Tagesheim

On Monday, Enzian and Ludwig started their Tagesheim, daycare facility for children, at their school. Tagesheim is originally designed for full-time working parents and working single-parent families to send their children to the care of the professionals while they are at work. The children arrive at school at 8.30am. Several indoor and outdoor activities have been mapped out for them to participate in, and they are free to pick and choose what they like to do. There is a workshop room, a play room, a role-play room, a media room, a Lego room, a research room, a rest-and-relax room, and a big sports hall. They can also go outdoors to play football, cycle, play in the playground, and many more which I did not get to see.

With the influx of immigrants and the rise of germans marrying foreign spouses, Tagesheim is also the ideal solution for children that come from non-native speaking families. Here, teachers will supervise the children after school hours on their homework and provide help to them when necessary. Besides having to complete their homework during the daycare hours, they also earn more free time to play with their friends before they are officially dismissed at 1700 hours on Mondays to Thursdays and at 1600 hours on Fridays.

Both enjoyed Tagesheim so much they don’t even want to leave whenever I was there to pick them up. While I am happy for them, I feel they are spending too much time away from me. When they come home, they are hungry and tired. We could hardly spend time together. No doubt they do spare us from their daily nonsense and noise while they are at Tagesheim, which in turn provide a more conducive working environment for Christophe, but on the flip side, I am questioning if I want this on a prolonged basis, even though I know very well I am not able to help them with their homework as they progress in their school years.

It’s time to start thinking how I can maximize spending the remaining weekday time with them.