Hi Adrienne,
Great article on the childcare scoop at the G.C. As we seldom stay at the hotels (being pretty close) we will probably never have the opportunity to check it out for ourselves.

Were you able to view the facility with children actually checked in? I would be interested to see how the mixed ages worked together--with only one one child care provider. That ratio is the Ca. licensing minimum, but hopefully that "extra" CM would be around quite a bit to give extra help. Twelve children alone can be a handful, even if they are older, and even for a qualified childcare worker (trust me on this one!)

Thanks for the info--
lisa

Originally posted by lisap
Hi Adrienne,
Great article on the childcare scoop at the G.C. As we seldom stay at the hotels (being pretty close) we will probably never have the opportunity to check it out for ourselves.

Were you able to view the facility with children actually checked in? I would be interested to see how the mixed ages worked together--with only one one child care provider. That ratio is the Ca. licensing minimum, but hopefully that "extra" CM would be around quite a bit to give extra help. Twelve children alone can be a handful, even if they are older, and even for a qualified childcare worker (trust me on this one!)

Thanks for the info--
lisa

Ooh, thanks, Lisa :)

I actually asked to see the facility without children in it because I wanted to feel "free" to take photos. What you saw there was a fraction of all the photos I took :)

In my before teaching days (lets go into the "way back machine" and set the year dial for Adrienne K's days as an anteater...) I worked in a day camp situation. A group of 12 kids mixed age isn't always hard to handle:

You can make some assumptions about kids in general: Older girls like to help take care of younger kids; younger girls FAWN over older girls and older girls like that ;) So even if they're mixed ages, that can be helpful. Plus they have a variety of activities for kids to choose from and most kids from 5 to 12 are independent.

Even with mixed ages, kids generally like to play the same things and really the choices aren't too broad: If they're making beaded jewelry then kids will do it to the extent that their abilities allow -- some will do more elaborate designs than others, but multiple ages can enjoy it.

I would think that 2 CMs would be better, but I doubt that there is frequently only 1 CM with 12 kids at a time.

The gentleman I spoke to said that most kids only stay a couple of hours- just long enough for mom and dad to eat out, really, so that probably makes managing that many kids much easier. At day care, they're there for long periods of time and they know each other, so they know how to push each other's buttons! :D In this situation, they barely have enough time to know each others names, plus they're at Disneyland. I would think that MOST kids would be on their good behavior-- or at least better behavior-- with those circumstances, don't you think?

I'd like to hear from parents who have used these centers at WDW-- they have a lot of them there!

Adrienne K

Yes, good points. I just had a fifteen year old girl (friend of the family) spend the morning with my two girls and nary heard a peep from them the whole time--they were so focused on monopolizing her attention. (Ed wants her to move in and be our Aupeire)--older girls do keep the kids very busy!
Plus, I've seen a limited childcare situation work at IKEA--they have a drop off play area good for a one hour time period and there is no time for the children to become discontent and fretful.

Either kids will be on their best behavior or their worst--over stressed, exhausted kids overloading on vacation might be a problem, but time will tell.

I still think two CMs would solve a lot of problems that would arise. I love the pager and photo ideas.