Since I don't work at the moment we decided to keep baby boy at home until he's a bit older to put him in kindergarten. If both parents work, which is accustomed to in our culture, the baby usually goes to nursery at 11 months old. We're planning for next year when he'll be 2 and a half years old. Right now I'm looking for different options available to us. The thing is, our options are limited since we moved out of the city and even more so since we're vegetarian.
In our country you kind of have to attend public kindergartens in the municipality you live in. Sometimes you can get one in a different municipality but it's difficult to get in because if there's a waiting list (which for the capital city it's huge) everyone that lives in that municipality has precedence over others that don't.
In this day and age you'd think kindergartens would be more flexible about food but it's almost the opposite. If you want any other food than the one they offer, you need a note from a doctor stating the child needs a special diet because of health reasons. Of course vegetarian and vegan food is considered a diet so you'd need a doctors note for it which of course no doctor is going to give you unless there are health reasons like allergies. Some kindergartens have a vegetarian menu (vegan menu is only a dream) and there are even three units in a certain public kindergarten that are exclusively vegetarian but of course none in our municipality.
The other option is a private kindergarten which costs more. I looked into Montessori which we actually have not far away from us but the vegetarian diet is an issue again. The other I like is a Waldorf's kindergarten which is exclusively vegetarian but it's in the city that is 45 minutes away.
I find it so frustrating that in this day and age I need to make such decisions to either not give a crap what my child eats and have him in a kindergarten nearby or drive 45 minutes into the city and pay way more for a private kindergarten. I already kind of gave up on the notion of him not eating dairy. Even vegetarian kindergartens need a doctor's note to exclude dairy from the child's menu.
And then there's the other thing. Do I put my child in a public kindergarten where he gets lost in a number of children or I put him in a private one with smaller number of kids per group? If we decide on a private kindergarten, will the one closer to my hubby's work be better or the Waldorf's one since I'm kind of looking into Waldorf's school as well and being in their kindergarten gives you a better starting point when applying?
We have another year to decide but it's already stressing me out.
P.S. Please don't lecture me about letting the child decide whether to eat meat or not. I have my own views on that and they obviously differ from yours.
Linking to
Paint Party Friday.
Self-study classes:
Cotton Candy Girls & Crazy Hair Ladies
Horse & a chubby Unicorn
