Childcare and Its benefits

 An introduction to Childcare

We last spoke of challenges faced by parents in childcare. We picked up a whole spectrum of them, from selecting the right child care centre to even trying to understand the challenges faced also by the childcare centre operator. With this complete evaluation then we can arrive at a win-win situation. Parental partnership with the child care centre staff is a very vital factor to practice to reap mutual success. Knowledge without understanding does not produce wisdom. Without wisdom we easily make wrong choices.

Safety of Premises for Childcare in Kuala Lumpur

The security and safety of your child is paramount to all other factors in your checklist of assessment to select a childcare centre. Licensed childcare centres have stringent guidelines to abide by, from various local authorities. They are regulated by law under the Childcare Act 1984. What do we physically observe and assess as the vital safety factors?

Of immediate importance, the following should be considered:

• An emergency exit, in case of fire. That is another door in the premises, other than the main entrance. A premises located on the ground floor is usually more advantageous from a safety viewpoint.
• The presence of a CCTV surveillance system installed on the premises. All daily activities of the staff/caregivers are closely monitored.
• Fully trained staff, proficient in safety, health and environment practices
• The availability of an appointed panel doctor
• Ability to handle medical emergencies
• Availability of Standard Operating Procedures SOP
• Good housekeeping practice
• An independent review of the child care centre, for example from Kiddy123

Check out and view this URL:

http://www.kiddy123.com/listing/polka-dot-bear-baby-child-care-centre-tropicana-petaling-jaya.html

(Note: The above safety assessment is obviously not exhaustive)

What Kiddy123 independently say of Childcare in Kuala Lumpur

Excerpts of independent reviews by Kiddy123 to throw some light on this matter.

In days gone by, kindergartens and nurseries were housed in large bungalows surrounded by sprawling well-manicured grounds dotted by huge shady trees and beautiful blooming gardens. I remember my kindergarten well. It was built in the form of a traditional Malay kampung house on stilts with a mixture of mortar and timber. It had beautiful coloured windows and it was also airy and open. The grounds surrounding it were very well kept by a team of gardeners led by a man named Samy. They would toil in the hot sun trimming the hedges and gathering up fallen leaves from the 3 huge Angsana trees. I can still see the cars and vans driving up the long driveway to pick up and drop off students.

As I was taken on a tour of this cosy little kindergarten, I noticed that everywhere I went there was soft barely audible classical music playing in the background. And I was told that music from this composer, Mozart, was particularly soothing and helps to calm the children and enhances their abilities to focus and concentrate. Note to self – look further into this.

Some Benefits of Childcare Reviewed

All the educators at Polka Dot Bear are experienced and highly qualified with at least a degree or diploma in Early Childhood Education. “This aspect of our operations is very important as parents today will enquire about our teachers’ profiles,” adds Ms. Kathy. Food and meals are prepared fresh daily and sometimes the children even get to enjoy home cooked meals by the condominium residents themselves!

For a relatively ‘young’ kindergarten of only 4 years and being located within a condominium complex, Polka Dot Bear has really impressed with their curriculum, syllabus and teaching, their ability to get parents involved in most of their outings and activities plus their quality of care, passion and nurturing. Some of the places where Polka Dot Bear have taken their students for outings are Jungle Gym and Farm in the City. They have also celebrated our independence day through “Merdeka in the Condo”. “All credit should go to my team who have worked so tirelessly to make Polka Dot Bear a place where children are happy to come to. A nurturing and safe place where they can come to learn, discover and develop at their own pace, knowing that their actions and progress are appreciated and acknowledged,” says Ms. Kathy proudly.

Statistics for Childcare in Kuala Lumpur

A statistical excerpt:

Children statistics, Malaysia, 2017 presents selected child statistics as the basis to measure the quality of life and well-being of children at the national and state levels. The compilation of statistics in this publication consists of four main fields, namely population, health, education and child protection. The statistics were obtained from secondary sources which involved various government agencies.

1. A) POPULATION

In 2017, the composition of children under 18 years is 29.4 percent that is 9.4 million children out of 32.0 million population. In terms of sex, the number of male children (4.9 million persons) is more than females (4.6 million persons).

Meanwhile, the composition of children under-5 years is 8.2 per cent of the total population in Malaysia. The number of male children (1.4 million persons) is more than females (1.3 million persons).

Source: Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)

What you still need to know of Childcare

From an analysis of statistics, sadly only 14% of the population can afford to pay RM1000 – RM1500 per month per child for licensed daycare service. So for parents in this category, we should count our blessings. For the rest we pray there is sufficient governmental intervention and incentives, as from now to implement current policies and laws to set up nursery care in workplaces to reduce the childcare cost, hopefully in the very near future.

Interestingly, Malaysian parents seem to be focusing on the newer areas of learning rather than the traditional 3Rs. The survey indicated that the areas in early childhood education that parents think “most important” for their child to learn or achieve are language speaking (65% of parents), character building (64%), moral values (63%) and real life skills (53%).

This compares with fewer parents who rated “very important” for reading (48% of parents), writing (41%) and mathematics & science (39%).

Once again, food for thought for our next blog. Thank you for reading or listening. Stay tuned.