A high-quality child care centre is a positive part of your child’s development. Every day, we watch in awe and admiration as one of the children under our care tries to do something for the second time, third, and sometimes more. They refuse to give up until they are successful with the task. We see them struggle, stumble, and get things wrong with the puzzle for example and we guide them, lift them up, and support their growth so they can be resilient. If you want to understand how we do it, please continue to read.

We offer a safe environment. Our space is designed and maintained to allow children to explore the world around them safely. As they explore, they gain confidence, independence, and self-esteem. Our classroom is filled with materials that encourage children to participate actively in their learning (hands-on approach). There are also interesting set-ups like pretend markets/studios/clinics where children get creative.

We encourage children to be independent. Our teachers for Toddler and Nursery Programs spend their day teaching children self-help skills like eating, getting dressed, and using the bathroom to name a few. Positive encouragement is the way to go. “Do you want to try this on your own?” is a repeated phrase over here. No child is made fun of for trying.

We help children develop critical thinking skills. Open-ended questions are asked to children every day. And before an answer is given to their question, we invite children to think about what they ask. If they ask what we are serving for lunch, we invite them to look at the meal and name what they see. This teaches children to exercise their own judgment instead of relying on other people’s judgment.

We provide opportunities for children to take on meaningful roles. They can be the teacher’s helper or the line leader of the day. The responsibility gives children a positive view of themselves and grows their self-esteem.

We promote children as decision-makers. Every day, the children under our care make decisions that are guided and not. What do they want to play with? Who will they play with? They decide what they will build with the blocks and they decide what colour of crayon they want. When children are allowed to make decisions, they learn to trust themselves.

We encourage children to self-regulate their behaviours and develop patience. Our children choose the toys they want. Two children may be interested in the same toy and start fighting for it. In this case, our teacher has to guide them to stop the fight and work cooperatively. Our teacher has to teach or remind children about taking turns or playing together.

We help children learn empathy. There are many opportunities to teach children to have empathy in a childcare centre. When a friend is crying, when a teacher takes a medical leave, we take it straight from picture books too. Questions like “How does this character look like to you?”, “Do you think she looks angry?” and the like make children think about other people.