Parenting
Concept of Children center- Mother and toddler groups
Children centers are run by council to support families with young children. It is a initiative for social well being. They have many educative and fun activities for both children and young parents. Specially for kids, it is a lot of fun.
New Parents
As new parents, many go through this feeling. When it is the time to send your kiddos to the school, it feels very hard. It's a kind of mixed feelings.
You are happy that your kid is starting the next phase of his/her life. They are going to learn lot of new things. They're going to experience a lot of things.
At the same time, its hard for parents to send the child away to school. You cannot see them all the time in front of your eyes. You have to leave them for long hours of the day. You miss those moments.
This phase is difficult for both the child and the parent.
Tell me the truth
Every morning, after dropping the child off, don't you stand there and watch until the child has gone inside? Don't you feel like peeking through the windows to see what the child is doing…You don't want to miss the view as long as the child is walking to get inside.
End of the school day, you want to have that small chat with the teacher, to hear the valours of your child. How did they do, what did they do? Did they play? Did they fight? Did they eat? what did they play? Who they played with?
The curiosity is like- how would this little grown human be in school? is he/she talking to other kids or not ? If yes, what they could be talking? If no, why he/she doesn't talk? How is you child in a social environment?
If given a chance, you would even want to sit in a corner and watch them for the entire time.
Like there was a Watch that could make you invisible and you could go invisibly with your child inside the classroom and nobody knows about it. As funny as it sounds, but these are true feelings and true emotions.
As a new mother, I felt the same.
I wanted to be in all the moments that my child is going through. I wanted to watch her play and learn. After dropping, I would just wait for the time to see the happy face while coming outside.
In a formal schooling environment, all these are not possible. You have to drop the child at the gate to the TA and bid them BYE.
But with the Children Center it was possible. It gave me a chance to fulfil my desire of seeing my child, play and learn in a formal setup and capture the moments.
The one I took my child was — Susan Lauren’s Children Center on Dersingham Road, ManorPark.
Children’s Center — what is it
These are centers run by the council for benefit of families with children under the age of five. They conduct various activities for children and Parents. They run sessions throughout the week.
An example activity schedule would be like this:
They are exact replica of Nursaries with play areas and play equipments. There are indoor and outdoor play areas. Either of the parent has to accompany the child to the session and be along with the child throughout the time, meaning monitor your child while the child is playing and having fun.
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They set up tables with display of toys and other things. For example, on one table there are trays of paints, sponges and sheets, another table has crayons and coloring books, another table has play dough and moulds, another table has building blocks and so on.
There were corners with animated story books, toy musical equipments, softtoys, sand pit, tiny kitchen and equipments, doll houses, play tents, …many more.
Children are free to choose any activity they like. Or they can play with any toy or read a book, or go on the slide or play in the sand pit or do whatever they feel like to do.
They even have story time, rhymes time, singing and dancing time for kids.
There are many centers across the city at 2 miles of distance. It is free of cost to attend. Parents dont have to pay anything to attend these sessions. Just they have to take out time, bring their children to the centers and spend time along.
Many educative sessions were conducted for parents like Parenting sessions, Nutrition related, Job support, Confidance building…etc.
All in all these centers are run for the benefit of families. They even gave free child care for those who cannot afford.
For me, it was a chance to see my child play in front of me, in a nursery school setup. Capture the moments. I would watch her play, do activities and play with other children. I would even sit with her to do activities.
It was also a chance for parents to know each other and socialise. Here and there in the corners, moms would sit and discuss about their kids, family and some gossip too. (It cant be like No gossip when ladies hold a corner 😜)
It was fun and fascinating
I had never come across such a concept before in my life, So it fascinated me a lot.
My child being a single child, didn't play herself with her toys at home. It was necessary to mingle with other kids to learn to play.
I strongly believed that, young children must play a lot. Play in the parks, play with toys, mingle with their age groups. This helps in overall development of the child- Physical, mental, emotional.
To talk about Children Center and not talk about this person is a crime. The person behind all these activities- Lorrain. She was the one who made the sessions interesting.
She would design in such a way to make it more and more interesting. Her singing time at the end of the sessions grabbed kids’ attention. Children were well behaved and disciplined in her presence.
I cant forget those park trips, she would arrange during summer and spring. A group of mothers with their buggy’s going on the Red bus. Central park, James park,Hyde park, Southend on sea.. Whole day of fun for children.
If you have such a center in your community and you have a toddler, please don't miss the chance to attend those sessions. Children enjoy and learn a lot within those structured casual environment.
Thankyou for reading. If you liked reading this article, Please like it and share it with your loved ones. If you have a similar experience , share it in the comment section.
Take care and bye
with lots of love
Archana
