The Protester

I participated my very first demonstration yesterday.

In the state of Hesse, some changes to the kindergarten laws are about to happen. I'm not sure how far the process is at the moment, but I know that it would bring a lot of negative changes to the everyday matters.

For example, in the groups of small children (under 3 years old) there are two teachers and they can currently take care of 10 children. After the change, there could be 16 kids in every group!

Not good, not good at all.

So, yesterday there was a demonstration against this new law held at the Kochbrunnenplatz in Wiesbaden.

There were quite many participants - mostly kindergarten teachers and parents with their children.

Unfortunately the weather was not the best possible ( -1°C and windy), so we didn't stay there for very long time.

But on our way home, we saw the first signs of spring!

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Hessenin osavaltiossa suunnitellaan lakimuutosta, joka toisi selviä heikennyksiä päiväkotien toimintaan. Esimerkiksi nykyään alle 3-vuotiaiden ryhmissä voi olla kymmenen lasta kahta "tätiä" kohden. Uudistuksen jälkeen lapsimäärä voitaisiin nostaa kuuteentoista! Eilen täällä Wiesbadenissa järjestettiin mielenosoitus lakia vastaan ja mekin osallistuimme. Ensimmäinen mielenosoitukseni! 

Vaikka keli oli jäätävän kylmä, löysimme jo ensimmäisen lupauksen tulevasta keväästä: kukkivan puun.

The Third Week In the Krippe

Yes, the acclimatization to the kindergarten is slow... It is Fräulein's fourth week in the Krippe and we are still not done. But there has been some real progress!
(You can find my previous posts about this subject under the tag 'Krippe').

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
After the long weekend, Fräulein was happy to go back to the Krippe. Almost no whining at all, when I left her there and she had been on a good mood and played happily with the other kids. Yay!

Thursday
It was finally the time for Fräulein to eat her lunch at the Krippe. She didn't actually eat anything, but she sat nicely in her own little chair while the others were eating. When I went to pick her up about an hour later than on previous days, she was crying a bit. When we got home she was very hungry and tired.

Friday
The first day when Fräulein did not whine AT ALL when I left her to the Krippe! She just waved and walked to her favorite teacher. Unfortunately, she had not eaten or drunk anything all morning.

Fräulein in her new favorite hobby: running around something

A peek into the fourth week
On Monday, Fräulein had eaten both breakfast and lunch in the Krippe! When I went to pick her up, she was spooning up her soup like all the other kids. Slowly she seems to learn how things are done there.

It was first planned, that Fräulein would take her first Krippe nap on Thursday this week, but as my mother is coming to visit us, it might be best to leave this experiment to next week.

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Hiljaa hyvää tulee... Fräuleinin päiväkotipäivät ovat jo pidentyneet tunnilla ja hän syö lounasta hoidossa. Tällä viikolla oli tarkoitus aloittaa myös päikkäreiden nukkuminen päiväkodissa, mutta koska äitini on tulossa loppuviikoksi meille kyläilemään, jätetään tämä uudistus suosiolla ensi viikkoon.

The First Week In the Krippe

So, the first week in the kindergarten is now over for Fräulein. As I have told before, it is normal here in Germany that the 'acclimatization' to daycare is very slow.

Here is the summary of Fräulein's first week:

Monday
A half an hour of playing at the Krippe playground with the other kids. I was present, but sitting on a bench further away. Fräulein enjoyed herself, but was a bit confused why mum was just sitting there and didn't go and play with her.

Tuesday
Two hours of taking part of their normal morning routines. Fräulein followed everything with interest, but wanted me to join in, too.

Wednesday
Much like Tuesday. The group leader asked, if it had been this difficult for Fräulein to be without me when we started by the Tagesmutter. I told her that whenever I was present, Fräulein wanted me, but when I wasn't there, she was happy to play with the other kids.

When the group was at the playground, I left Fräulein for ten minutes. For the first five minutes she was crying, but by the time I was back, she was playing with the other kids.

Thursday
Based on my discussion with the group leader the day before, I just dropped Fräulein to daycare and said bye bye. She was left crying. I was actually sitting in the room next door in case they needed me, but 1.5 hours passed before they told me, it was enough for one day. She had settled after I left, but all changes in the program, like going outside, had made her cry again. I think that is totally understandable, as she cannot remember the daily schedule at this point and she doesn't understand everything that is told to her, so she must get a bit confused. All in all, it had been quite OK.

Friday
On Friday morning I was talking to Fräulein about how we take the buggy to daycare, how she will leave her shoes and jacket to her own spot, which is marked with sun, and how she will see all the other kids and the teachers. And Fräulein added "bye bye mummy" and waved! So, she clearly knew what was going to happen and didn't feel at all stressed about it.

I dropped Fräulein to daycare for two hours and was able to spend the time in the city. She had again had some good and bad moments, but I think we are at a good point after this first week. Lets see how she feels after the weekend!

How to spend the two free hours in the city? 

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Fräuleinin ensimmäinen sopeutumisviikko päiväkodissa on nyt takana. Ensimmäisenä päivänä olimme mukana ulkoleikeissä puoli tuntia ja seuraavana parina päivänä osallistuimme ryhmän aamurutiineihin. Fräuleinin tuntuu olevan vaikea ymmärtää, miksi äiti on mukana, muttei osallistu leikkeihin. Torstaina jätinkin Fräuleinin puoleksitoista tunniksi itsekseen hoitoon. Hän oli välillä ollut itkuinen, mutta rauhoittunut kuitenkin aina välillä. Päivystin koko ajan viereisessä huoneessa mahdollisen katastrofin varalta. Perjantaina pääsin jo itse käymään kaupungilla. Pidetään peukkuja, että ensi viikolla menee vielä mukavammin!

Never Say Never

In the beginning of this year, I started to look for some daycare possibilities for Fräulein.

I had previously heard that it is almost impossible to find a kindergarden place for your child here in Wiesbaden. I knew that there are a very few places available especially for the under 3 year olds. Previously, the German mums have stayed at home as Hausfraus with their small children. But I guess  more and more often the mothers now hurry back to work. However, the availability of childcare places is not increasing fast enough (just my own thought, not based on any facts).

In Finland, the city is required to find a daycare place for all children. Although it might not always be the place closest to home or otherwise desirable, there must be at least some sort of place for each child.

But in Germany, you must search for the place by yourself. And as most of the kindergartens are private, you must apply to each of them separately.

I found a handful of places close to our home.

We took part in one introductory evening. There were about 20 families there and these evenings were held every month. So roughly, there were about 100 families applying for a place that year. And we were told that, at the beginning of next August, there would be 5 openings in the Krippe (kindergarten for children ages 1-3 years).

100 kids, 5 places. That kind of took our hopes down.

Anyway, I applied for several kindergartens. Most of them made their decisions in March/April, but I didn't get news from any of them. Only one of the kindergartens takes the children in based on the order they had received the applications, instead of the reputation of the children's parents. Fräulein would be able to start there during summer 2013.

Thus, thinking that we would not be able to get a place in a Krippe for Fräulein in the near future, I was happy to go forward with the Tagesmutter option.

But a month ago, I got a very surprising phone call. It was the kindergarten of our local church calling. They had a place for Fräulein starting the first of September. September this year! All I managed to say was "Danke schön!".

So, we have really exciting time ahead of us. And we need to start all over again with that adjustment program we already went through with the Tagesmutter... But this Kindergarten is in the walking distance from our home. And I guess there are more activities there and the days are more structured for the children, so I hope Fräulein will benefit from it, too.

Although the place is for full time, I hope we can have shorter days in daycare. And I am actually planning to continue some studies I have started a while back, so there is actually something 'real' for me to do while Fräulein is in daycare (like before, I need this excuse for myself, not to anyone else).

So, never say never!

I have also other great news for you, so stay tuned for another episode of Frau Welle - the Expat Hausfrau ;)

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Päiväkotipaikan saaminen etenkin alle kolmevuotiaalle on todella hankalaa täällä Wiesbadenissa (ja vissiin Saksassa yleisesti). Suurin osa päiväkodeista on yksityisiä, joten niihin on kaikkiin haettava erikseen. Lisäksi päiväkodit voivat vapaasti valita, kelle paikan antavat, joten oletin prosessin vaativan jonkinmoista aktiivisuutta, että hakemuksemme huomioitaisiin. Koska hakijoita on paljon enemmän kuin päiväkotipaikkoja, päädyimme Tagesmutter-vaihtoehtoon.

Nyt kesällä sain kuitenkin yllättävän puhelun seurakuntamme päiväkodista: Fräuleinille on siellä paikka syyskuun alusta lähtien! Aivan loistavaa, sillä toisin kuin Tagesmutterimme, päiväkoti sijaitsee kävelymatkan päässä kotoamme. Eli taas alkaa uusi sopeuttamisjakso...

Ja lisää hyviä uutisia luvassa... ;)