March 4th, 2010
So another story of a child being lost in child care….is our system failing us?
There was a story in the news today about how a child care worker was sacked and 2 others are under investigation for a toddler leaving their centre and being missing up to 30minutes before police returned the toddler. He was supposedly playing in the outside play area of Swinburne Childcare Centre in Melbourne on Monday when he slipped past supervisors and wandered on to a busy road.
This brings flash backs for me. The very first time I left my little girl (3yrs) was at a preschool in Yea. She had been 2 weeks and on the 3rd week when I went to collect her she actually met me at the car park outside the centre unbeknown to the centre staff. I went in to collect her things and let them know that I had found her in the car park and there was very little response. It was basically unacknowledged. I did complain to the appropriate authorities and they were investigated. No one lost their jobs and as far as I know not even disciplined. The part time admin lady had told me that they had had to review their procedures and had made amendments upon recommendations made to them from their visits from the authorities. They were keen to have her back and kept saying she was welcome and everything had been addressed when I would bump into the staff or management in the street, yet they hadn’t addressed my fear of their lack of care!
How can you regain trust having experienced such a breach of trust? I was mortified and all the what-if’s ran through my mind. The preschool was on a main road and had she turned right instead of left she would have been on it; or what happened if someone took her from the car park; or what happened if she was hit by a car in the car park….and so on. I can certainly appreciate the need for such penalties as being sacked as you have entrusted your precious child in their care…there is no excuse for being remise!
Posted in In the News | No Comments »
December 28th, 2009
It’s the quality of the interactions that boosts a child’s development and well-being. Research has even stated that the amount of time kids spend in childcare or away from their family doesn’t itself cause problems. What does concern kids is if their parents are stressed and cranky all the time, especially if this time is limit.
Is it a trip to the shops? Watching TV together? Reading books or talking? Doing activities together?
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Parenting | No Comments »
December 28th, 2009
My girls (3yrs & 4yrs) are very much into being helpful (around the house is a whole other story) and doing all the things us mums (and dads) do. In particular they would, if they could, cook us dinner! While, I’m not complaining per say…I do have some reservations about the limits that we, well I mean I, need to set. My husband and I don’t necessarily see eye to eye on this one as he is the 5 star Chef and so thinks it is great to have budding Chef’s. Secretly I think he is grooming them so he can kick back (he does 99% of the cooking- only so it is actually edible! but I’m not complaining).
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Our Chef | No Comments »
December 28th, 2009
We are all guilty of it at some point, even if we don’t like to admit it out loud and if we justify it by saying it is only to allay our own fears or see if said child is on track. I’m talking about comparing other kids to our own.
Well, this is common but not such a good idea, especially if you compare and don’t get the outcome you had hoped.
Because each little munchkin develops at a slightly different and individual rate, it is useless to compare oranges to apples. I know you think I have gone completely barmy saying our kids are oranges and apples but since a child has individual experiences, genes, etc it is not as crazy as it sounds….well, maybe a little. Yes, there are general ‘guidelines’ but basically unless they are what is considered as being delayed significantly then we are all, to a degree, only torturing ourselves.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Child Development | No Comments »
December 28th, 2009
I have been struggling to understand the theory behind and the policing of a what seems to be new law that is to come into effect in May 2010. See, the thing I am having trouble with is I read an article about it in July this year and have not had any success in finding any further mention of the said certification by way of a certificate.
The certificates will be compulsory for self employed nannies and tutors and anyone without one will risk a $2,000 fine. The Minister for Youth, Graham West, says the certificates cost $80 and involve a police check.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Nannying | No Comments »
December 28th, 2009
Good or bad? Is it a question of child care on tap or an idea of vision to look at expanding child care into shopping centres?
Goodstart has the idea of expanding into shopping centres to offer educational daycare with one-stop convenience. BTW… GoodStart is a consortium of the charities Mission Australia, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Benevolent Society and Social Ventures Australia. They are the recent owners of the 678 daycare centres it purchased from the failed ABC child care enterprise.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in In the News | No Comments »
December 28th, 2009
It would seem that it is slow and steady that is perhaps going to win the race. There seems to be a shift in the wind. Whatever clichés I could use here does not quite do it justice. You see I have been shaking my head for many years at the state of our child care and now it seems I won’t have to shake my head off after all. Well, I can at least take a breather from shaking it. It would appear that the government has figured out that it need to ‘sort out’ the child care system and has started on its way to help achieve quality child care. Starting next year, centres will be given “quality ratings” and from 2014 they will be forced to hire extra staff. Till now the government seemed to traditionally appear to regard childcare as a workforce issue, but the shift seems to be that the government was now “looking at the child” instead.
Of course I am not alone at the sadness and frustration of our child care system and the search for but lack of quality care. I can hear a collective sigh of relief and happiness of a change that has been long overdue.
Watch this space. Let’s see if it is the difference we have been waiting for.
Posted in In the News | No Comments »
November 1st, 2009
Well, the jury is still out on this one…..but it is mostly true. Regardless of flouride or not it is important to brush your child teeth till they are 7 yrs twice a day is the rule that seems to be clear. I am happy to have their teeth brushed twice a day but I have had to compromise with the me brushing them the both times to me brushing them once and they brushing them once too- go independence.
But here are the facts……..Reseach of the 1940 believed that floride used properly prevented and could even reverse tooth decay. A more recent study done by a school of dentistry has found that if it is applied correctly or not over-used it doesreduce the incidents of early tooth decay.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Myths Busted | No Comments »
November 1st, 2009
There is evidence to support the negative side of the use of dummies such as it has been said children who have dummies may have nipple confusion and buck teeth.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Myths Busted | No Comments »
November 1st, 2009
Well, I’m not sure about you but with our first child we did everything we could to attempt to reduce the risk of SIDS. Of course, we also followed many measures with our second child but not in the same neurotic way we did with the first.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Myths Busted | No Comments »
