MORE AND more mothers of pre-school children are forced to find employment because of the prevalence of the single-parent household and the increasing cost of living. Although some parents can rely on relatives to play the role of babysitter, day-care centres or nurseries are often the only alternatives for working parents.
"Sending my child to day care is a necessity," said a mother of a two-year-old. "So finding the money is a must." After her nine-hour work day and hour-long commute home, she feels reassured that her son is in a safe, supervised environment.
APPROXIMATELY $1500
The cost of day care starts at approximately $1,500 a week and this service is usually offered by persons who are not formally trained but have years of experience working with and caring for young children. Pre-schools usually offer a more structured curriculum and teachers, usually formally educated in early childhood education are employed by these schools. Pre-school can cost over $30,000 per term, a small price to pay for the needs of his child, said one father.
According to Shakira Chin, a pre-school teacher specialising in early childhood education, enrolling a child in pre-school puts he or she in an advantageous position. "Many parents don't understand the importance of sending their children to pre-school," she said. "A structured curriculum assists in developing a child's physical and mental skills and the pre-school setting enables the child to socialise and interact with their peers."
"The various activities that children take part in during the schoolday help to stimulate their imagination," said an expectant mother who also has a three-year-old boy. She concluded there was a notable difference between the pre-school her son was enrolled in before she moved him to a nursery.
BETTER LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
"It was a better learning environment with a lot of individual attention which helped him to learn more but it was much more expensive," she said.
Lisa, a self-employed mother of a four-year-old in her first year of kindergarten, said she incurs a weekly expense of $2,500 for after-care in addition to school fees of $16,000 every term. "Because I work for myself I have numerous expenses which include paying two workers so it can be very difficult at times," she said. In an effort to cut costs, Lisa said she often foregoes the after-care programme and brings her daughter to work with her until she closes for the day.
COMPANIES FINANCE DAY CARE
Fortunately for some parents, child care is an expense which some companies choose to absorb and even though only few companies finance and operate day-care centres for their employees, those that do find the practice equally beneficial for the company and the people who work there.
One of the National Commercial Bank's (NCB) employee benefits is the provision of a day-care centre for employees' children. "We started it to ensure that members of staff had a safe place to leave their children while they were working," said Sandra Crooks, head of NCB's human resources and training division.
Orleen Batson, a human resource officer for compensation and benefits at Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) is responsible for the company's child care facility. She said the service was introduced by JMMB as part of the company's mandate to cater to all the needs of its employees.
MORALE BOOSTER
"It helps to boost the morale of employees," who find comfort in knowing that their children are being well taken care of, she said. The child-care facility is provided at no cost to JMMB's employees and is convenient for parents who may want to check in on their little ones during the day.
"It reduces the stress and the cost of having to deal with outside help," she added. "If a babysitter does not show up one day, a parent usually has no other choice but to stay home with their child."
According to Batson, the company-run child-care centre helps to alleviate these situations. "It helps to reduce absenteeism because parents are able to bring their children here," she said. In addition to rental costs, Batson said JMMB hires three full-time employees to care for 30 children ranging from three months to school-age children who often come to the centre after school until their parents have finished working in the evenings.
"We have to rent a separate building for the facility and pay three full-time salaries but it is worth it," she said.
