Centre after a few days to pay the deposit and hand in the completed forms. Thereafter, Teacher Karen emailed me the infant class checklist on what to bring on the first day. A week before the date of enrolment (sometime in early Dec 2012), Teacher Karen called me to inform that there was a case of HMFD in the school and asked me if I can delay my son’s enrolment. She also advised me on how I can better help ease my son into the centre’s regime by allowing him to stay for longer hours each day over a period of a week until he goes there full-time. The teachers were fantastic in that they were patient in training my son to drink his milk from a straw cup and to improve his ability to chew his foods. Another apparent thing I observed was the strong rapport between the teachers and parents. All in all, I feel that the teachers not only educate the kids, they educate the parents.

Up to a month before moving onto Toddler class at 18 months, the teachers helped ensured a slow but steady transition for my son. They started with introducing him to the play time at the indoor playground with the other kids, having tea time with his toddler classmates and joining the toddlers for activities. With the guidance and handholding by the caring teachers, my son’s transition to toddler class was nothing but smooth. My son really enjoys his time spent at the centre. I also noted that since he started at Global kids, my son has made vast improvements in his ability to comprehend what I say, and to verbalize his thoughts. Another thing which I am very thankful for is that he (who is now in Toddler class) is now very adventurous with foods and is eating very well. Just last week when I brought him for a checkup, his PD commented that he is growing well and has in fact moved to a higher percentile chart for weight gain! ^^ :please:

Dear littlefren,


I am so sorry (but at the same time, very surprised) to read about your unpleasant experience with Globalkids@Serangoon. I would like to take this opportunity to share my wonderful experience with Globalkids@Serangoon with everyone reading this forum thread to make a more informed judgment about the Centre. My son joined Globalkids’ Infant Care Unit when he was 13 months. Then, I was a SAHM who took a one-year sabbatical to look after my firstborn. As a first-time mother, I did intensive research by visiting several centres in my neighbourhood but was not impressed. My friend recommended that I checked out Globalkids@Serangoon which was near her place but not within walking distance of where I stayed. Thinking that I have nothing to lose, I arranged for a visit to the centre with my husband.

During the visit, I was impressed with how happy the kids were and how patient Teacher Karen was in addressing all my concerns and questions. One of my worries was regarding my son’s feeding issues. First, he doesn’t drink milk from a bottle. Second, he doesn’t take well to semi-solids. I was very positive about Teacher Karen’s sharing of her experience in dealing with her daughter with similar feeding issues and her assurance that my son will not be go hungry; if he doesn’t drink from a bottle, they will use other ways to get him to drink his milk. Another worry I had was that of my son going to Toddler class in 5 months’ time, I requested for Teacher Karen to share the curriculum, schedule, feeding menus and a tour of the toddler class premises with me (in addition to the tour of the infant unit), which she gladly did. In fact, Teacher Karen was very warm and forthcoming in addressing my questions and concerns. As an educator myself, I am very particular about awareness towards Special Educational Needs which I believe can be better managed with early intervention. Therefore, I posed Teacher Karen some questions on this topic and was heartened to note how teachers at the Centre had previously handled such cases. Another observation I made when I was at the Centre was how happy the kids were. The teachers were very friendly and given the tight enrolment (i.e. they have only 1 class per level from Toddler to K2 class), the teachers and kids from the different levels know one another. I also noted that the rapport between teachers and kids is very good. All in all, I spent a good and fulfilling 2 hours during that visit.
Given the very positive experience that generated good vibes from the first visit, I called up the Centre and confirmed my son’s enrolment. Teacher Karen was very understanding and thoughtful in in that she didn’t felt it was necessary for me to pay another trip down just to collect the forms, so she emailed them to me. My husband then went down to the Centre after a few days to pay the deposit and hand in the completed forms. Thereafter, Teacher Karen emailed me the infant class checklist on what to bring on the first day. A week before the date of enrolment (sometime in early Dec 2012), Teacher Karen called me to inform that there was a case of HMFD in the school and asked me if I can delay my son’s enrolment. She also advised me on how I can better help ease my son into the centre’s regime by allowing him to stay for longer hours each day over a period of a week until he goes there full-time. The teachers were fantastic in that they were patient in training my son to drink his milk from a straw cup and to improve his ability to chew his foods. Another apparent thing I observed was the strong rapport between the teachers and parents. In light of this, I agree with Peiying’s comment about how the teachers not only educate the kids, they educate the parents.

Up to a month before moving onto Toddler class at 18 months, the teachers helped ensured a slow but steady transition for my son. They started with introducing him to the play time at the indoor playground with the other kids, having tea time with his toddler classmates and joining the toddlers for activities. With the guidance and handholding by the caring teachers, my son’s transition to toddler class was nothing but smooth. My son really enjoys his time spent at the centre. I also noted that since he started at Global kids, my son has made vast improvements in his ability to comprehend what I say, and to verbalize his thoughts. Another thing which I am very thankful for is that he is now very adventurous with foods and is eating very well. Just last week when I brought him for a checkup, his PD commented that he is growing well and has in fact moved to a higher percentile chart for weight gain.

I would like to provide my take on some of the things you mentioned in your post:

1. I am ok with the teachers carrying my crying son into the Centre. It may be an uncomfortable sight to watch, but 10 out of 10 of the times, the kid is ok once inside. In fact, I am thankful for the teachers for doing that as I need to make my way to office after dropping him off at the Centre. IMHO, I seriously feel it’s a very bad idea to linger around because when crying kids catches glimpses of their parents, they start bawling. This in turn prolongs the adjustment into the new environment.

2. I am in support of the Centre’s stand in not allowing parents to accompany their kids for the first few days at school. By allowing this will only "open a can of worm" (i.e. create more problems). As kids get older, they find it harder to adapt and adjust to school, which could be the case for your daughter. If parents are allowed in every time a new kid joins, strangers within the premises will make other kids feel insecure and unsafe. This might also jeopardize the efforts put in by other parents and teachers in helping their kids to ease in. Just as you don’t bring your kids to work with you, do you? Similarly, when kids go to school, parents shouldn’t follow.

3. I concur with Globalkids’ stand in not allowing parents to celebrate their kids’ birthdays in school. Since my son joined Globalkids 8.5 months ago, I didn’t need to worry about anxiety caused to my son due to the repeated parents who are free to go in and out of the Centre. I accolade the Centre’s efforts to keep my kid safe and feel secure. If I cannot celebrate my son’s birthday in school, I can always celebrate his birthday at home. Of course, there is no stopping me from preparing birthday goodie bags to give to the kids in his class.

4. I like that each class has its own classrooms. The layout of the premises is not that of centres operated at HDB void decks where so called ‘classrooms’ are makeshift tables and chairs with cupboards as partitions. That, in my opinion as an educator of 10 years, is not conducive for learning.

5. If Globalkids is akin to a ‘jail’, it must be a really happy jail’! Every day when I fetch my son home, he runs to me laughing. On the way home in the car, he would tell me about his day. My son loves going to school. I love their management style, and there’s really nothing wrong with instilling discipline and structure (I am not comfortable with the use of the word ‘rigid’) from a young age. Even medical experts attest to the notion of getting young kids adhere to routines as they usually perform better with them.

6. I have learnt many invaluable lessons from Teacher Karen and all the teachers at Globalkids on parenting. They taught me how I can help my son to maximize his learning, right down to details of foods to avoid when my son has mild diarrhea. I am deeply grateful towards all the teachers, for giving advice even when I didn’t ask for it.

7. The good reputation and image portrayed by Globalkids as being safe, clean, hygenic and warm was not built overnight. It was a concerted effort by the management, the teachers and also the support from the parents. As a result of this, parents can have peace of mind at work knowing their kids are safe and protected. More importantly, we do not need to worry about episodes of illnesses such as HMFD (not everyone is blessed to take leave as and when we have to) which are contagious.

Last but not least, I would like to say that “one’s man meat is another man’s poison”. What works well for me did not work well for you. Hope that all is well with your arrangement for your daughter at another Centre.

Good luck!

Dear littlefren,


I am so sorry (but at the same time, very surprised) to read about your unpleasant experience with Globalkids@Serangoon. I would like to take this opportunity to share my wonderful experience with Globalkids@Serangoon with everyone reading this forum thread to make a more informed judgment about the Centre. My son joined Globalkids’ Infant Care Unit when he was 13 months. Then, I was a SAHM who took a one-year sabbatical to look after my firstborn. As a first-time mother, I did intensive research by visiting several centres in my neighbourhood but was not impressed. My friend recommended that I checked out Globalkids@Serangoon which was near her place but not within walking distance of where I stayed. Thinking that I have nothing to lose, I arranged for a visit to the centre with my husband.

During the visit, I was impressed with how happy the kids were and how patient Teacher Karen was in addressing all my concerns and questions. One of my worries was regarding my son’s feeding issues. First, he doesn’t drink milk from a bottle. Second, he doesn’t take well to semi-solids. I was very positive about Teacher Karen’s sharing of her experience in dealing with her daughter with similar feeding issues and her assurance that my son will not be go hungry; if he doesn’t drink from a bottle, they will use other ways to get him to drink his milk. Another worry I had was that of my son going to Toddler class in 5 months’ time, I requested for Teacher Karen to share the curriculum, schedule, feeding menus and a tour of the toddler class premises with me (in addition to the tour of the infant unit), which she gladly did. In fact, Teacher Karen was very warm and forthcoming in addressing my questions and concerns. As an educator myself, I am very particular about awareness towards Special Educational Needs which I believe can be better managed with early intervention. Therefore, I posed Teacher Karen some questions on this topic and was heartened to note how teachers at the Centre had previously handled such cases. Another observation I made when I was at the Centre was how happy the kids were. The teachers were very friendly and given the tight enrolment (i.e. they have only 1 class per level from Toddler to K2 class), the teachers and kids from the different levels know one another. I also noted that the rapport between teachers and kids is very good. All in all, I spent a good and fulfilling 2 hours during that visit.
Given the very positive experience that generated good vibes from the first visit, I called up the Centre and confirmed my son’s enrolment. Teacher Karen was very understanding and thoughtful in in that she didn’t felt it was necessary for me to pay another trip down just to collect the forms, so she emailed them to me. My husband then went down to the Centre after a few days to pay the deposit and hand in the completed forms. Thereafter, Teacher Karen emailed me the infant class checklist on what to bring on the first day. A week before the date of enrolment (sometime in early Dec 2012), Teacher Karen called me to inform that there was a case of HMFD in the school and asked me if I can delay my son’s enrolment. She also advised me on how I can better help ease my son into the centre’s regime by allowing him to stay for longer hours each day over a period of a week until he goes there full-time. The teachers were fantastic in that they were patient in training my son to drink his milk from a straw cup and to improve his ability to chew his foods. Another apparent thing I observed was the strong rapport between the teachers and parents. In light of this, I agree with Peiying’s comment about how the teachers not only educate the kids, they educate the parents.

Up to a month before moving onto Toddler class at 18 months, the teachers helped ensured a slow but steady transition for my son. They started with introducing him to the play time at the indoor playground with the other kids, having tea time with his toddler classmates and joining the toddlers for activities. With the guidance and handholding by the caring teachers, my son’s transition to toddler class was nothing but smooth. My son really enjoys his time spent at the centre. I also noted that since he started at Global kids, my son has made vast improvements in his ability to comprehend what I say, and to verbalize his thoughts. Another thing which I am very thankful for is that he is now very adventurous with foods and is eating very well. Just last week when I brought him for a checkup, his PD commented that he is growing well and has in fact moved to a higher percentile chart for weight gain.

I would like to provide my take on some of the things you mentioned in your post:

1. I am ok with the teachers carrying my crying son into the Centre. It may be an uncomfortable sight to watch, but 10 out of 10 of the times, the kid is ok once inside. In fact, I am thankful for the teachers for doing that as I need to make my way to office after dropping him off at the Centre. IMHO, I seriously feel it’s a very bad idea to linger around because when crying kids catches glimpses of their parents, they start bawling. This in turn prolongs the adjustment into the new environment.

2. I am in support of the Centre’s stand in not allowing parents to accompany their kids for the first few days at school. By allowing this will only "open a can of worm" (i.e. create more problems). As kids get older, they find it harder to adapt and adjust to school, which could be the case for your daughter. If parents are allowed in every time a new kid joins, strangers within the premises will make other kids feel insecure and unsafe. This might also jeopardize the efforts put in by other parents and teachers in helping their kids to ease in. Just as you don’t bring your kids to work with you, do you? Similarly, when kids go to school, parents shouldn’t follow.

3. I concur with Globalkids’ stand in not allowing parents to celebrate their kids’ birthdays in school. Since my son joined Globalkids 8.5 months ago, I didn’t need to worry about anxiety caused to my son due to the repeated parents who are free to go in and out of the Centre. I accolade the Centre’s efforts to keep my kid safe and feel secure. If I cannot celebrate my son’s birthday in school, I can always celebrate his birthday at home. Of course, there is no stopping me from preparing birthday goodie bags to give to the kids in his class.

4. I like that each class has its own classrooms. The layout of the premises is not that of centres operated at HDB void decks where so called ‘classrooms’ are makeshift tables and chairs with cupboards as partitions. That, in my opinion as an educator of 10 years, is not conducive for learning.

5. If Globalkids is akin to a ‘jail’, it must be a really happy jail’! Every day when I fetch my son home, he runs to me laughing. On the way home in the car, he would tell me about his day. My son loves going to school. I love their management style, and there’s really nothing wrong with instilling discipline and structure (I am not comfortable with the use of the word ‘rigid’) from a young age. Even medical experts attest to the notion of getting young kids adhere to routines as they usually perform better with them.

6. I have learnt many invaluable lessons from Teacher Karen and all the teachers at Globalkids on parenting. They taught me how I can help my son to maximize his learning, right down to details of foods to avoid when my son has mild diarrhea. I am deeply grateful towards all the teachers, for giving advice even when I didn’t ask for it.

7. The good reputation and image portrayed by Globalkids as being safe, clean, hygenic and warm was not built overnight. It was a concerted effort by the management, the teachers and also the support from the parents. As a result of this, parents can have peace of mind at work knowing their kids are safe and protected. More importantly, we do not need to worry about episodes of illnesses such as HMFD (not everyone is blessed to take leave as and when we have to) which are contagious.

Last but not least, I would like to say that “one’s man meat is another man’s poison”. What works well for me did not work well for you. Hope that all is well with your arrangement for your daughter at another Centre.

Good luck!