Why Trust Center-Based Childcare During COVID-19? | Stamford Moms

by: Lindsay Hoffman, President of Building Blocks Early Learning Center & Child’s World Academy

As a mom of three kids under the age of seven and a career professional in the field of early education, I’ve been in the unique position of deciding, “When it comes to the care of my own kids, who do I trust most during a pandemic?”

I can tell you this: after three months of shelter-in-place, I knew for sure that I did NOT trust my husband and I to go it alone for much longer!

Our schools, Building Blocks Early Learning Centers and Child’s World Academy, have been open now for a little more than two months. My own kids were of the first to return. Yes, because I work there, but also because working there provides me an in-depth, firsthand account of what actually happens in infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms.

Given that knowledge, and the fact that we are still living amidst a pandemic, now, more than ever, I am convinced that center-based care is the most trusted choice for childcare.

Here’s why:

Oversight. In the times before COVID, center-based care always benefitted from the added security of being operated with guidance from Connecticut’s leading education and safety experts. While our day-to-day activities and responsibilities have changed drastically since the pandemic began, it’s this very guidance that has allowed us to adapt quickly, efficiently, and correctly.

Accountability. A big part of the relief I feel as a mother with a child enrolled in our schools is knowing all of our staff are undergoing wellness tests every day. Early educators spend more time with their co-teachers than anyone else, leading them to treat coworkers like family. When you treat others as if they are family, you take care of them as if they were family – leading to an early education community that has the best interest of all others, co-teachers and children alike, in mind at all times.

And lastly, Relief. During the beginning of the pandemic, many of us got a blunt reminder that raising children does in fact take a village. Juggling it all on our own, while trying to work and navigate a new way of living, was overwhelming to say the least. Seeing my children back in their beloved classrooms has reminded me that this isn’t just the solution to allowing me to work and keep our family going – but a structured, social environment, even with social-distance practices, is best for them, too.

It’s been a pleasure navigating families through the understandably anxious process of enrolling their children in our schools, and witnessing the relief felt by all after starting.

Visit us at https://blockslearning.com/ and http://www.childsworldacademy.com/ if you’d like to tell us about your child care situation!

This post is sponsored by Building Blocks Early Learning Center

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