Appleseeds was my first part-time monkey business since I got back to New York.
It's a Manhattan style children's center with a big indoor playground, lots of different classes as well as a store and hair salon.
For now I'm giving a mere two classes on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:15 to 10am to kids 18 months to 3 years of age. Yes, I have to take the subway that early in the morning for just a one hour class. The good thing about it is that it pays well, I get some exercise and above all its FUN! We play sports, run around and best of all we play with bubbles.
This type of early childhood center has existed in the US for a long time, but in Spain however, going to a place to spend quality time with your child is a completely new concept. That is not to say that Spaniards don't spend quality time with their children, it's just that they prefer to bring along to the bar while they have a couple of cañas (small beers) or let them run off in the park with other kids.
Funny enough, I feel that Americans spend much less time with their children simply because they are much busier and work most of the day. Seriously, life is so fast paced and hectic here, people don't even have time for children. Therefore, they usually have a nanny to take care of them all day and a lot of them come to Appleseeds.
At Gymboree, the center I was working at in Spain, nannies were definitely a minority. And lets just face it, most nannies are not as enthusiastic about attending a jolly happy sing a long class with a child that is not theirs.
i saw a commercial for a leapfrog toy that teaches kids to read interactively with a pen that goes over the words and says them out loud, and then parents can track their kids progress online. as opposed to just taking the time it took them to track the progress and just sit down with the kids and help them read. ha. silly parents.
ReplyDeletei would attend a jolly happy sing along class with a child not my own... especially after a couple of canas!
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