The Day-Care Centre’s Day Out

Fiona shares her adventure with the babies from the daycare and how their day at the park was. 



If you walked into the day-care centre on Tuesday this week you might have

wondered where all the children had gone. The answer would have been: to the

Parque Del Bicentenario, a beautiful park in the north of Cochabamba. At about

9:30 on Tuesday morning we bundled about 60 children into two buses and

made our way happily to the park.

I was very apprehensive about this little excursion. I had only just gotten used

to looking after the little ones in the safety of the day-care centre, and now I had

to be responsible for them out in the big, bad world. What if I lost one? What

if they hurt themselves somehow? Of course, I wasn’t solely in charge of them

and there’s always someone who knows exactly what to do, but I was still pretty

nervous at the thought!

But all this apprehension was for nothing, and it turned out to be a very

relaxing, very enjoyable day (apart from having to chase after three 2 year-olds

simultaneously every now and then). The day pretty much played out in the

same way as it would have done in the day-care centre; the only difference being

that we were outside enjoying the glorious sunshine all day. We had a snack,

played on the slides a little bit, we went for a walk, had some lunch, and then my

favourite part: naptime. In the day-care centre we hang the babies up on the cots

using awayo blankets and we did the same in the park, except instead of cots

we used trees! I thought it was so adorable and we all found it pretty funny that

everyone that walked past us stared and pointed at the hanging babies!

While the babies slept, we relaxed under the trees and chatted about various

things and it was nice to get to know the ladies I work with at the day-care centre

a bit better because there’s usually not much chance to chat with 20 babies in

need of attention! We finished the afternoon by cleaning the children up and

making them presentable for their parents and, after a little ride round the park

on a trensito, we made our way back to Ushpa Ushpa for 4:30pm.

All in all, it was a really great excursion, and the children seemed to really enjoy

themselves, which is the most important part. I hope I can be a part of more

outings with the day-care centre and maybe next time I won’t feel so nervous

beforehand!