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Day Nurseries
Day nursery accommodation for children of working mothers and others is
still much sought, after and is easily the most popular method of daily minding.
This year 39 applications for admission concerning 46 children had to be
refused as not complying with the necessary conditions for admission. In all
these cases either daily guardian or other arrangements were made. No application
was refused where health or social conditions were such as to come within the
scheme. There are, however, a substantial number of enquiries made by parents
who wish to improve their position either by saving money for house purchase or
similar purpose.
During the year the number of coloured children admitted has increased and
they attract attention in each nursery. Nursery matrons state that there are
certain features connected with these children which call for different handling.
Coloured children appear to take longer to settle in and are more demanding of
staff time. They appear to be more affectionate, more vigorous and physically
more mature. For this reason attempts have been made to up-grade them to the
next age group, without success. Experience shows that they are more dependent,
that their mental growth does not conform with their physical advancement and
therefore they do not easily fit into the higher age group. These children are
quite popular with the staff and the other children.
Handicapped Children There has been a slight rise in the number of
handicapped children admitted to the nurseries solely on medical grounds. They
include hearing children of deaf parents who have the opportunity in the nurseries
of developing a reasonably correct speech pattern instead of remaining retarded.
Others include children who were disabled by p oliomyelitis, cerebral palsy and
mental retardment. All these children have made very considerable progress.
On the whole they are accepted and helped by the other children and the devoted
attention of members of the day nursery staff. The acceptance of such children
in a nursery involves certain adjustments such as arranging for individual
responsibility for the care of the child and care in placing in the age group best
fitted for their disabilities and giving them short periods with children in their
own chronological age group. Most of the parents of these children are very cooperative
but there are a few who would withhold the child from this treatment
because of financial assessment to pay the nursery charges.