September 13, 2006
Mysterious ways
Creche places in Brunswick are, like everywhere in inner-city Melbourne, like the proverbial hen's teeth. After contacting everything in the area, both private and community, it looked like the only possibility was to start with two days in one of the private centres and hope that we would be able to get another couple of days sometime in the future. With oma and opa coming from the Netherlands for the summer this didn't seem too bad an option and I figured we'd muddle through in the meantime with Grandma's help and the ocassional babysitter.
Thursday last week I went to visit the creche which seemed lovely in every way. Privately owned for 18 years by the same people, a small room of ten toddlers who would then all go up into three-year-old kindergarten together, a lovely couple of girls as his carers and a nice mixed bunch of kilds. There was just one thing nagging at me afterwards and it took a while for me to put my finger on exactly what it was but finally it dawned on me. Weren't the kids a bit too quite for toddlers?
Compared to the exhuberance I see in Jacob, the other kids and his carers where he is now, everyone seemed a little subdued. Not at all unhappy mind you, but definetly on the quiet side. Jacob likes to fit in and I think it would be a bit of a shame if after six months he'd become a quieter child. Sure, there are times I'd give my eye-teeth for a quieter child; hurrying through Coles with a toddler launching himself on passing strangers screaming "Komm naar beneden een vechten met mij!" (Thank God its in Dutch!)is one of them, but the spontanous enthusiasm that Jacob and his carers have now for everything is so much a part of who he is I'd hate to see it diminished. I'm still not sure what it was, maybe with the owner, manager and senior kindergarten teacher being older Greek-australians there is more emphasis on keeping the children orderly than in a centre managed by younger people. There was certainly nothing wrong with their care, but I couldn't see it being the best fit for Jacob.
In desperation I went to visit one of the community places on Friday which had only the one day available per week. As soon as I walked in I felt Jacob would be at home here; in terms of style of care, it seemed to sit precisely in between his old place in Amsterdam and the place he is is now, both of which we think have been brilliant. It would be worth the trouble of muddling through with just the one day (and maybe having to do much of my work at night) just to have our foot-in-the-door at such a nice place. Miracles happen, as while I was there they got the news that another child would be giving up Fridays and we would be able to have that as well. Two days! Even more amazing before I left another child's parents had been in too say that they were moving in a couple of months, thus freeing up some more days, which maybe, after consulting the internal waiting list, we might be able to have one of.
I feel like I've won the lottery! We not only have a nice place for Jacob close to home but have broken into the Holy Grail of childcare in Australia: .....community care!
Posted by Faith