of transitions, graduations, inductions and headaches

We have officially entered transition to school territory.
This is what it looks like:
2 one-hour sessions at school, perfectly placed in the middle of the day.
A graduation at the forest kindergarten (in the early afternoon)
A graduation at the pre-school (perfectly placed in the middle of the day).
A dress rehearsal for the latter (morning)
3 parent meetings, two of which are also during my working day.

That's a total of 7 half days during my working week (they always fall on my working days of course) in one month. Which will be followed by a full 3 weeks of part time schooling in August. Transition to school is definitely not made for the working parent. If I miss out, the school will have me down as a non caring or even bad parent. But really, it's all a bit much even with the best of will.

I'm losing my hair fast and quick. How do working parents manage? There is a real chance that I will have to send Cubling to her big graduation at pre-school by herself because daddy is abroad and there's a REALLY IMPORTANT training day on, that I'm sure many think I shouldn't or even mustn't miss.

Of course, I'd rather be at her graduation, then find out all about data protection (which is very important for my job, no doubt). Be there for an important day in her life, or be at a training session which in theory can be repeated but in practice may well not be. Either way I feel bad.

Now can someone make a decision for me AND make me feel ok with that decision? My head is hurting big time and I can't think anymore.

Health and Safety gone too far? Endangered Secret Garden

As some readers may be aware of, Cubling attends a forest kindergarten, a nursery which takes place outdoors regardless of weather. In the morning, the kids meet at an indoor location, get ready and leave at 9am sharp for a full day in the woods, returning at 5pm. The tried and tested forest kindergarten is very popular in Scandinavian countries and in Germany and is proven to do heaps for social skills, resilience, confidence and creativity, to enable children to learn to assess risks and take them responsibly, while simply being great fun and enabling children to be outdoors a lot more than they are these days.

The first such nursery in Scotland is now under threat. In a strange twist of fate, while one government department is extremely supportive of all kinds of outdoor learning and actively encourages the development of forest nurseries, schools and including outdoor learning in the education curriculum where ever possible, another department is concerned that the kids may catch a bug because there aren't that many sinks with soap in the forest where they can wash their hands.

The Secret Garden nursery in Fife has been criticised by the Care Commission (following advice from Health Protection Scotland, for using wipes and antibacterial gel to clean the children's hands, which apparently is not sufficient. Rather, the staff should carry 10 litres of water into the woods and ensure that children wash their hands under running water, with soap:
- after toiletting and nappy changing;
- before and after eating anything;
- before drinking;
- after sneezing, coughing, or blowing their noses;
- whenever the hands are visibly dirty;
- before going home.

Now I don't get why it is more important in an outdoor setting to wash your hands everytime you cough or sneeze (if I did that, I'd probably do little else but stand at the sink), because I don't think that those rules are applied anywhere else in an indoor educational setting.

The bottom line is that it's impractical for the forest kindergarten to carry 10 litres of water into the woods (a 1.5 mile walk) and to go crazy on the hand washing to the extent required by the inspectors, which would effectively mean that about two staff are constantly washing hands of children.

Why are wipes and gel not enough? Am I stupid in thinking that it's more than sufficient? I'm happy to go with that solution, after all I don't carry running water with me when going for a picnic?

Children in Scotland has joined the calls of the nursery, the parents and many others to get real and not overboard with health and safety. It is mindboggling that our risk averse society is threatening to lead to closure of fabulous initiatives of which there are already far too few.

Please support the Secret Garden - you can do so by following them on twitter @secretgardeners for updates, read what blogger Caron's Musings has to say on the matter, or the TES reporting on this farce. Finally, The Guardian has a very enlightening article on exactly why outdoor education is such a great thing.

The excellence of learning outdoors

This past weekend, we've been indoors a lot. Not all the time, but more than usual. There was football, tennis, a trip to the hairdresser being tied to a chair, then Sunday spent watching her first full length film followed by a car trip to granny and grampa and staying indoors due to heavy showers and granny's current reduced mobility. Over the course of Sunday, Cubling slowly but surely showed us that she was still a spirited child, as she let go of the accumulated energy while shopping. I waasn't on my own, had I been on my own, we would have had to abandon the trip and survived on porridge for the rest of the week. It was that bad. Not badness in the sense of naughtiness, just unbound energy and inability to respond to request of appropriate shop behaviour. She tried, she wanted to cooperate, but she was in overdrive. The following night's sleep was disturbed, the following day ended in unconsolable whining as the tiredness took over and was not to be alleviated even by the best mummy cuddles.

Lesson learned, Cubling needs more opportunity to let go of her higher than average energy levels. Which she usually gets both at the forest kindergarten which she attends two days a week, and our usual weekend activities.

The Scottish Government is very supportive of outdoors education, supporting it firmly in its Curriculum for Excellence through Outdoor Learning and I hope that this will in the near future translate into giving Glasgow's first forest kindergarten the status of a partnership nursery. With this status, the statutory entitlement to early years education for 3 and 4 year olds can be claimed through hours delivered at the kindergarten, reducing cost for parents but also sending out a clear message that outdoors education meets the curriculum for early years. So far, the process has been delayed, not because of any issues with the provision at the forest kindergarten, but the uncertainty of imminent cuts and how that translates into Early Years Services.

If I look at how Cubling sees it all, so far she has no preference for either indoor or outdoor nursery. She likes both. The difference I can see is that she does not report pushing or hair pulling behaviour of other children from the outdoors nursery. She seems to get on better with the children there, but also choose her interaction much more freely, while indoors, she can't avoid to interact with the children she'd rather not play with. The difference may also indicate that in an outdoors environment, behaviour of all children is more balanced and that children in general get on better, because they can make more choice, have more space, are more in control of their space. Alison Hammerton, in a blog post on a visit to outdoor education centres in Norway, observes that:

"The children were clearly healthy and resilient, and there was no evidence of any conflicts between children. Staff allowed them a great deal of time to engage individually in the nature around them, with plenty of opportunity for imaginative and creative play, cooperation and communication, and for developing balance and motor skills."

It seems that one of the benefits of outdoor education is a reduction in conflict and the development of individual interests, which would match my impression of Cubling's feedback. 

In more general terms, outdoor education has many lasting benefits.

"Research indicates that the use of greenspace or 'green exercise' improves health. In particular, learning outdoors generally results in increased levels of physical activity. In addition, interacting with greenspace (walking, gardening, etc) improves emotional wellbeing and mental health."

Outdoor education thus makes for more active children, healthier children, happier children. This is the obvious impact, but more than that it offers an opportunity to engage with the natural world, and a very different environment from that at normal child care centres. In Cubling's case, her indoors nursery is particularly keen on its eco status - so all toys are wooden or of natural origin (baskets of shells, pinecones, and not a single plastic toy), craft activities are done with recycled materials, the outdoor space has plenty of raised beds. However, compare the play materials (aka toys) of a "normal" nursery with those in the outdoors: Colourful, plastic, blinking, beeping items on the one hand, leaves, twigs, mud, trees, bushes, grass, flowers on the other. Outdoors education gives an opportunity to make things that occur naturally into toys, to modify the use, be creative with what's there and thus develop imagination, creativity and resilience. Children manage the risks they take themselves, they make their own decisions if they want to climb that tree or slide down that muddy slope, while nothing in the indoor space has a potential for risk that has to be assessed.

These are qualities which are transferable all the way into adult life:

"Outdoor experiences motivate our children and young people to become successful learners and to develop as healthy, confident, enterprising and responsible citizens."

 So, the bottom line is that there should be more opportunities for outdoor learning in its many forms. Bring on farm kindergartens in rural areas, forest kindergartens whereever there is an appropriate space, green spaces near and far that can be used by nurseries and schools on a regular basis, gardening project and bringing nature into nurseries.

In fact, Cubling's indoor nursery isn't doing too badly at all, with two projects happening soon: a greenhouse to be built out of recycled 2l milk bottles and a seaside mural. And of course Cubling is already collecting empty milk bottles and shells.

Wild Wood

For about two months, Cubling has been out in the woods two days a week. She has joined Glasgow's first Scandinavian style outdoor nursery. For anyone not familiar with the concept, it entails going out all day in all kinds of weather. Usually it's aimed at pre-schoolers, with the benefits being a better immune system due to being outdoors a lot, resilience and a better awareness of physical abilities and the ability to manage risks independently.

Above all, it's a lot of fun for any active toddler.

So what does it look like in practice? In the morning, the children gather at a church hall (which is often used as a creche) between 8 and 9.30am, where they can draw, read books and play with a range of natural toys (pine cones, shells, sticks and anything derived from similar items), listen and move to music. They get into their outdoors clothes (which the forest kindergarten organises for a one off payment which is value for money) and at 9.30am a minibus drives them into the local country park, while they sing songs on the way. Once in the woods, they build up a shelter in case of rain (a tarpaulin/tent) and a portable tent toilet. Anything used on the day is brought along and taken back at the end of the day, so as to leave the park as is. During the day, the children explore different aspects of the outdoors, they make mudcakes, mud slides, climb up tree trunks, create shapes with sticks, explore the local community (there's a lot to explore nearby) or even draw pictures. There's quiet time with stories and much more - effectively the full curriculum can be covered outdoors. The children then return for 5pm to the church hall where they can be picked up by parents.

Of course, on the days of awful Scottish weather, I do doubt whether it's a good idea to send Cubling out. But having been to the base I also know that in the woods you are naturally sheltered from wind and rain, and the tent is really rather cozy... Then there's the worry of toilet accidents and we've been rather partial to nappies just in case, especially before the temperature picked up for spring.

Now, after two months, I can see a marked difference in Cubling. She's always been keen to climb and run, but now she does so with a marked increase in confidence. Her urge to climb, balance and master new challenges has increased, and she is much more determined to give new things a good go. Every day we pick her up she is full of excitement and wants to share her experiences with us. She has an increased awareness of the world around her, she sees even more than she used to see, and gets excited about little creatures and is keen to follow them. With all her drive to climb, she has not ever fallen off, instead she is aware of her skills and her limits and takes responsibility herself.

We had some difficulties transitioning from childminder to nursery in general and Cubling did struggle with the lack of one central caretaker who she relates to. However, that transition worked better in the forest kindergarten where she chose to relate to one worker in particular, as well as a few of the children who she quickly called her new friends. Interestingly, she hasn't done either in the indoor nursery: there she doesn't know the name of the children or workers, whereas she'll tell me all about the children and workers at the forest kindergarten. To me this demonstrates that also her social buttons are pressed much more outdoors than indoors. And she is a very social child.

Forest kindergartens are very popular in Scandinavian countries (where they originated) as well as Germany, where I know them from. We opted for it, for at least 2 days out of 4 days a week that Cubling goes to nursery, because she is a very lively and active girl who would forever feel contained in a nursery room. It's amazing to see how her imagination has increased - she now has endless ideas of how to play with very simple items, and keeps surprising us with very unusual activities. She also verbalises risks and how to stay safe much more now, and demonstrates a maturity which really surprises me.

I hope that outdoor nurseries like the Woodlands Outdoor Kindergarten will become a feature across the country and offer an alternative to traditional nursery settings. Here in Glasgow, parents usually choose to send their pre-schoolers (from 2 years 9 months) for one or two days, so that they do also get the experience of "normal" indoor pre-school education (which is also partially funded). There is a lot of support for the development of similar forest kindergartens across Scotland, and a commitment to integrate them into the statutory fundable early years education provision. However, with councils short of money, all the national support may not push things forward quite so swiftly on that front.

Cubling is proud to be a Waldkind, and I hope she'll keep enjoying it as much as she does now: "Climbing, forever trying / .../ getting to where you should be going" to say it in Paul Weller's words.

This post was written for the Best of British Mummy Blogging carnival which will be up on 11th May at A Place of my Own.

Transitions: starting nursery

The previous two weeks have marked a big transition for Cubling. She has started nursery. So far, from when I had to return to work (she was 5 months at the time), she was cared for 4 days a week by a childminder. Looking back, it was the right choice. Cubling is a spirited child, which, as a baby, meant that she would have difficulties settling and did not like being separated from me. A walk in the pram? A nightmare. Bouncy chairs? You must be joking. Lying under a play gym? If you want wild screams, go for it. Instead she wanted carried and nursed rather a lot. The thought of putting her into a childcare with various carers for a rather long day just didn't seem right. At least with a childminder, there was one continuous carer, which really worked better for my daughter.

Interestingly, of all my friends who work, there is a clear pattern. If childcare is required for up to 3 full days, parents tend to opt for a nursery. If it's more than that, the choice is often for a childminder. I'm not sure how concious people are of such decisions, but research does show that while nurseries and childminders often have a positive impact on the development of young children, this benefit disappears or is reversed if the child is in care for long hours, particularly if this is at a nursery and the child is younger than 2 years of age.

In fact, from the perspective of a child, nursery has a definite benefit from the age of 3, and this benefit is most pronounced if the child attends half days only. Before the age of 2, research has shown that a one-person childcare setup is generally better for the child than a nursery set-up, with the length of hours spent in childcare having an impact too. The longer hours, the worse the nursery fares. Even if parents don't read the research, there's something intuitive about this.

We did consider to transition Cubling to nursery when she was 2. We even gave the childminder notice. And then we got cold feet, our instincts still told me that we weren't happy for her to spend 10 hours a day, 4 days a week, in a nursery with multiple and changing carers. Yes, she was more settled, and a sociable little girl, but it still felt wrong.

Just before her third birthday, we finally have embarked on the big step. For the past two weeks, she has had settling in days at the local authority nursery where we managed to get a place for her. I was keen for her to go to a city council nursery, mainly because of the better reputation of such centres. However, it was hard getting a space in an all day centre, because the way it works around here is that city council run nurseries usually offer half days only from the age of 3 - which is great for the kids but useless for working parents. So we got a space, but it's for 2 out of the 4 days needed only, and it's miles away, definitely not in walking distance. However, it's a nursery with glowing reports, and with so much good stuff that I value that there was no way we could have said no (and hoped to get a space in the nursery around the corner from us, you know the one where Cubling has been on the waiting list for 2 years now without success).

Of course, the way city council nurseries are set up are with the child in mind. It goes back to what's got the most impact on a child. From the age of three, half days, with an educational focus. This is what's good for our children, but unfortunately this doesn't fit in with a world of work that really doesn't give a shit about pre-fives. And how I felt this last week. Our world of work makes us work 9-5, 5 days a week. If we get part time hours, we can count ourselves very lucky indeed (when I was looking for a job, going part time would have meant a 35-50% drop in wages). For our children, shorter hours are proven to be better, longer hours can lead to behavioural issues and aggression that lasts into adulthood. So it's not actually good for young children to spend 10 hours a day at nursery. Yet it's also been shown that working parents seem to have a positive impact on children. The perfect scenario, I suppose, would be a situation where a parent worked just half days and the child would spend half days at nursery.

Just that this is not what the working world wants, a world that has no interest in what's good or bad for our next generation.

Looking back at the past two weeks, both Mr Cartside and I had to bend ourselves double to accommodate the long settling in process. Cubling, of course, did smashingly. I kept moaning about why it was such a slow process, and why we could not just try full days and see how it goes. Again, I was responding to what work expects of me, which puts me under pressure, and in turn, I put my child under pressure.

Thankfully, I relented and we didn't push it. And all went well. So, as of next week, it'll finally be 2 full days, and we'll also start the second nursery which will be a forest kindergarten. Cubling is so excited by it all, she can't wait to climb trees as she says. I'm not sure if she realises that this means she won't see the childminder very often from now on.

I was close to tears (ok, I'm very hormonal and burst into tears very easily at the moment) when I came to pick her up from nursery and found her enthusiastically playing a sleeping and hopping bunny game with all the other children. This is the girl who usually refuses to partake in group games or photographs, the girl who stands back and does her own thing. There she was, so enthralled in it that she didn't even notice me, so joyously playing the game with the biggest conviction there could be. I'd never seen her like this in a group of children. Something felt very right, even if the hours, to be fair, are still very long for a little girl.

At least I'm satisfied that we've found the right balance in difficult circumstances. Childminder up to 3 years, and now the combination of indoor and outdoor nursery, giving her the opportunity to explore very different worlds, while she can spend time being the active and intense girl that she is. I really hope that we've made the right choices to support her personality without changing it, to let her be herself for as long as possible. She will be going to two excellent nurseries which complement each other, and the time spent at home will give her yet more experiences.

This time, the time seems right to change. And so far, she's taken on the transition in her very own stride: Confident, enthusiastic, strong-willed, and with a very big heart.

(picture: Cubling in the driving seat)

The Great Outdoors - Forest Kindergartens for Glasgow

photo: spiros2004 via Flicker (because I forgot to take my camera)
For about a year now, an idea had been spinning around in my head. It was a business idea, something I felt passionate about. Yet I lacked the confidence in my ability to take it on and implement it. Still it spun around in my head, like a record baby, right round right round. (Oh, I'm showing my age here...)

In Germany, the Scandinavian concept of a forest kindergarten has been gaining massive popularity. And in spite of my deep UK roots, and I mean constant moaning about rain with that, it sparkled my imagination. Forest kindergartens are basically outdoor nurseries, usually for children 3 years and over. Children spend all day outside, whatever the weather. They build shelters, create stuff with what's around them, explore, move, run, discover, roam. You could call it a romantic tree hugging back to nature hippy idea, but in a world where children are so protected from the elements, kept indoors almost all day for fear of a raindrop or some stranger danger, glued to TV and plastic toys, the idea of a forest kindergarten has a very real appeal to me.

And then there's the fabulous Pollok Country Park in the South Side of Glasgow, a massive urban country park with large wooded areas, the river Cart flowing right through it. A place I go for walks, for runs, for enjoying one of the most amazing art collections of the UK (the Burrell collection), for visiting Pollok House and Gardens, for it's activities and general beauty. The park where I had my allotment for 5 years. I can't think of a better venue for a forest kindergarten.

I never followed my idea up because I have no Early Years related qualification and because I'm not a risk taker. I have a good and exhilerating job, nothing anyone would give up easily for a insecure existence and a little venture. Ok, some people would, but not me.

Then I came across this.
I mean, can you believe it? There's two mums who have this idea of setting up a forest kindergarten in Pollok Country Park and they just did it????
Wow. I'm jealous. You guys stole my idea! And I'm excited of course. There's a real forest kindergarten at my doorstep! And there's even media coverage hot off the press! Apparently, there was something on the Scottish news yesterday, which we missed, doh. Strangely, I missed all the publicity and it was only through my German connections (the Glasgow Goethe Institute who I used to work for) that I found out about it.

So today, I took the afternoon off and visited the woodlands outdoor kindergarten in action with Mr Cartside. Of course, there's no better time to get a flavour of it than autumn. It was wet, but not pouring. The leaves kept us dry, the colours of autumn were beyond words, and we watched the kids build swings, listen to stories under a tarpaulin, use the roots of an overturned tree as a shoot, build dens, and generally climb over fallen trees. No doubt that Cubling would love this, and would finally have a proper outlet for her neverending energy. And yes, I forgot to take my camera. Shame that, but there are lots of images on their website.

The outdoor kindergarten only started three weeks ago and at present, there are 4 to 7 children each day. They don't have a partnership registration yet, so funding for early years provision (in Scotland that means 12.5 hours per week are free for 3 and 4 year olds) isn't available. The children tend to attend 1-2 days and spend the rest of the time in another nursery where they get the funded hours. This works well because particularly for the younger children, more than 2 full days outdoors, with long walks to and from the base, may be bit much.

My initial idea that Cubling could spend the full 4 days a week in the forest kindergarten from when she turns three may not be practicable. Apart form it being tiresome, especially at the start, I don't want to lose out on the funded hours - so that would mean finding a nursery that would take her for the other 2 days. The difficulty is that nurseries are oversubscribed and we currently use a childminder, and if you haven't had your child in a nursery from before 2 years, it's unlikely you will get a place at all. Of course we'll try, no question about it.

Above all, I'm giddy with excitement at this fabulous opportunity, and I can't thank the two parents who set it up enough for getting their act together (unlike me). Here's to nature kindergartens!

Is there a forest/nature kindergarten near you? Have you got any experience or opinions on it? Would you send your child to one?