Preschool

Summer will be here before you know it and if you’re like most parents, you’re probably thinking about the best summer camp for your children. While you still have some time, you shouldn’t wait too long because many camps are already full. Most parents freak out when thinking about summer camp research, but have you thought about child care and preschool summer camp?

I know what you’re going to say:

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You may have that a co-op can help you reduce child care costs, but many parents don’t really know how to answer the question, what is a co-op preschool.

By now, you’ve probably heard that the cost of child care and preschool is exorbitant. So much so that according to the Economic Policy Institute’s latest report, “high quality care is out of reach for working families”. The cost of daycare and preschool for a 4 year-old is around $19,000/year in DC (the most expensive in the US) and infant care in a center costs about $24,000/year!

So, the question is: would you like to pay less for preschool? Read on to learn about co-op daycare and preschool options, and how they can help you reduce child care costs.

Recent research from the same German behavioral scientists who brought us Männergarten suggests that children are born with an innate fascination for sharp objects, self-destruct buttons, and hazardous nooks and crannies.

OK, it’s a joke!

They probably don’t feel the need to allocate research funding to something that everyone knows is true 🙂

More seriously though: what can you do about your child’s safety?

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As a child, I pretended that I was a teacher and told everyone I was going to be a teacher one day.  As life would have it, I ended up obtaining a business education and working in the financial accounting and auditing world for 15 years.

When I became a parent, I found out how challenging it was to find reliable high quality child care. 

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One of the things parents look for when evaluating a child care provider, whether it’s a child care center, preschool or home daycare, is the discipline policy. After all, we all know that our toddler or preschooler is going to misbehave at some point. So it’s important to know what happens when a child misbehaves at daycare.

I know what you’re thinking:

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We’ve already been to Italy (for the Reggio Emilia approach and Montessori philosophy) so the next stop on our tour of preschool philosophies is Stuttgart, Germany!

This is where the Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette Company organized the first school based on Rudolf Steiner’s pedagogy in 1919. The educational approach is most commonly referred the “Waldorf” philosophy, although “Steiner” is also used.

So what is a Waldorf school?

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Did you know that the U.S. Department of Defense has the best regulated child care program in the country? We heard they are developing a 5-level “daycare sick child warning system” called “DEFCOUGH” based on the “DEFCON” system they developed during the cold war.

It goes something like this:

• DEFCOUGH 5: All quiet on the health front. Your child is eating normally and you try your best to build up their immune system with a balanced diet.
• DEFCOUGH 4: Early warning signs encountered, typically a cough or a runny nose. Take preemptive action such as an extra Vitamin C.
• DEFCOUGH 3: Daycare is no longer an option. Medic! Request a fly-by from a relative, babysitters, or neighbor to care for your child, because they’re too sick for daycare.
• DEFCOUGH 2: Request for fly-by negative. One or both parents need to request time off work to care for your child.
• DEFCOUGH 1: Request(s) for time off negative. Crisis imminent!

OK, DEFCOUGH is a joke, but the crisis scenario is all too real for working parents with children in daycare.

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Germans are an interesting bunch when it comes to caring for children both young and (nominally) old. Kindergarten is a German invention from 1779 and Männergarten – places for men to while away time with beer, sports, and video games while their wives or girlfriends go shopping – is one of the most “interesting” (or “strange”, depending on your views!) consumer innovations of the 2000’s.

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You know the old dilemma about whether it is safer to drive or fly?

The logical answer depends on statistics and facts. As a driver, you don’t have a radar system, ground control, or a co-pilot. Maybe a GPS and a backseat-driver who “just tries to help.”

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Daycare and preschool, especially universal preschool, is one of those “hot button” issues where there will always be some debate. Does it work? Is it good for children? Who pays? Part of the problem with issues like early childhood education is that we will probably never have enough hard data points to satisfy everyone. Also, studies to measure the impact of early education on children’s adult lives take a really, really long time!

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