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Nurturing Years: Most parents appreciate the critical importance of professional child care. Bedfordale and the surrounding areas have some useful facilities to be aware of.  Childcare centres, preschool centres, nurseries, creches and play centres etc

Nurturing Years: Fostering Infant and Toddler Development

There is a plethora of terms used to describe the various forms of available child care. Bedfordale and Byford have institutions and facilities listed under almost all of the above headings.

For new parents, this can be bewildering because unfortunately, many of these terms are not precisely defined. What one provider refers to as a “creche” might be called a “nursery” by another for nurturing years.

This list is a broad and very generalist attempt to define those terms and what they might mean for childcare services. Please remember there may be variations and exceptions:

• Childcare Centre – in its simplest form, this might just be a place where children are simply looked after while their parents are working in early nurturing years. At the other end of the scale are childcare centres that are also Early Learning Centres. These should provide development environments for children where play is designed to foster learning. Be aware though that appending “Early Learning Centre” to a company’s name need not mean much. The only way to be sure is to examine the potential provider’s programme of development;
• Preschool Centres. The same considerations apply as for childcare centres above. It’s necessary to look closely at the details of what they’re providing to be sure they’re offering child development services as well as simple child-minding, assuming that’s what you’re seeking;
• Nurseries. These facilities tend to be oriented towards younger babies and toddlers rather than those approaching early school ages of nurturing years. That’s not necessarily the case though and each will need to be considered based on their proposition. Keep in mind that many specialists suggest even younger toddlers should be encouraged to learn and develop through structured activities;
• Creches. A French word, this just means a children’s care centre. It might more typically be found offering shorter duration services, such as when a parent needs to go somewhere while the other is at work. They’re sometimes also found in employer’s premises or some shopping centres. However, the term can also today be used interchangeably with the others above;
• Play Centres. Typically, these offer shorter-duration centres where children can be cared for and have fun while a parent needs to be off doing something else or in some cases, the parents can have a coffee as they watch their children play. In that sense, they were originally closer to a creche in concept and rarely majored in child early learning approaches but yet again, in the more recent past, this term like the others has been applied to various situations and various services.

Matching options and needs

As the above indicates, it can be difficult or impossible to understand from a company’s commercial title alone, the true nature of the services they’re providing under ‘child care’. Bedfordale and Byford have many possibilities to help parents in this domain but it’s important to start with a firm understanding of your own requirements.

Do you need short-term child-minding services or a centre that will offer your child professional early learning options? Once you are clear, it’s then necessary to investigate potential providers in detail to see exactly what they’re providing and how.

To help you formulate a selection plan, why not start by calling us for a visit? Have a look around and see what a centre specialising in early learning looks like. You may find it very helpful going forward.