Childcare III - Getting the family settled

Soeren at the Carnival festival at the Kindergarten

Once you have gone through the childcare options and then made your decision, the next few weeks can take some getting used to for the whole family. One of the most important things at this time is establishing a routine. This helps everyone get settled down quickly.

In this last article of my childcare series, you will find a few pointers that might help both mums and children find a positive way to deal with this start in a new routine.


It is often difficult for both child and mother being separated after having spent so much time with each other. However, it is important to give your child positive messages and feelings about this new experience. This will help your child's confidence grow and take things in stride. Keeping a close eye on their progress at this point is also very important. Read the signs and hear what your child says carefully. It will help you judge if they are settling in well.

If you have started work again talk to your employer if it would be possible to start part-time for the first few weeks. This is what I did in the beginning. I worked 4-5 five hours a day and found it gave both me and Soeren more time to adjust to our new routine. We eased him into his new environment and I too was able to deal with the new situation.

When dropping your child off, make a little ritual. A hug, and big kiss and a clear "bye and I''ll be back to pick you up later!" is something I found reassured Soeren everyday that mum will be coming back to get me. Believe it or not Soeren and I still have the ritual. It's just a great way to start the day. More important your child realizes that there is a pattern to this everyday, which helps them immensely.

In the evening get the family together and discuss what happened during the day. Our routine is after dinner we kind of lounge on the sofa and say "so what did you do today!" and we each talk about what the most interesting thing that happened that day. We also ask each other what we had for lunch that day and to end our discussion say what we look forward to the next day. It's a great way to get your child involved in a discussion. Soeren feels really proud to be a part of a discussion and by telling us what he looks forward to the next day he is happy and excited to go back.

I really hope I was able to offer a few interesting examples and useful information for all those parents who are or will be dealing with childcare issues.
Although there was not much feedback on the articles, I do want to tell you this story:

We are currently planning to take Soeren out of Kindergarten and put him into the International School here in Weimar. This will be in September. As I was writing these articles I followed my own advice ;-). Yesterday we had the meeting with the Head Mistress of the school and I found myself looking out for many things I had mentioned in previous post. The fact that I wrote these articles just made me prepared. I knew the questions I wanted to ask and was able to get a very good picture of the school. I chatted with two teachers and was able to see how they interact with the other children.
Now I am starting to prepare Soeren for the change. If you have any tips and suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Have a great week!

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Reminder!
Our first event on the Daily Tiffin this month is Show Us Your Lunchbox. Hope you will join us and allow us to peak into your lunch. Deadline April 20th.

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This Post was written by Meeta from What's For Lunch, Honey?