Sweet Miracles

Credits:
Remember me kit by Dani Alencar

Not sure how come today when i upload this LO, it comes out supersized, though the settings are all as usual. So this is just the thumbnail version, and you can click on the pic if you wanna have a closer look. Love the colours of this kit, and love this quote by winnie the pooh too, which seems perfect for these bunch of photos. If you are wondering abt that large pic of little boy, well, i cropped it that way cos there’s this guy on the left of little boy in the background, and it turned out to look artistic anyway.

Mr Gua Gua and i went on a childcare centre tour on Friday. We wanted to cover 4 centres: Eager Beaver at Safra, Carpe Diem Kidz at Alexandra Rd, Whole Child Nurture Centre at Kampong Senang and JHS Montessori at River Valley Rd. In the end, Mr Gua Gua had a meeting in the morning and had to go back to office and since 1-3 pm is usually naptime in most centres, we decided to catch the movie Enchanted (officially my fave movie!), and then had a late lunch cos Mr Gua Gua had a 10% voucher (the bill came up to 50+ bucks anyway… what a feast!).

So we only managed to go to Carpe Diem Kidz and JHS Montessori. In any case, the other 2 are also more unlikely. Eager Beaver is the nearest to our place – Mr Gua Gua likes it cos of the uniforms (cos of the cute pic of a beaver in front… sigh!), plus it’s also one of the cheapest. However i don’t like it cos it’s air-con and i saw hot dogs somewhere in the menu. Whole Child Nurture Centre is all the way in Kovan, so travelling wld be a chore – however it’s the cheapest, and a very huge plus is that they serve organic vegetarian food, and all of the play materials are natural. Still, no car, and doubt Mr Gua Gua’s parents will wanna drive little boy there everyday, so too bad.

We went to JHS Montessori first. This centre is actually owned by Poh Erh Shih, so i thought it had great potential plus i was quite into Montessori. It turned out that there are 2 separate centres – the kindergarten which is fully Montessori, and the childcare which is Montessori integrated into learning corners concept (the latter, i only heard for the first time, twice). However, i agreed with the childcare teacher’s rationale for the integration, that Montessori is a little rigid, as its materials have a “right” and “wrong” to them, since they serve specific functions in developing the child’s skills, hence once the toddler is 2 over years, they transit the toddler to the learning concepts classroom, where there is a wider range of materials and learning methods are also more open and flexible.

The place was old, but it’s spacious and clean inside. The teacher was also the straight-faced but kind, the type that you know would be strict and at the same time good to the children. The only fault i have with the place was the cramped outdoor area, with only a very small yard and one playground structure. Also, the teacher didn’t encourage half-days in the afternoon, which was what i was looking for, cos the children don’t do much in afternoons. I know this is the case for many childcare centres, but was disappointed anyway, cos i wasn’t keen on the idea of going to work in the morning and coming back in the afternoon since all 3 of us are late risers, and we all enjoyed having slow-paced, leisurely mornings of breakfast and little boy’s TV shows.

On our way to Carpe Diem, Mr Gua Gua managed to get his parents to give us a lift. Upon arrival, i was a bit shocked to see the place looks like it was full of wild weeds… but upon close look, it was actually exactly like what the photos of it that i saw on one of those mummy forums. Entering it gave us an even better perspective of the place, and environment wise, it was Perfect! There was a herbs and spice garden, a little animal farm with rabbits, chickens, ducks; on the other side, there was a playground, rubber tyres, a sand pit and a little wooden platform bridge. Inside, the place is huge too, with such a wide range of learning materials. What i particularly liked was the dress-up corner, with a no. of brightly coloured costumes (which JHS Montessori has as well, but fewer items) as well as shelves of empty household product cartons and bottles, for even better make-believe play.

The dining area is also huge, and at the corner, i was thrilled to see this giant trampoline with netted walls around – could just imagine little boy jumping up and down in there! (yes, little boy has recently learnt to jump!)

The equipment and facilities are really amazing… it’s hard to imagine kids not enjoying themselves in a place like this, cos there seems to be endless possibilities of things to do. The director was this petite lady who seems like a little kid herself, but apparently had a masters degree in early childhood education. It was nice talking to her, and she also seems to believe very much in holistic learning too. But i think what really made this place stood out was that not only do they allow afternoon half-days and that the afternoon programme is no less interesting than the morning programme cos it starts after the naptime and stretches to evening time, there is currently a $1oo discount for the afternoon programme due to low numbers, which places it nicely in our comfortable price range.

I had definitely no complaints abt this place – the outdoors environment was exactly what i wanted for little boy, and indoors facilities kinda exceeded my expectations, the food seems healthy enough and of cos, the fact that they have afternoon programme with the discount – perfect! Not to mention they even have a weekly report for the parents, with photographs and descriptions of what the children covered during the week.

Unfortunately, Mr Gua Gua’s parents who stayed in the car made a big hoo-ha about the mosquitoes and the fact that the place was inconvenient and my FIL is certain that it wld flood during rain cos it was lower than the road. Huh?! I believe the drainage systems in Singapore is pretty gd right? If the place really floods, there wldn’t even be any children at all, and they already have full house, except for the afternoon program.

Well, unfortunately, we do depend on them for driving little boy there, so hopefully they might change their minds about this place, cos it seems to be The One. I just have such a great feeling abt this place, and i can imagine that little boy wld be very happy there, jumping on the trampoline and playing with the little animals! Thinking of this already puts a smile on my face.

We will most prob be starting him on childcare early next year… maybe in Jan. Ok ok, i know i have been talking abt homeschooling and stuff, but i think childcare centres such as this, which emphasises holistic learning, are still pretty harmless, in that they won’t cause the child to become resistant to learning. On the contrary, i do believe that such environments are better than the home environment cos the TV is not on half the day, and the materials and peers in the childcare wld provide gd stimulation for little boy. I have also heard that children who start childcare early (but not too early of cos) tend to be interpersonally stronger, and less self-centred than children who stay at home till K1. Of cos, there are exceptions to everything, and i suppose the latter only applies to children who actually do get pampered by their caregivers, mostly the grandparents. And that’s my reason for sending little boy to childcare too. He’s at an age where boundaries needs to be enforced, and my MIL is just too permissive with him – little boy is always bullying her by refusing to eat and sleep, though he doesn’t do that with me nor my mum.

Anyway, little boy is such a inquisitive and social creature – i truly believe that he wld have so much fun in Carpe Diem Kidz. Too bad i cannot join in the fun there and can only hear about it…but as long as he is happy. Little boy is going to school!