Tag Archives: child care

And then she (Chhori) cried…

I wrote recently how Chhori has started childcare and how she was been great. It is sad to see that, she no longer runs to the toys or forgets about us as soon as we go inside the childcare.

I think slowly she has started to realise that, she needs to go to the childcare regularly and her reaction started changing.

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Normally AS goes to drop her off so I can start work early and I pick her up a bit early.

In the last few weeks, Chhori’s reaction to childcare has slowly changed from no tears to lots of tears.

The first few days, she refused to let go of AS when they got inside the childcare. Then she started to cry once inside the childcare and now she refuses to eat her breakfast and starts crying as soon as she is in front of childcare.

I was really happy when we had no tears initially but that period is over now. It really breaks my heart that she has to go through this.

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I know it is a natural stage of development and every parent has to go through this journey but this makes me feel so guilty and question our decision to do it in the first place. She is not even 2 years old and doesn’t communicate that well which makes it even harder.

I am glad I am not the one who has to drop her off regularly because I would have cried with her every time there is a drop off. Just checking with AS every day and knowing that she cried makes feel me so sad.

I feel so helpless; don’t know what to do to make it easier for Chhori. All the parents out there who have been through this please give me some advice/suggestions.

Take care everyone.

from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

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Chhori started childcare

I am sure you all remember when I announced the arrival of Chhori into our lives. I am sorry to tell you all that 22 months has already passed since then and you have all grown older. Yap Chhori is 22 months old now and has stared childcare from last Friday. And it was a big milestone for us as well.

We had planned the day in advance and both AS and I had taken the day off. As I mentioned in my previous post, when we went for a visit to the childcare, she refused to come home but we were not sure how she would handle being there for a whole day.

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I have to admit, I was more nervous than anything. I was worried if the teachers will understand her needs and how they will feed her. I think being a mother; it was harder to leave her with complete strangers for a whole day. I know every parent has to go through this and we were lucky to have my parents to help out until now.

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The big day finally arrived. That morning, I just told her she is going to go to school today. I don’t know how much she understood but she seemed excited (it could just have been because we were going out).

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She ate her breakfast and happily allowed me to change her clothes and was more than happy to carry her bag. As we were leaving, she wanted to take her toys with her including the baby shopping cart. We explained to her that the toys can’t go with her but there will be lots of new toys at the childcare and she was OK to leave them at home.

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It was raining that day and that didn’t help my mood at all. We parked and went inside the centre. Once we were inside the child care, she went and played with other kids without hesitation. I was surprised that she didn’t even care if we were there or not, just went inside the room and started playing with toys and mingling with other kids

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It was very emotional for me to see our daughter become a toddler and so independent but at the same time I was very proud of her. We told the teacher to call us if anything came up and we can come back to pick her up anytime.

At noon as there had been no calls from the childcare I called to check if everything was ok. The reply was she is doing really well, had her snacks and meals and a nap. Not a tear for the whole day.

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So we decided to go and pick her up at the end of the day only so that she would get used to the whole day care.

When we went to pick her up, she seemed happy. She had biscuits in each hand.  She came to us said “Mama” and “Papa” and kissed me. I was really happy to hear good reviews form her teacher. She was well behaved the whole day and enjoyed her first day of childcare.

Please share your own experience of childcare and any suggestions you have for this anxious mother to make her stay there better.

Take care everyone.

from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

P.S.Please vote for  Nepaliaustralian Blog Award

https://nepaliaustralian.com/2017/01/10/nepaliaustralians-blog-award-2016-nominations-announced/

Child care visit

From the day Chhori was born, every parent around us has suggested putting Chhori on the waiting list for childcare. From their experience it can take more than a year to get a place. As I had to come back to work from my maternity leave, we put down Chhori’s name in two different childcare centres when she was around a few months old thinking she will have to go to child care when she is one, which is when I came back to work.

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But lucky for us, my parents decided that they would come and look after Chhori and we were lucky to have them around. But unfortunately like every good thing in life, their stay in Australia will come to an end in a few months’ time which means we need to put Chhori in childcare 5 days a week while we are at work.

Happy 35th Anniversary Dad & Mum (5)

So it was time for us to do childcare visits to determine which childcare we want to send her to. We got offers from two different childcares so we decided to visit them on the same day and we took Chhori with us.

We met with the teachers in both the child care centres where they showed us around the rooms she would be in and also the play area and the toys they have. They also showed us their process for doing things and updating us about her as well as what kind of food is given to her while she will be there.

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At the first childcare Chhori saw a drawing table with crayons and paper so she insisted that she wanted to draw. The teacher was kind enough so she was allowed her to draw while we had a chat with the teacher. Once we finish our tour, it was time for us to leave but Chhori refused to go wanting to draw some more.

We distracted her and finally we were out.

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At the second childcare, as we were doing the tour, she spotted a few kids and a teacher playing with blocks. She straight away went and started playing with them. We did the rest of the tour without her but I was so surprised that she didn’t seem to care at all that we were not around her. I am sure she didn’t even look for us until we finished everything and went to get her to go home.

No matter what we said she didn’t want to go home so we had to pick her up against her will and leave. She was crying when we left.

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That got both us wondering if we made a mistake by not sending her to the childcare sooner. As I have previously mentioned, she is very social and loves people but seeing her enjoying childcare so much, now we hope she will have an easy transition to go to childcare part time in January and full time from March.

I will definitely share our experience next year. Please do share your own childcare experience with your kids. Is it normal for kids to not want to go home?

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO

Gender of the child should not limit the choice of toys

As a society, especially in the western world, we are so driven by the unwritten rule of the society that we don’t even stop to think before following it.

I was surprised and annoyed when one of my friends commented that Chhori has boy’s toys like cars, trucks and buses.

But this is not the first time I have heard such comments. When Chhori was a baby, I had her dress in onesies which was had blue stripes and someone commented on Facebook, “How cute is the baby boy”. I don’t know this person (friend of my friend) but just by the colour of the clothes Chhori was wearing, she judged the gender of the child.

I have to admit, Chhori’s wardrobe is full of pink outfits but she also has blue dresses.

In the same way she has dolls but she also has cars and trucks. She actually plays with cars and trucks more than dolls at this stage.

Chhori (1)

She may turn out to be a girly girl in the future but I still want her to make her own decision on what toys she wants to play with, not just dolls and dress ups. It is my job to try to expose her to a wide range of toys, games and activities so she doesn’t get ideas that certain interests are only suitable for males or females.

I think it is not appropriate to tell children what their interests should be. If they are never offered the chance, a child may never find out if they enjoy a certain toy or style of play.

Do you agree with me? Please share your opinion about gender division of colour, toys and games for children.

Take care everyone,

M from nepaliaustralian

XOXO