Growth Chart for My Little Ones

Saturday, February 21, 2009

17 Feb 2009 - First day in Childcare

Today is Jerlene's 1st day in a childcare centre. We took leave to accompany her there in the morning. When we reached the centre, the children were all gathered in the assembly area listening to the teacher, who was reading a huge story book. It was followed by some songs and dance before the various age group went to their own classes.

There were 4 toddlers (including Jerlene) in the playgroup. After the assembly, it was water drinking session. Every children will take out their water bottle and start drinking. Then the teacher setup an indoor playground for the toddlers. Jerlene initially sticked very close to me but after a while, she started moving around the room, though she will keep a constant lookout for me.

After staying there for more than an hour, we decided to try and leave Jerlene alone with the teachers and other kids. When we bidded her goodbye, her separation anxiety kicked in and started crying for us. The teacher quickly carried her and tried to distract her. We left when we saw that she had calmed down. We went for our breakfast and walked along to rows of shops before going back to see how Jerlene was doing. We took a peek through the windows and we saw Jerlene sitting with other kids in a round table playing with building blocks. She seems ok, at least she's not crying anymore.

Although we have signed up for full day childcare, we decided to fetch Jerlene after her lunch since this is her first day. We do not want to put too much stress on her from day 1. When we went back to pick her up at around 12:30pm, she was sitting on a chair waiting for us while it was napping time for the rest. The teacher said that Jerlene was considered quite good as she did not cry much on her first day, unlike most other kids.

Great work, Jerlene! :-)

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