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Childminder’s profile Marie Luce Zacharie: ‘Adhering to IECD standards can be costly’ |20 July 2019

Childminder’s profile     Marie Luce Zacharie: ‘Adhering to IECD standards can be costly’

Marie Luce Zacharie

With a hospitality background, Marie Luce Zacharie joined the caring field of child care five years ago. It astonished her to discover how much fun it was, so she quickly took it up as a full-time job.

Marie Luce previously worked evenings as a bartender in a hotel and during the day she would be at home; it was then that her neighbour asked for help to take care of her children.

“Later more parents came to me, it became fun, so I accepted to help them. Unfortunately, I was made redundant when the hotel closed, so I decided to take up child-minding full time,” said Marie Luce.

She started with only two children and now has 10 aged between eight months and three years of age.

“With the help of my assistant, we organise the children into two groups. Those preparing for creche (aged between 2 and 3 years) are cared for by my assistant who is also my daughter. She is more equipped to give the educational preparation for crèche. I take care of the younger ones, I teach them how to count, sing nursery rhymes and I do fun games with them,” she explains.

Marie Luce adds that although she lives in a flat she ensures that she does some outdoor activities. “We go out for baby gym, swimming classes and sometimes we even go to the playing field nearby to do some physical activities,” she says.

National standards for childcare demand that proper daily records are kept to ensure that the children and minders alike are well protected. “Sometimes the fact that we have to keep records of almost everything is draining. We have so much to take care of already. One of the perks of this job is that you are self-employed but sometimes you don’t feel that way,” explained Marie Luce.

She believes that IECD does a lot of good as “it helps us to gain new ideas, do what we are doing better and professionalises our work.” However, sometimes adhering to the standards need some getting used to and it can be costly.
She believes that every job despite the formal aspects should have a human side to it whereby individual needs are taken into consideration.

The cost of living is a concern for this child-minder and currently the national standards allow minders to care for only 10 children if they have an assistant.

“We may be forced to raise our monthly fees and most parents will not be able to afford it. If only we could take a few more kids that could cover our expenses and keep our prices down. I have the space to take in more,” she says as she shows us around her house where she has made a significant extension.

Marie Luce Zacharie, 57, hopes to stay in the business until she reaches 60 years when she will stop. Somewhat discouraged by the limitations of the standards, she says: “I don’t think I will take in new children. I will take care of the ones I have here till they all go to school.”

Nevertheless, she feels parents are very understanding. They participate well in their child’s development and always help them do better.

 

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