The period before the birth of your first child is often described as being “magical”. The anticipation is also accompanied by the fact that as parents-to-be, you will deal with new topics like what you need for the children’s room, where the birth should take place, nice first names and much more besides. If both parents want to continue working, it is necessary to choose a suitable form of childcare. Depending on the family situation, an extrafamilial solution is required. The search for a childcare place commences. As soon as you start looking at daycare centres’ websites, you may notice terms like “early childhood development and education”, “resilience” or “educational quality”. But what do they really mean? Find out what is behind these terms and how your child will benefit from them in the future.
Education in daycare centres or at preschool age in general contains all aspects of learning. However, this does not mean that two or three-year-old children have to swot up on mathematics and English. It means that they are educationally supported and optimally encouraged in their emotional, social and cognitive development. At this age, learning means gaining varied experience on all levels.
A person never learns so many new things as in the first year of their life. It is generally recognised that the first six years of life shape your whole life in terms of emotional, social and cognitive learning. This applies in both a positive and a negative sense. That is why every action in daily daycare centre operations is a form of education: every word, gesture and facial expression; the range of games on offer; interior design; group make-up. Educational considerations are always given top priority. The question is rather what quality this everyday education has and whether it is built on professional foundations.
Two points are important here:
- The number and level of education and expertise of the childcare staff
- The relationship structure between childcarers and children – in the first 1,000 days, the relationship is the most important basis for development
Recognising, identifying and responding appropriately to requirements creates trust, provides certainty and a sense of security for the child and stimulates their sense of adventure and curiosity.
Well-educated and proficient employees and an optimal childcare ratio are essential factors for ensuring that your child is well cared for. A professional provider should if at all possible not be profit-oriented, but rather invest in basic and further training, thus ensuring that proficient employees can be acquired and retained. The costs associated with a childcare place in a daycare centre are accordingly high. Ask your local authority and/or employer about this at an early stage, so that you can request appropriate subsidies in good time. Every canton has its own policy on subsidies.
Here is an example of education that is well implemented in daily daycare centre operations:
- Your child is lovingly greeted in the morning on an equal footing, the childcarer is responsive and attentive to your child’s sensitivities and welcomes them to the daycare centre.
- There is a jovial atmosphere in the daycare centre, and children and childcarers treat each other in a loving and respectful manner.
- Your child immerses themselves in many different topics through games, activities and projects and can gain many different experiences with their senses.
- Your child is becoming more and more independent because they are allowed to perform many everyday activities themselves. This is due to the fact that the childcarer gives your child the time and space they need, as well as performing everyday tasks together with them in peace and quiet.
- Childcarers praise your child’s behaviour and not the girls’ beautiful dresses or the boys’ speed; they act in a gender-sensitive manner and pay attention to behavioural patterns – for these can be developed: with this conscious form of communication, the childcarers systematically strengthen your child’s resilience.
- In the daycare centre, there is lots of space and time for gaining experience from independent playing; the rooms are tidied to the extent that the children have access to playing materials and can freely choose and decide depending on their needs – romping around in the group room or garden, building, arts and crafts, role playing, etc.
- With you as the most important reference person, the daycare centre establishes cooperation with parents which is based on mutual appreciation and respect during regular meetings; you and your child are accompanied and supported in resource-oriented fashion.
The educational concept of kids & co daycare centres takes into account the latest findings and developments of the Marie Meierhofer Institute. Educational quality is rated very highly in kids & co daycare centres. The focal points are: bonding, language development, motor development, development of thinking, social development, health and physical development as well as resilience. Your child will benefit from this when they start attending the daycare centre or at the latest when they start going to kindergarten after a smooth transition.
kids & co operates 19 daycare centres all over Switzerland. Every region invests in a central office which sets the quality standards together with the daycare centre managers and monitors the implementation thereof. The childcarers are regularly trained at conferences and meetings, as well as in daily operations, and are able to concentrate even better on childcare thanks to the centralised administration. Our childcare quality is continuously reviewed and improved; to that end, we also work with the Thurgau University of Teacher Education. There are tools and vessels for exchanging knowledge and experience within the team: internally within the daycare centre and externally with other daycare centres. As a parent, you have an additional contact in the form of the centralised educational management team.
Are you looking for a suitable daycare centre for your child? Then download our checklist now which contains useful tips for your search for a daycare centre.
