Daycare

In today’s post, we’ll discuss child care during coronavirus (COVID-19).

Undoubtedly, many parents (and child care providers) are worried about the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak right now. At CareLuLu, we work with thousands of families to help them find great daycare and preschool programs, and we’re getting tons of questions.

So, we thought we’d prepare a guide to daycare during coronavirus.

This guide includes tips on how to find child care during closures (no, not all daycares are closed!) Also, we’ll provide answers to questions many parents are asking themselves.

Before we go any further:

For parents who are essential workers and need to find care and can’t read the full post, click here to find emergency child care near you.

This guide is mostly designed for parents, but if you’re a child care business owner, preschool director or teacher, we also wrote a guide for you. Read it here: Coronavirus In Daycare: What Should Child Care Providers Do?

Now:

As a parent of an infant, toddler or preschooler, there’s a lot on your mind right now. Maybe you’re struggling to find child care while many facilities are closed because of coronavirus. Or, maybe you’re wondering if it’s safe to send your baby to daycare during COVID-19.

Here are the questions we’ll answer in this post:

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:

Read More

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.

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?

Read More

Every child grows up with a dream of what they will become when they enter the working world. From Kindergarten, we learn about adult life through Career Days, Take your Child to Work Days, and of course, our families and neighbors. For me, it wasn’t the parents in my classroom telling us about their careers, but the teachers who I looked up to the most.

Read More

One of the most beautiful relationships in life is that of a child and his or her grandparent. Unfortunately, many children these days miss out on this special relationship due a diverse range of factors, including distance, and early loss of their grandparents. For nearly 25 years, Merritt Academy in Fairfax, Virginia has provided students with a unique opportunity to develop a special relationship with a “grandfriend” through our Seniors and Students Together Intergenerational Program.

Read More

Never heard of National Child Care Provider Appreciation Day? Not on our watch! It’s every year, the last Friday before Mother’s Day, so it’s coming up. Consider yourself warned. Do your homework and organize something for your child’s child care provider or preschool teacher.

There are quite a few tongue-in-cheek “appreciation days” out there. Today, for example, is Star Wars Day – May the 4^th be with you! But you really should take this Friday seriously: Besides family members, your child care provider is probably the single most important person in your child’s life.

Read More

So, you have decided to give your child the gift of languages. Congratulations, your child will thank you for it! As promised in our previous post about raising multilingual children, in this article we are going to dive deeper into language immersion preschool programs and the reasons why they are a great idea!

Read More

If you’re like most of us, you started to appreciate your own parents a lot more when you became a parent yourself. “Jeez, Mom, was I like that? Thanks for putting up with me!”

Even if your parents were multilingual, though, they may not have seen the point of raising you to be so. Times were very different back then. If that’s the case, you probably wish they had held your nose to the language grindstone when you were younger. Today the world is a small, fast place where fortune favors the multilingual.

Read More

I always had passion for learning and exploration.  These two personal traits often got me in trouble with my elders, when I was a child.  As I got older, the spontaneity of my actions had to change to conform to the responsibility of the adult world; however, the love of that curiosity stuck with me till this day. 

I started child care because I believe every child needs a safe, nurturing and a challenging environment where they can learn and explore.  Few of the preschools and child care programs that I visited prior to opening Kiddie Academy of Ashburn were run with a primary focus on business.  It bothered me a little bit not because it was wrong, but because the focus has shifted from quality and personal care to enrollment by the numbers. I remind myself and my management team and staff every day that we are here for the children and their families, and our passion for what we do should never cease. Indeed, the impression we leave on these children is what is going to form and shape their future.  What an extraordinary feeling, but also what a great responsibility!

Read More