The toddler room at Maroubra Junction Early Education Centre is for children from 18 months to 3 years. It is the year everything speeds up. Walking, talking, opinions, and not yet the words to explain any of it. A good deal of our job is supplying those words. We are open 7.00am to 6.00pm, Monday to Friday, on Level 1 at Pacific Square in Maroubra.
What is the ratio in the toddler room?
Both ratios apply, because the room spans 18 months to 3 years. Children under two are counted at one educator to every four. Children over two are counted at one to five.
The younger children are always counted at one to four, never at one to five. That is what the National Regulations require, and it is worth asking any centre you tour how they handle a room that spans the two year mark.
Who works in the toddler room?
The same educators, and they have worked alongside each other for years.
It matters here for the same reason it matters in the nursery. A child in the middle of learning to use a toilet, or in the middle of a hard week, does not want to explain themselves to somebody new.
How do you build independence in toddlers?
By letting them try. An eighteen month old wants to do everything and can do almost none of it yet. Here they attempt shoes, cups, taps, packing away and climbing in and out of things themselves.
It is slower and messier than doing it for them. That is the point. Independence is not taught in a lesson. It is a hundred small chances to have a go.
How do you approach toilet training?
As a team with you, and only when your child is ready rather than on a date that suits us.
This is the one parents dread, and working it out alone at home is genuinely daunting. Our toddler educators have worked alongside each other for years and have taken a great many children through it. That experience is the reason it tends to go smoothly here rather than turning into a battle.
We run a toilet training information evening for families, and if you would rather talk privately we will sit down with you individually. Then we use the same approach at the centre that you use at home.
Nobody has to work it out on their own.
How do you handle tantrums?
By giving the child the words. A tantrum is usually a child with a feeling much bigger than their vocabulary, and shouting at them does not add words.
So our educators name what is happening. You are angry because the tower fell. You wanted the red cup. Over months the words start arriving before the meltdown does, and that is what self regulation actually looks like at this age.
We do not punish a two year old for behaving like a two year old.
What does a day look like?
Language, independence and self regulation run through all of it, but very little of it looks like sitting down and being taught.
Messy play, sand, water and outdoors every day. The outdoor area is fully enclosed with covered shade and a sandpit, and children get outside whatever the weather.
How will I know what my child did today?
Through the Kinderm8 Family app, posted as things happen rather than written up at the end of the day. Photos, observations, meals, sleeps and learning moments.
What is included, and what do I pack?
Nappies, wipes, sunscreen, hats and all meals are included in your daily fee. Meals are cooked fresh on site by our in-house chef, to individual allergy and dietary plans developed with you.
You bring a change of clothes, and more of them than you think while toilet training is under way.
Come and see the room
Ask to see the toddler room on your tour, ideally somewhere near the middle of the day when it is busy. That is when you learn the most.
Maroubra Junction Early Education Centre, Level 1, 142 Maroubra Road, Pacific Square, Maroubra NSW 2035. Phone (02) 9315 5588. Open 7.00am to 6.00pm, Monday to Friday.