The day after Premier Dennis King announced childcare centres would reopen on May 22, Tara MacKean got the call from her boss at Merry Pop-Ins Childcare Centre in Tryon.
She had one thought.
“How are we gonna do it?”
Immediately, the director of the school-aged program at the licensed centre called her sister, Cheryl Newcombe, the assistant director. Together they started brainstorming ways to keep the kids entertained for eight hours a day under new regulations.
“They’re not going to be able to rough house and play with their friends, right? And the kids love building forts in the gym – that’s out,” said MacKean. “It’s not going to be fun and games for them at all, so we’re really kind of pushing that if parents have another sitter or something in place now, just keep it.”
COVID connections
Though both sisters were excited to greet the three returning kids, they stayed connected to the children they care for through Facetime calls and the childcare centre’s Facebook page throughout the closure.
Newcombe also had the idea to make up packages of paint supplies – paint, brushes, cup, canvas, stencils, napkins – and post a video on Facebook teaching the kids how to paint an ocean scene.
The packages also had a note from the educators and a tomato plant courtesy of the owners of the centre.
The delivery was a way to reduce some stress on parents who may not have the supplies at home.
“In my mind I was like, I want us to do something that everybody gets to do, but we can’t do it together,” said Newcombe. “So, then I was thinking this is a great idea, but I don’t want to just say, ‘hey, let’s paint,’ because some families wouldn’t have the supplies, so then I didn’t want to put the pressure on the parents.”
The duo also asked families to leave out donations for the South Shore Food Bank. They were able to gather three boxes.
“You don’t want it to happen this way, but at the same time, it’s kind of that wake-up call to say, ‘hey, we are just as important as other frontline workers.'"
Restrictions and uncertainty
When childcare centres opened on May 22, new rules and restrictions limited what they could do.
For Merry Pop-Ins’ daycare program, it meant it could only have six kids despite being licensed for 50 children, while the school age program, which usually has a ratio of 15 children to one adult, could have only 12 in total – four kids per adult.
Not an issue right now – only three children qualify for the return – it will impact the activities available for the kids and what the kids can do with each other.
No boardgames.
No basketball in the gym.
Even crafts are difficult because kids can’t share supplies, said MacKean.
“It’s not going to be the program we want it to be because we have so many restrictions.”
Looking ahead to the summer program, which the sisters started planning in February, things get even murkier. As with everything else, it all depends on how easing restrictions affects the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19 strain), said MacKean.
“We usually do a field trip every week in the summer and, I mean, we’ve called some places, but they’re like, ‘we don’t even know if we’re going to be open.’”
Despite everything that came with COVID-19, the sisters agree one aspect of the pandemic has been positive for their profession, said Newcombe.
“You don’t want it to happen this way, but at the same time, it’s kind of that wake-up call to say, ‘hey, we are just as important as other frontline workers,’” said Newcombe.
