Childcare centres around Malta are reporting a gradual increase in interest from parents after being shut for three months because of the pandemic.

After getting off to a difficult start last week following permission given to open – mainly because they had little time to prepare – the centres are now settling into their new routines.

The next hurdle they face is appeasing parents worried about the risk of the spread of COVID-19 and asking about safety measures.

Strict guidelines have been issued to childcare centres. These include raising the maximum child capacity to one child per six square metres instead of the standard five. Children and carers must remain within the same cluster of no more than six supervised children.

Earlier this week, Education Minister Owen Bonnici said more than 100 childcare centres had now reopened and nearly 1,000 children were back in childcare.

Sara Caruana, manager at Peakaboo Early Learning & Child Care Centre, and Christine Borg, manager at Bright Sparks Child Educare Centre, feel centres should have been advised well in advance of their opening.

The government had initially said they would reopen on July 1 before going for an earlier opening date.

Positive feedback

However, despite the initial pressures, both agreed that the experience has otherwise been positive.

“Children have shown us they really longed for interaction and yearned to return and be in contact with their carers and friends,” Caruana said.

Children have shown us they really longed for interaction

“Many have already settled into a new routine in order to abide by the current measures.”

Borg agrees: “We were surprised that the children hardly put up any resistance considering the three months they spent in close proximity to their family.”

She said the parents’ main concern was that children would suffer from separation anxiety.

Parents were also still worried that their children would get infected, which is why extra attention was being given to following guidelines.

Challenges and concerns

For Caruana, the biggest challenge was sorting out the children into clusters depending on parents’ working hours. Children in one cluster are not allowed to mingle or share toys with children from another cluster.

Children spend a lot of time outdoors, each child has his or her own crafts’ box, and toys and surfaces are regularly disinfected.

For Borg, the main concern was ensuring that parents did not expose their children outside the centre by taking them to playgrounds or other such places – so they recommend that children are not taken to such places. 

Some parents have preferred not to send their children to childcare, cautious especially of the risk of exposing vulnerable family members to the virus.

Liane Zerafa and Rebecca Farrugia, directors of Little Elephants childminding services – who are about to open a childcare centre – said they knew of many parents who were waiting till September to enrol their children.

A big trend they are seeing is the request for small private creches and summer schools.

“We are sending a number of child carers out to homes of groups of friends with three to six children, organising stimulating activities to keep the children engaged and active over the summer months,” they said.

The Early Childhood Development Association of Malta is holding an online event about reopening procedures on June 18 at 5pm. Childcare centre managers from New Zealand, Canada, Norway, United Kingdom and Malta will share their experiences. Visit the association’s Facebook page to register.