Child care, the UCLA way

Child care, the UCLA way

Caregivers emphasize the need for patience, respect in dealing
with children

By Karen Duryea

Daily Bruin Contributor

While undergraduate students study Chaucer in North Campus and
chemistry in South Campus, a special group of "students" in West
Campus study with playdough, finger paints and plastic barnyard
animals.

But don’t leaf through the schedule of classes looking for a
class in playdough architecture just yet – to enroll, you must be 5
years old or younger. The "students" are the children at UCLA’s
Bellagio Child Care Center.

Just around the corner from the dorms, there are 80 "little
ones," ranging from the ages of 2 months to 5 years, some playing
"duck duck goose" under a shady tree.

With prices ranging from $565 to $775 per month per child, the
university provides child care for the children of a limited number
of faculty and students.

Inside the center, Gay MacDonald, director of Child Care
Services, has a conversation with a 4-year-old girl. Although the
child is less than half her size, MacDonald treats her with
respect. This understanding of children is part of the philosophy
that UCLA’s Child Care Center adheres to.

"We accept their feelings and find solutions to behavior,"
MacDonald said. When a child gets upset, MacDonald and the other
caregivers at the center try to be understanding and empathize with
the child’s emotions rather than ignore or scold the child.

Patience, MacDonald explained, is not enough.

"Patience lets you down, but if you have understanding, then you
can be endlessly intrigued," MacDonald said.

But the ability for a caregiver to be involved with a child is
sometimes lost in the struggle to give attention to several
children at once. Even in a very good child care center, this
problem is a factor, Macdonald said.

At Bellagio Child Care Center, the ratio of adult to child
varies with the age of the group of children. For the babies, one
caregiver has the responsibility of two or three children. Older,
more independent children can be in groups of four to eight.

Venus Dawson, a graduate student and mother, picks up her
daughter from the center at the end of the day. The preschooler
happily trudges alongside her mother, clutching a piece of yellow
construction paper adorned with "Barney" stickers.

Dawson explained that when she first brought her daughter to the
Bellagio Child Care Center, it took her a little while to get
accustomed to the large size of the center, but she said she has
adjusted.

"I like the teachers, and the diversity of the kids and the
teachers. You don’t find that in L.A.," Dawson said. If her
daughter, Amanda, were not at UCLA, Dawson said she would have to
resort to placing her in child care in Santa Monica and take out a
loan to cover the costs.

Current fees at the Bellagio Center are $745 per month for
infants and toddlers and $630 per month for preschoolers. A limited
number of child care tuition grants from the California State
Department of Education are available for UCLA student
families.

Although it would be more convenient for Amanda to be in child
care closer to home, the expense of other child care centers is
overwhelming to Dawson, who admits that balancing studies and
motherhood is "stressful" enough. Luckily, Dawson is a recipient of
subsidized tuition for her daughter’s care.

The location of the center has even proven to be an advantage
for Dawson. The walk from South Bellagio Road to Ackerman Union
buses and shuttles gives the mother and daughter time to catch up
with each other.

"I like that we have a little bit of travel time," Dawson
said.

MacDonald said that some of the children are at the center all
day long, from the time it opens its doors at 7:30a.m. until
5:30p.m. The center fills the children’s days with a relaxed but
familiar schedule of activities.

"They want to know the pattern of the day," MacDonald said.

The children are separated into four groups, MacDonald
explained. The caregivers play games, read stories, and provide
meals and snacks for the children throughout the day. Once in a
while, the group will walk over to the campus.

After hearing a story, the older children are encouraged to draw
and write in journals, which are then dated to show a child’s
progress.

"We show them the uses of writing," MacDonald said. "If you
surround them with information,they’ll choose it. It’s really
important to give the children the opportunity to know why they
want to read."

Giving a child room to grow as opposed to forcing learning is a
philosophy used at Bellagio Child Care, MacDonald said. Reading to
the children in a comfortable situation often is one way the center
accomplishes this.

Bellagio Child Care Center is not the only center at UCLA for
child care. Seventy-five other children are provided with care at
the Fernald School on Circle Drive North and the Colina Glen
Preschool.

Plans are underway to build a new child care center at the
renovated University Apartments/South complex, located between
Sawtelle and Sepulveda Boulevards in West L.A. Even though this new
facility is a gift from the university, Child Care Services is
still raising funds to pay the caregivers.

Child Care Services is funded by parent fees, fund raising, the
California State Department of Education, registration fees and
chancellor’s fees. Some graduate students get involved in the fund
raising for child care, but rarely do undergraduates get involved,
MacDonald said.

Still, she said that this is not enough to help all the people
who need the services.

"Our larger community is not willing to subsidize other people’s
child care bills," MacDonald said. "We need (the children) to grow
up and take over being responsible."

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

Fifth-year sociology student, Gricelda Guzman, reads to Adrianna
Villaseñor.

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

A class sits on the floor enraptured by teacher Susan Wood’s
lesson at UCLA’s Bellagio Child Care Center.

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

A child enjoys life’s simpler pleasures: a bucket, shovel and
sand.

FRED HE/Daily Bruin

Teacher Gerardo Soto talks with Richard Yu (far left) and
friends.

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