„My child was happy right from the start“

Eva from Munich knew she wanted to return to work fairly soon after the birth of her son Jonas. Therefore she started looking for a crèche place as early as week 12 of her pregnancy. The young mum never had any doubts about her decision until people around her kept making critical remarks like „Taking a child less than a year old to the crèche – you just don’t do that“. But Eva would not be deterred and was glad that she had found a crèche place at Minihaus Menzinger Straße for Jonas, just over 5 months old at the time.

She is still convinced that „this was exactly what he needed“. „Acclimatization went really well“, Eva remembers. „My child was happy right from the start, and the other children were really sweet looking after Jonas.“ Eve has no regrets whatsoever about starting crèche early. „We had a great start – perhaps for the very reason that my child was so young“, she thinks.

Minihaus has accumulated more than 10 years’ experience with small children. When the family business started a crèche in 2010, a little boy merely 9 weeks old was one of the first children to be cared for at Minihaus München. Knowhow has grown steadily since then. „We have become complete experts in looking after very young children“, Silvia Wick, one of the heads of education at Minihaus München, underlines.

The most important part is the personalized welcome and care for the infant and its family. „We look at the developmental stage the infant is at, establish what the child needs in terms of bonding, closeness and educational context“, Wick explains the approach used in caring for very young Minihaus guests.

Minihaus places particular importance on a finely-tuned acclimatization based on the needs of both the child and its parents. „We don’t just acclimatize the child, but the parents as well“, Silvia Wick knows. Therefore acclimatization may well take 4 or 5 weeks in some cases – or just a few days, as it did with Jonas and his mother Eva.

Top priority during acclimatization is to build up trust. After all, parents hand over to strangers „what is dearest to them“, Wick knows. To make the building up of trust and the acclimatization succeed, Minihaus educators are supported by the heads of education. In additional to providing professional advice and holding regular reflection conversions, the heads of education are also present in person when an infant is welcomed, and help it arrive. „We have the time to allow parents and children to arrive“, Silvia Wick emphasizes.

„With our years and years of experience we are complete experts; we know that the acclimatization will be 100% successful and that we have the parents’ full confidence and satisfaction“, Silvia Wick says with conviction.

In addition to appreciating the loving care, Eva also values the positive impact the crèche has on her son’s development. „Jonas learnt to eat independently very early“, she remembers. When other mums complained about “spinach accidents” on the wall, Eva just smiled to herself. „And the children pick up to so much else and copy lots of things the other, older kids do, it’s really great!“