Hi there,

We were informed last week that the authorities in Basel will close down (in 2 weeks!) the English daycare our daughter was attending ... a tragedy for the English speaking community in Basel!

Unfortunately there is only one English daycare in Basel now, so we won't get a a daycare place for our 3 years old daughter in in the near future. We would need to find an English speaker, who could help us two days within the week (during the day) mainly.

We are looking forward to your response!

Best regards,
Betsy
bmpf21@yahoo.com

PS: For more information on this very sad and devastating experience... http://savemapleleaf.com/index.html

Hi,

The Mapleleaf tale is a very strange one indeed and I follow the website with interest. It smacks of council officials with too much power.

Out of interest, why have you opted not to send your child to a German speaking daycare? Not a criticism, just curious.

Cheers,
Nick

Hi Nick,
Thanks for your replay. I am not Swiss, if this is why you are asking about a Swiss daycare for our daughter. I do speak some German (the kind you learn out of books in a German course), but do not understand/speak Swiss German. We will be in Switzerland for a few years, and then we will move again. We think it makes sense for our daughter to keep an English environment as a constant regardless of where we live. She will probably end up helping Mommy with her English ;-)))
Cheers,
Betsy

It's actually important that you do maintain your native langauge at home - the Swiss daycare and schools recommend that you do just that. But if you put your daughter into a Swiss place, she will get a second language for free. She won't even notice she's learning it and it opens up a whole new world of freinds.

Hi Betsy and Swissbob,

It's interesting to hear different takes on the subject and at the end of the day it is horses for courses.

I think we would like our wee one to go to a Swiss kindergarten as we plan to remain for the forseeable future and we are keen that he learns the local lingo.

My wife is Dutch and we respectively speak English and Dutch to him so hopefully he will have a few languages under his belt.

Cheers,
Nick

Dear Bob and Nick,

Thank you so much to both of you for sharing your thoughts and for your kind advises. I really appreciate this.
I do speak with our daughter in my mother language, Spanish. My husband does his part with the German language, which I also speak after living for some years in Germany. This is important to us.

A good German friend of us, who lives right across the border in Germany, looks after our daughter a whole day once a week . She also takes her daughter and ours (same age both of them) to a German playgroup. She is doing great with her German and, as you mentioned, she learns it by playing. She's actually growing up trilingual, having a contact person for each of these three languages :-). It is amazing! I wish I'd have had the same experience, as I was her age ;-)

Thanks again for caring.

Regards,
Betsy

Hi Betsy, It has been a long time since Maple leaf was closed and I hope that found a good solution for your daughter. My son attended Maple leaf till it was closed. Now I am looking for a after-school care / baby-sitter (school finishes at 15:00) starting from December 07 for him. I have placed an advertisement every where I could but have not received any suitable response. Just keeping my fingers crossed. I don't know what else to do.....

Dear Rasp,
I found some partial solutions. I looked even in Germany. For us it is even more difficult to find someone to come over our home to look after our daughter, since we live in Baselland.
She's 3yo and we are hoping to enroll her in a daycare in Basel. We are in a waiting list and hoping to get a place for her in October.
How old is your son? Does he go to school in the ISB or SIS? if not, I heard they have after-school childcare.
Cheers,
Betsy

Hi Betsy and Rasb,

I just so happen to currently be looking for Mother's Help work in the Basel area.
I speak Spanish (native), English (bilingual), French (fluent) and a bisschen German.

I thinks it's probably best to get in touch if you're interested, my e-mail is: casicolumbus@gmail.com

Saludos/Cheers,

Pim

Hi Betsy,

Though both SIS and ISB offer after school care, ISB offers after school care for kids starting from Kindergarten. My son is still in pre-school in ISB. My current baby-sitter is temporary and she is not available from December onwards. Finding a suitable child-care seems to be one of the biggest challenges here. I might be sounding very low, but thats how I feel these days

I hope that you find a suitable care for your daughter soon. Wish you good luck.

Cheers
rasb

Dear Rasb,

I know exactly how you feel. It is not easy for families with kids in Switzerland, especially if you are a working woman, as myself. Needless to say how the closing of MLP within 3 weeks hit us at that time.

Finding a daycare/babysitter is more than a challenge.

Hope you find a babysitter soon. Good luck to you too.

Warm regards,
Betsy

Dear Betsy

Thanks for your reply and wishes

Kind regards
Rasb

I have been reading your thread and would like to tell you there is a new daycare facility in Oberwill which also offers after school and holiday care. December is a few months away and I do know the service is filling up very quickly however you could give the provider a call. Ina Nicosia Kids Camp 061\301\0069 and maybe she can help you solve your problem. Basel.Childbirth.Trust. also advertise babysitters on classified this may also be of some assistance if you just need sitters
Good Luck and hope you feel better soon.

hi,

I am just starting a Montessori home school in english for preschoolers in France but only 15 minutes from Basel and easy highway access. Feel free to contact me if you are interested.
florence

Do you know of any daycare in Basel that takes 6 month old babies...I only speak English, but it doesn't really matter what language they talk to my baby!

Hi Julia,

Our 10-month-old has been attending the Kinderkrippe Eva ( http://www.kk-eva.ch/ ) since he was about 6 months old - and he seems happy enough there. It seems they try to engage the babies in activities to help them develop like encouraging crawling, walking etc.

It is German speaking which we don't mind as he hears English and Dutch at home. There are a few babies from English-speaking families who are in his group plus other nationalities.

The place is nice and bright and they have groups of different ages; plus there is a friendly atmosphere. Whenever we pick him up they always tell us how much he slept; whether they took him out; what he had to eat etc etc.

We have a parents meeting soon to discuss his progress at the place.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Nick

Hi there

We are also currently looking for daycare and wonder if you have correct email address for the Kinderkrippe Eva. The Web site seems to be quite old and the email address provided for enquiries is not working.

Thanks for any help

Jaq

Hi,

The phone number on the site is correct - perhaps give them a call and make an appointment. They all speak English there to a greater or lesser extent.

I can't help with the email address.

Cheers,

Nick

hello...

m a housewife and i speak good english..i like kids a lot..and i would love to take care of them...though i dont have any professional training..but i feel i can make a good one..

if interested please let me know...
thanks
akshata

Hi

I am looking for a private daycare center in basel or person who is intrested to take care our twin boys. They are now 6 month.

Any idea !!

thanks

Leo