Happy children and happy parents - 10 years of Minihaus München!

The Minihaus München story started somewhat unspectacularly with an afternoon meeting that managing director Rainer Eckerl held with his staff.

In 2006/2007 there was general political consensus that crèche places were needed and wanted, not only in Munich, but in the whole of Germany. Eckerl had worked with children before, at Kinderhaus München, several remedial therapy day care centres and the dyslexia centres of Arbeitskreis Legasthenie Bayern e.V. Which prompted the thought: ‘If you can work with school-age children, you can most likely work with younger children, too. That was the initial spark’, Eckerl remembers. Which led to the first crèche named Minihaus München being opened at Fürstenrieder Straße 267 in 2009.

"The initial period was exciting and not very easy at times. We had to learn the ropes and dropped bricks more than once", Eckerl admits. But the success of the first crèche proved them right. Only a year later the second crèche and kindergarten was opened at Menzinger Straße.

A lot of time and resources were invested in developing the Minihaus concept: the educational principles were developed, furniture suitable for children was chosen, appropriate equipment was bought, and a positive colour concept was designed. With so much input, there was a desire to open more Minihaus facilities right from the start. "Now we know how it works, we can do more", Rainer Eckerl summarises with a smile. In the following years another five Minihaus facilities were opened, at Tölzer Straße, Pippinger Straße, Truderinger Straße, Fürstenrieder Straße und next to the Westpark.

Not only the care options offered at Minihaus have changed over the past 10 years, according to deputy managing director Jacqueline Gröger-Eckerl, but parents’ expectations have changed, too. "We always have to keep abreast of current developments and we have to take into account the wishes of parents and children, of course", Gröger-Eckerl explains. "It’s not like it used to be when the children were simply handed over to the staff, played in the sand-pit, and that was it – parents expect high-quality childcare and demand it." As a result, working out "what we will focus on and how we stand out from other childcare providers" is a continuous process, Gröger-Eckerl says. After all, parents want to leave their child at the kindergarten or crèche with a clean conscience, "feeling that the child is in good hands, that it learns something and is having fun so that they pick up a happy child at the end of the day."

Happy children and hence happy parents – that is the top priority at Minihaus München, for the next 10 years, too.

The next Minihaus is already at the planning stage: Once the International Bilingual School Munich (ibsm) has moved to the new school campus, a new Minihaus will move into the building the ibsm vacates at Lerchenauer Straße.

Rainer Eckerl adds: "Quality comes before quantity. We don’t want to be the biggest childcare provider in Munich, but the best."