Childcare

Dions

Hi,

We are currently thinking of changing our children from a creche near our home to somewhere on route to work, as the hours of the creche do not suit us.

Has anyone any experience with Giraffe Liffey Valley? Or Fonthill Lodge?

There is a new Fonthill Lodge in Clonee which opens at the same time as our current creche but stays open a little later. Staff turnover is low and it seems lovely.

We went to see Giraffe in Liffey Valley too and it seems lovely but I just have doubts about the place for some reason. Also, they don't do school drops or pick-ups which may cause problems in the future.


Thanks!

lazygal

I wouldn't recommend any Giraffe crèche. It is a corporate chain first and foremost. Did you see the Prime Time expose?

How Strange

What school will your children be attending? Do you work in Liffey valley?

amtt

Hi, I am also thinking of Giraffe in Liffey valley and would love to hear peoples experiences of it

TheQuietFella

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/one-by-one-creche-horror-parents-relive-their-worst-nightmare-30602976.html

I am not suggesting that this is the crèche involved but what I am saying is isn't it time the Mother started playing her role & not leaving it for others to attend to.

amtt

Looking at thequietfella's other posts I wouldn't even respond to his comment. Anti female or just a troll

January

TheQuietFella wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/news/one-by-one-creche-horror-parents-relive-their-worst-nightmare-30602976.html

I am not suggesting that this is the crèche involved but what I am saying is isn't it time the Mother started playing her role & not leaving it for others to attend to.

Don't post in this thread again.

Mod

Anon345

Hi Dions,

In case you haven't yet decided, if it was me making the decision, there is a particular chain creche, none of whose branches I would recommend.
I say this based on a pretty horrific experience our son suffered while in their "care".
This was not covered in any of the Prime Time programmes.
Happy to PM you details if required.

Anon

Spineline

We moved from another chain (almost as awful as *!) To FONTHILL LODGE in clonee and we are so so glad. My 2 children love it and it's an amazing place full of lovely people. Good luck xx

CiboC

lazygal wrote: »

I wouldn't recommend any Giraffe crèche. It is a corporate chain first and foremost. Did you see the Prime Time expose?

I don't think you can use a blanket approach like that. We had our eldest in a Giraffe creche and were very happy with it, as was he. You need to get a feel for the people that will be looking after him, and also do some unannounced early pick ups to see what is going on at various times if you can.

We got to know a few of the carers that were there and were generally happy with all of them, there were some that were better than others but that is human nature.

I think the key is to not be complacent and be aware of who is looking after your child. If you are not happy with them then do something about it.

lazygal

CiboC wrote: »

I don't think you can use a blanket approach like that. We had our eldest in a Giraffe creche and were very happy with it, as was he. You need to get a feel for the people that will be looking after him, and also do some unannounced early pick ups to see what is going on at various times if you can.

We got to know a few of the carers that were there and were generally happy with all of them, there were some that were better than others but that is human nature.

I think the key is to not be complacent and be aware of who is looking after your child. If you are not happy with them then do something about it.

The policy comes from the top in those places. I saw what happened in a crèche near us which was taken over by a chain also featured on Prime Time and things changed overnight in terms of things done for cost saving measures to maximize profits. I'm not naïve enough to think that direction doesn't come from the top and is implemented in every link of the chain. When you're dealing with a company which has the goal of maximizing shareholder value regardless of the service in which it is involved, you can be damn sure the service users aren't the number one priority.

eviltwin

I would agree with Lazygal. My only experience of creche was my son's ECCE year in a large chain. The place was lovely, the staff were great but the place was run like a business. I had a tour and walking into a room full of toddlers all of whom are expected to nap at the same time was bizarre. What kind of system is that? My mother in law used to be a childminder and the system there was when a child wanted to sleep they slept regardless of what the others were doing.

CiboC

lazygal wrote: »

When you're dealing with a company which has the goal of maximizing shareholder value regardless of the service in which it is involved, you can be damn sure the service users aren't the number one priority.

That's a somewhat naive way of describing how a company (any company) operates, it's not as simple as maximising shareholder value - you also have to keep your customer satisfied and provide the service they are expecting or else you won't last long. In the case of childcare the parents are the customer.

Childcare is an odd situation in that everyone would like a trained child psychologist to be looking after their kids but also wants it as affordable as possible. There is a trade off there and the key is the staff who will be directly looking after your child. You have to get to see them in action and gauge an opinion on whether you are happy with them looking after your child or not.

When we were looking around at creches we walked out of a few non-chain operations vowing that we would never send our kids there.

lazygal

CiboC wrote: »

That's a somewhat naive way of describing how a company (any company) operates, it's not as simple as maximising shareholder value - you also have to keep your customer satisfied and provide the service they are expecting or else you won't last long. In the case of childcare the parents are the customer.

Childcare is an odd situation in that everyone would like a trained child psychologist to be looking after their kids but also wants it as affordable as possible. There is a trade off there and the key is the staff who will be directly looking after your child. You have to get to see them in action and gauge an opinion on whether you are happy with them looking after your child or not.

When we were looking around at creches we walked out of a few non-chain operations vowing that we would never send our kids there.

But the point is you don't get to see them in action. In Giraffe, a local area manger shows you around and gives you the sales spin. Of course staff will be on the best behaviour when they're under the eye of a manager, but as we saw in the programme once they have your money things are very different.
I know people will defend their choices and I have no doubt that you're happy with your service provider, but Giraffe operates first and foremost as a business and if it can save money (eg by cutting corners on specially prepared food or hygiene, both of which I heard about long before the Prime Time programme) it will.
I have my children with a minder and I do all the things you do, drop in for collection at an unplanned time and asked around for word of mouth, and I don't know anyone who wants a trained psychologist minding their children (the only one I know wouldn't be at all suitable as a child care provider), but I have heard enough about the chain creches over the years when I was in the preschool business to not trust them with my children. The negative stories I heard outweighed the positive by a massive percentage.