The Search For A Good Daycare

2 years, 3 months & 1 week old.....

Today is Ethan's last day at the current daycare. I can't wait to pick him up and bid farewell to the place. We have been searching for a daycare in our vicinity for the past 2 months. I have called about 10 daycare/preschool and visited 5 of them. Since we have no friends and relatives sending their kids to a daycare in that area, we have no one to refer to. I tried to search for it on the net but the information provided was not helpful at all. Most of the websites just give a list of taska/tadika and the contact details. What we need to know is definitely more than that.

First of all, we need to know if they accept kids of 2 years old. Some of them are actually quite reluctant to take 2 year-old kids and it's even worse if they are not fully potty-trained, like Ethan. There are so many other things to consider such as:

• Location
  
• Opening hours: I work from 8a.m.-5p.m. and most of the centres open at 8a.m., which is a no go for me.
  
• Set-up and facilities
• Education system: There are so many in the markets now but the one I came across are Montessori, Q-dees and Fungate. Montessori is very famous now. The other two are developed by locals. I heard a lot of good things about these 3 systems but it actually depends on how it is being implemented.
• Years of experience
• Teacher:student ratio
• Fees: There are so many types of fees (monthly fee, book fees, material fees, insurance, registration, uniform, bed rental, concert and so many more).
  

Before we found a suitable daycare, we have already informed the current one that August will be last month for Ethan. After interviewing four of them, we still could not make up our mind. Then I passed by one, which I happen to see almost everyday (only the back of the house as it's in a gated community) but never notice that it's a taska because all I could see is its purple colour external wall. By then, I was really desperate so I thought, this colourful building might be one of them. So, one fine night when we were going home, I asked hubby to turn around and check out the tiny piece of brochure on the wall at the back of this building. I was ecstatic to find out they do offer daycare service. We called them, made an appointment and interviewed the principal. Thank goodness, all our requirements are met.

This place was set up 2 years ago but the principal has more than 15 years of experience in running a kindy. She owns another kindy, which is very nearby and her mum owns a kindy too. Other things I found out are:

• They are using the Montessori system. The principal is one of the teachers too.
  
• Classrooms are fairly big compared to the other centres.
  
• Teacher:student ratio for Ethan's group is around 1: 6-8 (I can't remember clearly).
  
• Only 7 students stay there after class, including Ethan.
  
• After class, they will take their shower and lunch and at around 1.30 p.m., they will take their nap in a separate room. This is the only place where there is a separate room for the kids to nap. What the rest do is they will clear up the tables and chairs in the classroom and lay the stacking bed/mattress on the floor for the kids to sleep.
• They allow me to send Ethan at 7.40 a.m and I can pick him up before 7p.m, which I won't. The latest I will pick him up is 6.30p.m. but normally it's 5.30p.m.
• Location is perfect as it's less than 5 minutes drive from our place.
• Their fees are the cheapest compared to the rest we interviewed. The monthly fee is only RM500, not inclusive of other fees but not much.
  

I really hope that we have made a right choice this time and pray hard that they will at least maintain the current standard. I don't fancy another round of surveys for daycare.

Fed Up!!

2 years, 3 months & 4 days old.....

After weeks and months of consideration, we have decided to send Ethan to a new pre-school + daycare starting September 08. The condition at the current daycare is deteriorating fast and become almost unbearable to me. The last straw was when I caught them lying. I called to find out how was Ethan because he just recovered from Chicken Pox. The maid at the centre told me both bosses were not around. That was almost 11 a.m. in the morning. I really really hate this and it happened many many times already. They just leave the kids with the maid. Even though the maids have experience in taking care of the children, they can't just leave everything to the maids. What happened if there is an emergency??? The situation got worse when the number of maids getting less and less to the point now where one maid is taking care of around 8-10 kids!!!

So I called one of the lady bosses on her mobile. The conversation went like this:

Me: Hi....
Lady Boss: Hi, how is Ethan?
Me: I thought I should be asking you? (I asked jokingly but inside already boiling)
Lady Boss: No lar.....I ask how is he when he had Chicken Pox?
Me: He's ok...blablabla..........I called the centre earlier to find out how is he coz he was crying when I left.....
Lady Boss: No answer ar?
Me: Yeah...
Lady Boss: Yeah lar, sometimes they are at the back and the phone is in front, so they can't hear the phone ringing.
Me: Actually, I spoke to L and she said both you and A (another lady boss) also not around and there is not enough staff around. I'm worried lar
Lady Boss: Ooh.......... (then she changed the topic)

From then on, my trust on them vanished in the thin air. The more I dig, the more lies I discovered. At the same time, I went to look for new taska (preschool+ daycare) and we already informed them that August will be last month for Ethan. That time, we already found two taska, which are ok but have not decided on which one. Whatever it is, Ethan is leaving. That's for sure.

Just barely a week after we told them that Ethan is leaving, he got HFMD again!!!! That's one month after he got Chicken Pox. Can you see how FRUSTRATED I was?? Two days before Ethan got it, I overheard a mother telling a maid there that her son had HFMD. When I asked them, they lied about it and denied it. Remember the maid who said 'The doctors don't know anything'? She said that kid got virus, not HFMD!! I asked what virus, she cannot answer me. She said 'You know, virus like Chicken Pox can cause something to hand and mouth also.' Mind you that kid already got chicken pox about the same time Ethan got it and he was there throughout the time he was sick (except Sunday lar). How I got to know? My friend's baby is there and she had spoken to the mother. By the way, her baby is leaving also. She's as frustrated as I am.

So what the heck was maid talking about?? I just ignored her. No point talking to her. After Ethan got it, a few other kids also kena and the centre was closed for 4 days. They put all the blame on Ethan and told the other mothers my son got HFMD first. Nevermind lar, he's leaving soon. I just have to tahan for another 3 days.

Bitten By A Girl

2 years, 1 month, 1 week & 1 day old.....


The incident happened on 25 June 2008 (last Wednesday). When I picked him up at the daycare, I was immediately told that Ethan was bitten by a girl because they were fighting for toys. They showed me the teeth mark on his right arm. Gosh.. it was a very perfect teeth mark as I can see almost every tooth the girl has. I was a little dumbfounded so I didn't ask further. I hope Ethan didn't do the same thing to others.

When they lifted the sleeve to show me the mark, Ethan said 'Ethan pain pain ar' but I'm glad he didn't cry although I'm sure he did when it happened. I'm so proud of him for being such a tough boy. He said the same thing to hubby when we got home but when I took photos of the mark, he said 'no more pain pain'. Hmmmm.......I don't know why he said that. Probably he wanted to concentrate on the tv and didn't want mummy to disturb him.

*****************************

On another note, I was contemplating to change daycare for him. The main reason is I'm not too happy with the staff arrangement at the current daycare. A teacher is hired to teach and look after Ethan's group (about 9 of them). She clocks in at 8a.m. and clocks out at 5p.m. sharp. Although a teacher is hired to teach them but there is no proper education system. The maid will take over from her after she leaves. I normally fetch him at around 5.30-6 p.m. Another teacher comes twice a week (I think) to teach them art/craft. The two lady bosses supervise the whole daycare and there were a couple of times I found none of them were there. They went out to run errands leaving all the kids with the staff.

I was on a half-day leave last Friday and I made an impromptu visit to a daycare near my place. It's a Montessori-based pre-school + daycare. They accept kids from 18 months up to 6 years old, which are separated into 3 groups. The youngest group is for 2-3 years old kids and there are 12 of them at the moment. A little too big for my liking but what I like about the place is each teacher is assigned to a group and they are qualified teachers. The principal is there to supervise as well. Another two teachers come few times a week to teach art and music. There is only one maid at the centre, whose responsibilities are cleaning and house-keeping. They have proper facilities and education system. I saw a whole lot of Montessori items at the centre.

We have just paid the half-yearly fee (RM250) for materials/art work at the current daycare and to switch to the new daycare will means that the fee is burnt. We have to pay another RM250 (for art/materials) at the new place too apart from deposit and registration fee. Both places are charging almost the same fee for daycare.

To be fair to the current daycare, their service is reasonably good but I think it's time for Ethan to move on. For the same fee, he will get proper education system. I know.......I'm being kiasu here. It's just my thought and I haven't discuss this with hubby. I briefly mentioned to him about my impromptu visit and my views but there was no feedback from him.

A Little Accident

I received a call from the day care owner, M, last Friday morning. As usual, every time I receive her call, my heart beat will increase by double in split seconds. You know, they won't be calling to tell you that your son was crawling for the first time or your son enjoys the music class. There must be something....something not desirable that have just happened to your son.

So, M told me that there was a red spot on Ethan's left eye. She said it's not very serious but advised me to bring Ethan to the doctor. I wasn't very sure of what happened to Ethan. Being the usual me, I cannot wait until the evening to find out what happened to my baby. I zoomed off to the day care and saw the red spot, more like a blood spot. That worried me. I quickly called the clinic to make an appointment and off we went to see the paed.

The paed said the blood vessels burst and it was caused by trauma. Either Ethan was rubbing his eye too hard or he knocked on something but he's ok and can see things as usual. What a relief. He said the red spot will go away by itself within a week and medication is not necessary. He was perfectly normal that morning and I'm sure he didn't knock on anything at home. So I thought he must have either rubbed his eye too hard or knocked on something at the daycare. On Sunday, we noticed that there was a little greyish area under his left eye. I think this confirmed that he knocked on something lar.

I've been telling myself that kids do get bruises from time to time especially when they start crawling and walking and 'please don't be panick'. But when things like this really happen, I guess I cannot just be cool about it.

Look at the red spot on his left eye.
He was watching Barney at that time.


A little stunt that Ethan likes to perform

Fits

I received a call from the nursery owner (lets call her M) last Thursday morning telling me that Ethan just had an episode of fits. She said his hands and legs were cold and shivering, eyes rolled up, mouth opened and looked very pale. He was playing in the playpen at that time. All the other staff were scared and M picked Ethan up and tried to wake him up because he looked like almost wanted to pass out. I think she patted him on the back and he smiled at them. The episode lasted for around 15 seconds.

Oh man, my heart was pounding like mad. Immediately, after putting down the phone, I rushed to the nursery to pick Ethan up and brought him to see his paed. When I told the paed that he had fits but no fever, he was shocked. He did not fall either (that's what I was told). So I told him what happened at the nursery and he called M to get a better picture of what happened there. After that, he said it's very unlikely that Ethan had fits. Firstly because it lasted only for 15 seconds whereas fits will last for a few minutes. Secondly, he was not jerking but shaking. The paed also said if Ethan really had fits, he would need to go for a thorough check which includes brain scanning and will given anaesthetic or something like that. It will be traumatic for Ethan and for us as well. Gosh, I cannot imagine my son going through that kind of thing at his tender age. During the whole consultation, the little guy was his usual self and I'm a bit relieved to see that he was active and playful. So, the paed asked me to observe his condition.

Then I sent Ethan back to the nursery. I told M and the rest of the girls there what the paed said. You know what? They did not believed the paed. I was just trying to calm myself down and they started to make me get worried again. I stayed there for a while and chatted with M. She's a nurse, so is another lady, L, who is employed by M to take care of the young babies. M advised me to get second opinion and gave me the contact details of another paed.

I tried to call the no. given but nobody pick up the phone. So we decided to go to another paed, whom Ethan visited before, on Friday night. This paed was also recommended by M and he is a very experienced doctor. The discussion was so long I think people waiting outside must be swearing already. The conclusion was the same. Very unlikely to be fits. What a RELIEF! Other important points are:
1. If someone is having fits, you will not be able to wake him up.
2. After having fits, a person will go to sleep for a while and NOT SMILE at you.
3. He will be biting his teeth not opening his mouth.
4. His hands will jerk (with rhythm) not shake.

Anyway, the paed gave us a medicine to keep just in case the real thing happen. He also recommended a neurologist (is the spelling correct ar?) if we really really want to sent Ethan for a thorough check-up. Both hubby and me discussed and decided not to put our little boy through the horrible thing.

M called on Monday morning and I told her what the paed said. She was also relieved. The strange thing was when I told L what the second paed said, she asked me to get third opinion!!! Crazy mer!!! I don't know what was in her mind lar but I just said no.



(What? Another doctor???)