Working with children in Spain
Friday, July 18, 2008 @ 2:04 AM
Today I have been left worrying whether to change the babys nursery yet again! I think that whatever care you choose for your child will never feel good enough or will compensate for your own care.
I picked the baby up after a morning at her local Spanish nursery to find that her nappy was soaking wet again and the spare nappies in her bag had not been used.
Of course my first reaction is to take her out of there and never to let her out of my sight but I have no choice but to work and I enjoy my work which is going from strength to strength. A quiet word with the nursery nurse will hopefully sort out this problem as she seems very content to go and is already speaking more Spanish than English. Mira (look!) is her favourite word!
Most women will tell you that work and mother hood is a continuous struggle, whilst you are at home you rush around cleaning up, ferrying the children from activity to activity and generally stressing out. When you go out to work you have to ensure that wherever you work will fit around the childrens school/nursery hours and school holidays.
In Spain there are several advantages and disadvantages to working.
The child care is a lot cheaper than the UK if you choose to go for a Spanish nursery for day care, however the number of children to staff ratio is a lot higher than in the UK. This is a great option to go for if you want your children to be completley bilingual.
My children have all gone to Spanish nurseries and are all bilingual which is a great skill for their future but there is a feeling of guilt that still persists in that we are depriving them of the best standard of education.
Having worked for several companies in Spain and after having spent a year working for a Spanish arquitect to practice my Spanish, I have taken the decision to work for myself.
This is great for me as I no longer have to dread the phone call into work when the children have an illness or need to take a day off to visit their school show. However there are disadvantages as I am quite often tapping away at my laptop unti two in the morning, only to find that the baby will wake an hour later!
Tomorrow I have an interesting morning as I am attending a meeting in Malaga on the various government run incentives for young businesses! All in Spanish! HELP!
I will let you know how I get on!