The privately owned crèche at Shari in Paro has provided respite services to working parents.
Today, Yeshey’s Happy Crèche take cares of 22 children. It picks up toddlers and children from various places in Paro in the morning. For working mother like Karma, this is a blessing as she can now work peacefully at the office, without having to worry about her son.
Otherwise, like elsewhere in the country, she found it difficult to raise children. It was hard for her to multi-task and juggle between work requirements and meet needs of her child. And the cost of childcare and lack of babysitters only aggravated the problem.
“They pick our child by 8:15 in the morning and we get time to prepare ourselves for office. Otherwise I have to take my son to office and it’s quite uncomfortable. We can’t concentrate on our work,” Karma added.
Like her, many mothers go to work by leaving their children in the hands of caregiver at the crèche. “I do online business and I have to travel a lot. With my son, it is very difficult. I started sending my son when he was 1 year 1 month, after that I could do anything and go anywhere with ease” said Phub Pem.
Crèche gives preschoolers the opportunity to take part in positive and merrymaking activities. It has made time adjustments with those parents working in hotels and remains open at nights and also during public holidays.
The owner of the crèche, Yeshey Pelden said: “Bhutanese today face a scarcity of babysitters which led most parents to leave job and look after their children. So we opened the crèche, where we ensure the safety of the child.”
The four caregivers follow the daily routine noted by parent in the activities book. This includes changing diapers, feeding and making children take nap, and socialising. The crèche welcomes babies of 6 months to children of 3 years and a fee per child is Nu 3,000 in a month.
