Childcare or no Childcare?
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Hi,
i need some advise… My son is now into his second month of attending half day cc.
He has become more confident and chatty and his separation anxiety stopped on the third week. However he still refused to eat his lunch. As most parents know, cc portion is already quite little. The most he managed is two spoonfuls and the teacher has to feed him.Sometimes he wont even eat. Initially i thought i will not face this problem… as he will try to follow what his friends are doing, and feed himself.
Now the teachers are working with me on this, but he would struggle to get away after 2 spoonfuls. To be honest, i think the food is not appealing to his tastebuds and that he is getting picky. But Im quite upset cos he used to be a good eater. When he comes home, he is able to eat though.
In a few months, i plan to put him on full day cc. But im so worried he will go hungry.
Pls help, suggestions anyone? Thank u so much! -
DD was like that too in the beginning. What I did was to take along a thermal flask with the porridge I cooked.
As my food was non-halal, I also brought along my own bowl and spoon. The teachers will give her the porridge and rinse the bowl and spoon for me. We maintained this practice for 2 months and she soon started to see the \"variety\" that school food presented, instead of my boring porridge. So one fine day, she decided to refuse my porridge and accepted school food. The teachers tell me that she loves school food now - even takes 2 bowls for lunch.
From there, I was also able to introduce newer types of food for dinner as well. So I gotta thank the school for this training.
So, feel free to work with the teachers, and prepare your own food for him. But make sure you don't make his home cooked lunch too interesting so he will learn to accept school food soon.
I took the short cut by preparing the porridge at night, put in the fridge and just heat up in the morning. Better than waking up so early to cook. Buy a thermal food container to keep the food warm. -
cherrygal:
Thanks cherrygal.DD was like that too in the beginning. What I did was to take along a thermal flask with the porridge I cooked.
As my food was non-halal, I also brought along my own bowl and spoon. The teachers will give her the porridge and rinse the bowl and spoon for me. We maintained this practice for 2 months and she soon started to see the \"variety\" that school food presented, instead of my boring porridge. So one fine day, she decided to refuse my porridge and accepted school food. The teachers tell me that she loves school food now - even takes 2 bowls for lunch. From there, I was also able to introduce newer types of food for dinner as well. So I gotta thank the school for this training.
So, feel free to work with the teachers, and prepare your own food for him. But make sure you don't make his home cooked lunch too interesting so he will learn to accept school food soon.
I took the short cut by preparing the porridge at night, put in the fridge and just heat up in the morning. Better than waking up so early to cook. Buy a thermal food container to keep the food warm.
But its more like he has no interest in the food, and all he wants is play when at the cc. So he really didnt care for the food. In the morning, all he has is bottle of milk, so i expect him to be hungry at lunch but no.
They suggest me to bring his own bowl n spoon which i did but it didnt help one bit. But he will want to eat after i fetch him home. Do you think he is purposely holding back on food to come home and eat instead? (cos now he is on half day)
Although the cc food does not look appealing, but he is also getting into a picky phase.
The plan was to switch him to full day after some time. But the other day, he gave both of us a wistful glance before walking in to cc.. and his daddy later said maybe its better for me to stay home with him, jus have him for half day learning hahahah! COs his non eating is a problem if he is on full day.
kids nowadays... :heresmyfish: -
So you have tried bringing your own food or just his own bowl? If he’s picky about food, then he should have no problems eating the food you cooked. Unless as you have said, he could be waiting to go home for lunch.
If you have the choice to stay home, then continue with the current arrangement lor. You won’t be so heartpain.
But really, if you send him full day, he won’t starve himself one… Kids get fussy becoz we parents (and grandparents) provide too many alternatives…
Dun want rice, eat bread / cereal
Dun want meat, eat pork floss, nuggets
Dun want milk, drink yoghurt drink… the list goes on
So the kids know and manipulate us. Baby books all say that if the kid refuses to eat what we give, we should just take away the food and not provide alternatives. Then offer the same food again a while later. That method worked for my fussy DD. I would take it away nonchalantly and start eating my dinner. DD would look at me and say "Mummy, I want to eat!" -
Hi, I’ve recently sent my 18 months DD to half day child care. I noted that one of her teachers is really fierce. DD was whining to be carried and the teacher raised her voice at her "stop it! xxx, stop it! 123 stop it!". She’s just 18 months and new to school. On another occasion, she shouted at a child "xxx, the chair is not for standing!" when she climbed on the chair and we could hear it from a distance. The 2 teachers also looked overwhelmed with crying kids (3 new kids in the class) even with a reasonably low 2:12 ratio and there seemed insufficient teachers looking after the children at the playground after drop off. We saw older toddlers playing with dustbin lids and water pipe near the playground. The principal does drop by the playground and class to help out occasionally, and the cleaning lady helps out at lunch time.
DD as expected cried quite a bit during these few days in class and also became very clingy to us after she started school and kept wanting to be carried, including having to carry and rock her to sleep when she used to be able to fall asleep on her own.
Seeing her cries, changed behaviour, perceived inadequate level of staffing, being scolded fiercely by the teacher, we are thinking of withdrawing her. I would say the latter being the main reason but not sure if we are being too protective and if the situation will be better after all the kids settle in. We are also worried about getting sick often and if she is too young to be exposed given lower immunity level. We do have alternate care available for her that we are comfortable with. Our purpose of sending her to half day child care is for her to socialize, learn both languages (we do not speak mandarin at home and the centre has language immersion programme) and be independent. We have feedback to the principal who assured us that she will remind the teacher to be gentler. She also provided solutions to resolve other minor issues.
It wasn’t easy for us to get a place in the childcare. As we have no prior experience with childcare centres, we also do not know what is acceptable and what is not, including what to expect from DD’s behaviour being in a new environment and coping with separation anxiety. We are still rather undecided and would like to know what you would do in our shoes. Thanks. -
Hi all,
I started sending my only kid to childcare centers when she turned 18mths just to learn to socialize. Do check out the places. Some places are a nightmare. If you have screaming teachers, stay clear. -
Yah, take her out. Childcare teachers should not scream. So far I have never heard my gal’s teachers raise their voices. They should be firm but not fierce. Change to another school.
If you have alternative care, wait till she’s >20 months then re-introduce her to another school for socialisation. She’ll be more ready then. Anyway, HFMD is quite rampant now so it’ll be good to stay home for this period of time.
In the meantime, boost her immunity by giving some multivitamins etc. -
Hi ahbombom,
Your precious one is the vulnerable one. Only 18 mths old get scolded by teachers, lack of staff some kids left unsupervised. Changed behaviour and cries, clingy => getting insecure already. Think the answer quite obvious. I will say withdraw her. No point put her there. Use the alternative arrangement you are comfortable with.
When she gets older ie. the year turning 3, and you have good help to look after your kid, you have the option of sending her to a kindy (3 hours) instead of a CCC. My impression is that it is hard to get a good CCC but chances of getting a good kindy with more patient, experienced teachers are higher.
All the best. -
Hi, many thanks for your views. The teacher is firm and very loud and we think she leans towards being fierce, at least that’s our impression of her. We are likely to go with our instinct and withdraw DD.
Having this disappointing experience, we are thinking if we should find another childcare for her or wait till the year she turns 3. For those of you who sent your child to childcare at 18 months for purposes of socializing, literacy, and learning to be independent, do you see any huge benefits of doing so instead of waiting till the year they turn 3?
Once again, thanks for your comments. -
I put my gal in full-day childcare since 22 mths. I am SAHM but work part-time occasionally. I saw superb improvement in her language skills and counting. She has also learnt to sing very well and has picked up good manners. I put her in so quickly despite me being quite free, was becoz I saw the good development of my elder boy. My MIL also just mentioned that my gal is faster in her speech development than her cousin of the same age who is not attending any childcare now.
Well, feel free to keep the kid at home if you can spare the time and know how to teach them the alphabet, numbers etc. It is very taxing to keep them occupied the whole day constructively. I figured the CCC would be much better than letting my gal watch TV at home most of the day if she stayed home.
Though she’s on the full-day programme, I send her there from 10am and fetch her home earlier. It’s more flexible this way.
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