Friday, April 4, 2014

Tünde's 1st Day of Kindergarten

Today was Tünde's 1st day of kindergarten.  First of all, kindergarten here is the equivalent of preschool in the USA.

In Czechland, public kindergarten (preschool) starts when the child is 3 years old.  This coincides with the up to three years of parental leave that is available here.  

Private kindergartens will take children at 1 year.  So from when the child is born to when they can go to private kindergarten is the challenge.  A parent has to stay at home or pay for a nanny.  It's common here for grandparents to help out a lot with babysitting.  A full-time private kindergarten can run 4.000 Kč - 20.000 Kč ($200 - $1000) per month.  The prices are higher for a German or English speaking school

There is a serious shortage of public kindergartens in ČR.  Around 60,000 children across the country did not get accepted.  It's especially tough in Brno where more than 55% of children who applied did not get a place.

Claudia had been looking for a place for only one day per week.  She heard from a colleague about an opening at a very good private kindergarten and Tünde was accepted.  They took her even though she won't be one year for a few weeks.  Yeah!  I hear that she did great.  No tears or anything.  I feel like such a proud godfather.   

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