Karen’s first experience with TeamKids was when she faced the challenge of four-year-old kindy ending and the long gap before Flynn started Prep the following year.
Working full-time and unable to take time off during January, Karen was unsure of what options were available until she attended a Prep information session at their new school when another mum happened to mention TeamKids.
Karen start investigating immediately and quickly discovered that TeamKids was the only solution for holiday care that would welcome children who would be starting Prep, even though they were still four years of age.
Karen was nervous; it would be the first time that Flynn would be in the care of someone other than family or day-care. Flynn had been attending the same day-care since he was six months old and it was extremely comfortable for everyone. Drop off and pick up were easy, and all the staff knew what an energetic, spirited boy Flynn was, and Flynn felt utterly at home. So, starting at TeamKids was a big deal for both Flynn and Karen as there felt like there were so many unknowns.
Another mum advised Karen, ‘Don’t freak out; it’s not like a day-care!”
So, when Karen went to drop Flynn off on the first day at TeamKids, Karen felt unsure of what to expect.
“I quickly realised that I didn’t need to worry so much, TeamKids, do this all the time, they have processes in place to keep Flynn safe, and I needed to trust that Flynn was in good hands.”
“Flynn came home raving about everything he had done that day and all the food he could eat, and he loved it!”
“We felt so comfortable after the first day that we even booked Flynn in on a day to go on an excursion to Melbourne Zoo!”
One of the standout things about TeamKids for Karen was how the educators responded to the summer heat.
“Instead of leaving the kids in a boiling hot room to wilt on the days over forty degrees, they arranged to temporarily relocate into air-conditioned premises and restructured what they were doing on that day to ensure the kids didn’t overheat and drank lots of water. To me, this showed that TeamKids cared about the welfare of all the children.”
Flynn has now had a successful first term at school which Karen partly attributes to Flynn attending TeamKids over the summer months. It provided him with the opportunity to meet other children and become familiar with his new school environment so that when school started, some of the unknowns had been eliminated.
After the interview, Karen added:
“I didn’t mention it in our conversation as it really wasn’t about this, but it is probably important for you all at TeamKids to know that for us to feel comfortable with people looking after our son is a really big thing due to a medical condition that he has. Whilst he may not seem like he suffers from a chronic illness due to his everlasting tornado of energy that surrounds him, he does, and it can be a bit of a scary concept people not knowing this and what signs to look out for or what to do if there is an accident or contagious illness going around.”
