We just moved to Switzerland with our first born child (6 months old), and we're finally looking for a kita to buy ourselves some time during the day.
As first time parents, is there anything we should be looking out for in a kita? We're looking to enrol the baby at the nearest kita for convenience sake, but it seems like most kitas in Schlieren have no reviews. Not sure if reviews even matter for infant day care.
So to the experienced parents out there, how do you all evaluate a kita before sending your kids there?
I don't mean to offend anyone or insinuate anything with the following question. I'm just a paranoid first time parent in a foreign place. People around me have fed me information (hopefully baseless myths) that Asian kids might get bullied at daycare. We intentionally moved to Schlieren because the place has been labelled as having "too many expats", in order to find diversity in the daycares here.
Is this an actual thing we have to worry about?
If you plan to stay in Switzerland, the number one criteria is what percentage of the kids in the Kita speak German as their mother tongue. The faster your kid learns German, the easier it will be for them to integrate and make friends with the locals. If your kid is surrounded by other kids who speak German at home there is a good chance your kid will become fluent after a year or 2 in the Kita. For reference, my daughter went into a Kita at age 3 (moved here from London) and by the time she entered Kindergarten she was fluent to the point that her teachers remarked that the only evidence that she is an auslander is her surname.
This.
Visit the kita and listen to your gut feeling.
Apart from that, ask for the ratio children/Caretaker
Maybe you will be lucky but there was a time when you had to inscribe in the creche for you baby once you knew you were expecting in order to get a space some 9 months later. Hopefully availability has improved but it may more be determined for you, i.e. which one has space and accepts you. That is more the reality of daycare here.
You might want to inquire about if the creche is private or one organsed by the commune or other public service. The latter tends to have sliding fees based on income, at least around here, may vary by Canton. If high earners you may be paying the highest rate, and private creche may be cheaper. Private creches also tend to do more bilingual language offerings so if that's important look around.
As others have said, best to visit and get a feel of the place, see how things are organised, hours and vacation days, etc.
Thanks everyone. I'll make a list of questions and head down to the daycare centres to take a look then.
Kids are funny little people and they can take dislike to another kid for all sorts of reason everything from the color of one’s skin to the fact that he wares red runners to school. And expat kids are just as skilled in the art of bullying as the locals. So would not place any confidence in your criteria.
Bullying in school is a fact of life and we have no way of knowing if it will happen. But what you can do is find out how the authorities handle the situation should it arise.
If I had to choose, I’d pick one where the kids are predominantly Swiss, as it’s all about the group/team and Swiss parents are used to this acceptance and conformity.