For most parents, daycares are a part of their daily life. While daycares in America can cost a lot of money, it seems like other countries in the world might not have the same requirements.
Now, Americans are responding to a Finnish daycare, which has enthralled them. Keep reading to know more about what the daycare has, which has stunned everyone.
Daycares are necessary in society, especially if people expect a workforce to be present. Not having access to adequate daycare facilities forces some parents to stay at home.
In the US alone, for example, over 100,000 Americans were forced to stay home from work each month because of issues with organizing adequate childcare. The economic toll of his costs about $122 billion every single year.
To be able to enable the workforce to participate in the economy to its best potential, a refocus on childcare has to be made. To highlight how far ahead other countries are in terms of his, a mother and content creator named Annabella Daily showed the American public what a daycare in Finland looks like.
“Want to see what a Finnish daycare looks like? Here, kids are encouraged to be independent and their educators are not called teachers but ‘specialists in early childhood upbringing,’” she revealed
She then showed little beds that each child had, “Their focus is learning through play. They all have these little beds in which they take naps, as kids go to daycare from the age of around 1 until 6.”
She then showed the dining rooms where the children get nutritious meals. She said, “There’s a dining room and they are provided warm, healthy meals and snacks every day. They eat together at these little tables.”
“They also do art, music and crafts. The kids get potty trained at daycare as they are ready and they have these little toilets and sinks,” she revealed. Adding, “The kids spend hours outside every day, and inside they’re also encouraged to move around in the playrooms.”
She then revealed the most impressive part of all of this; the cost of the daycare! She wrote, “Daycare is considered every parent’s and child’s right, and at maximum costs $325 a month with a bit more for private daycare.”
She wrote, “I loved our time at this daycare in Helsinki called Engel and I felt like with the daycare educators, I really found a village who helped me raise my child. Would you leave your kids here?”
Her video went viral as people in the U.S. were flabbergasted at the amount of amenities at such a low-cost daycare. Apart from a wonderful childcare system, the parental leave in Finland is 320 working days which lasts approximately 14 months. If a child has two parents, they are both entitled to 160 days each. One parent is allowed to relinquish 63 paternity leave days to the other.
Once the parental leave ends, parents can choose between municipal or private daycare for their child and for their child’s home care allowance.
Daycares in Finland are called early childhood education and care (ECEC). The system is a part of their education system together with pre-primary education and basic education, it progresses with the child’s development and learning. All children under school age are entitled to ECEC even if one or both parents are home.
While the price of the daycare varies according to whether the daycare is private or not, parents get an allowance from the Social Insurance Institution (KELA) that allows them to supplement the cost of private daycare as well.
People commented under her video, sharing their dismay over the American system. One person commented, “cries in American mom.” While another added, “325 a month??? wow” unable to believe the low price compared to the thousands of dollars it costs to send children to daycare in the United States.
If you found this piece interesting, check out the one below about these parents’ experience with a daycare in the U.S.
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Different countries have different ways of providing childcare! It is always so fascinating to learn about different childcare services from around the world. What do you think of the Finnish system? Let us know in the comments!
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