A rest place for mothers, a playground for children
(Published April 18, 2012)

Uijeongbu City opens the “Children’s Love and Infant Care Center”
Governor Kim tells a children’s story and performs a nursery play

◇ Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo participated in the opening ceremony of the “Children’s Love and Infant Care Center” in Uijeongbu City on April 18. He read a children’s book aloud to children. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang

“Ants are small.”
“OK! Pull, pull, I am strong.”
“Hedgehogs have a lot of spines.”
“OK! Spines, spines – I am not afraid.”

Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Moon-soo was acting like a mom. He read a children’s book titled OK and held babies in his arms. He played peek-a-boo in front of babies and made them laugh by unfolding the parachute-shaped cloth with their mothers. Governor Kim was attending the opening ceremony of the “Children’s Love and Infant Care Center” held on April 18 in Uijeongbu 2-dong, Uijeongbu City.

The Children’s Love and Infant Care Center is a multi-purpose childcare facility that provides a place to relax and various childcare services for mothers before and after child birth.

Some eighty people, including Governor Kim Moon-soo, Northern Gyeonggi Vice-Governor Ye Chang-geun, Ministry of Health and Welfare – Childcare Policy Division Manager Lee Jae-yong, Gyeonggi Provincial Council Vice-chairman Kim Kyong-ho, and the parents of children and infants attended the opening ceremony.

After telling a children’s story and performing the “Five-Sense Development Fostering Play” with children and mothers, Governor Kim congratulated the center on its opening and said, “I will do my best to make Gyeonggi Province an ideal place to rear children. Like the Children’s Love and Infant Care Center, I will also expand the facilities needed for children and mothers alike throughout the entire province.”

◇ Governor Kim playing a parachute game with the parents of children and infants. ⓒ G-News Plus /  Yu Je-hoon

Gyeonggi Province paid the entire project cost of KRW 150 million won, which included the remodeling, labor, and operational costs of the Children’s Love and Infant Care Center, which will be operated by the Gyeonggi Northern Childcare Information Center.

The 396㎡ facility is situated on the 5^th floor of the Uijeongbu City Childcare Center, which is also the main building of the Gyeonggi Northern Childcare Teacher Education Center (3F) and the Gyeonggi Northern Childcare Information Center (4F).

One childcare teacher and two management agents will work as permanent staff at the center, which is equipped with a childcare room, play room, small auditorium, moms’ café, breast-feeding room, and toy land. It can accommodate a maximum of thirty people, and will operate three times a day.

Open between 9am and 5pm from Monday to Friday, any children under 5 years of age and parents who live in the province are eligible to use the facility. Prior online reservations are required. The playroom operates under a 2-hour time system.

The fixed-time nursery room, which takes care of infants, is open from 9am to 12 in the morning and from 1 to 4pm in the afternoon. Children over the age of 18 months can use the service only once a week.

The play facility charges KRW 1,000 per infant for one time (2 hours), and the fixed-time nursery room charges KRW 3,000.

◇ The pumpkin-striking event is part of the opening ceremony of the Children’s Love and Infant Care Center. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang

◇ Children enjoying the ‘Revolving Palm Tree’ ride. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang

◇ Toy Land, where children can borrow toys and books. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang

The Children’s Love and Infant Care Center looks like a whole different world covered with friendly, warm colors such as green, sky blue, and ivory.

The first thing that attracts visitors’ attention is the palm tree-shaped revolving swing. This ride is called the ‘Revolving Palm Tree’. It is made of fabric, and safely placed on a mat over the floor.

In one corner are a slide and a space where mothers and children can read books together. Blocks and puzzles are kept in the opposite side.

There is a moms’ café where tired mothers can rest, and there is a small auditorium where parents and children can play together. Toy Land, where children can borrow toys and books, also attracts the eager attention of children and their mothers.

Mrs. Lee Ok-hui (41), who has a five-year-old daughter, said, “This center is a much more pleasant facility than the Kids’ Café or nursery homes. I will come here often with my child”. Mrs. Gong Su-gyeong (37), mother of a 4-year-old daughter, said, “I wish we could have had this kind of facility a little earlier. I hope that they pay attention to safety”.

Gyeonggi Northern Childcare Center Director Park Eun-mi, who supervises the operation of the center, said, “This center is a space that combines the functions of a nursery home and a Kids’ Café. It is a rest place for mothers and a playground for children.” Director Park added, “We plan to expand this facility to Uijeongbu and other cities and districts in the northern part of Gyeonggi, such as Pocheon and Yangju, where childcare facilities are lacking or poor.”

Gyeonggi Province plans to open twelve centers this year in order to construct a child-birth friendly environment and to increase the child birth rate. It will increase the number of centers to seventy by 2015.

◇ Right after the opening ceremony of the Children’s Love and Infant Care Center, Governor Kim Moon-soo presided over a meeting held on the first floor of the same building. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang

Immediately after the opening ceremony, Governor Kim encouraged the staff of the Childcare Information Center and students who are taking the Childcare Teacher Fostering Course, and moved on to the first floor of the building, where he presided over a meeting.

During the meeting, the province reported six core projects in order to make Gyeonggi a childcare friendly province: (1) the expansion of public childcare facilities to industrial complexes; (2) the change of childcare facilities to a 24-hour, 3-shift system; (3) the operation of the “With Your Children Café” for children who cannot use the facility; (4) the revitalization of the home childcare teacher system; (5) the improvement of the treatment of childcare teachers and the strengthening of their capabilities; and (6) the construction of a safety-improved childcare environment.

At the meeting, eleven participating parent representatives gave their opinions. They suggested that the province should continue to offer childcare counseling services, install children’s libraries in the northern area of Gyeonggi Province, open Childcare Information Centers in other areas, and operate the center on weekends.

Regarding their suggestions, Governor Kim responded, “Helping citizens to have more children and to take good care of their children should be a priority of national policy. To do that, we need to listen to mothers’ opinions.” He then ordered civil servants to incorporate the suggestions to the fullest extent possible.

“Please visit the center as often as possible.”

◇ Childcare teacher Son Mi-jin works at the Children’s Love and Infant Care Center. ⓒ G-News Plus / Heo Seon-ryang

Unlike other Kids’ Cafés, the Children’s Love and Infant Care Center has one childcare teacher and two staff members who manage the Moms’ Café and the Toy Cleansing Room during operation hours. This system boosts parents’ confidence in their children’s safety.

The center’s workers, including childcare teachers and management personnel, have been working day and night to prepare for the center’s opening, so the ceremony is very meaningful to them. We met daycare teacher Son Mi-jin (26) on site.

-Did you experience any difficulties in preparing for the opening of the center?
“No, we didn’t, thanks to all the assistance we received from Gyeonggi Province.”

-The interior design of the center is very charming and beautiful.
“Our workers worked on most of the interior. They came up with the design and made interior decorations.
We paid particular attention to safety, sanitation, and education because this is a space for children.”

-I am sure you will feel special about today’s opening.
“Yes, we feel proud and rewarded.”

-Could you tell us how to use this center?
“Prior reservation is essential. The fee for using the play room is KRW 1,000 per visit (2 hours).  The experience programs run in the small auditorium require prior reservations. Users of the playroom and the small auditorium can use both the moms’ café and the breastfeeding room.”

-How will you promote the center?
“This is a place where mothers and children can play together comfortably. Parents should take full advantage of these facilities. We will take good care of the children as if they were our own.”

-After examining the site, could you tell us what further improvements are needed?
“There are many temporary childcare policies, but we need more continuous assistance policies so that children can grow safely and healthily. At present, the Children’s Love and Infant Care Center is available only in the northern part of Gyeonggi Province, so residents in other areas cannot use these facilities easily. We hope that each area will have a center like this to improve accessibility, so that mothers can use this kind of center more conveniently.”

ⓒ G-News Plus / Nam Gyeong-woo namgw2011@gmail.com

http://gnews.gg.go.kr/news/news_detail.asp?number=201204182330587055C048&s_code=C048