Child Care
 

I am interested to know about child care......costs, subsadized care, etc....
I know how much I pay and how hard it is here to find a reliable child care professional here. so I would like to know about child care in Japan as well as other countries......If anyone has this information please share.

It all really depends on the age of the child. For small, pre-school age children (0 to 3) There are two options; State run nurseries (保育園） or licensed private nurseries　（保育所). The state run nursery price is set based upon your income, while the private ones have a flat rate. Which is cheaper really depends upon how much money you are making.

For older children, school comes into the picture, and there are programs for after school care, etc.

I want to stress, though, that Japan has pretty strong feelings about mothers working when their children are small. If it is at all possible financially, most mothers stay at home until their child is school aged. So there aren`t that many places available for childcare. Also, simply having someone babysit is unheard of.

in which age do they go to school?
in germany its about 6 or 7.
and how is the school system?

Most children start kindergarten at 3, 4 or 5. (The average is 4) They go for either 1, 2 or 3 years (depending upon when they started). Then they go on to elementary school.
It`s REALLY rare for a child to only go to one year of kindergarten.

My boys started at 4. I find it harder to get after school care. It is usually only for an hour of two but It is so hard to find.

In our area, the kindergarten will keep the children longer (for a fee), but it`s really not used all that much. As really, most Japanese mothers don`t work when their children are that young.

For older kids, there is a program run by our local children`s center (児童館). The children come to the center after school, and stay there, playing, reading in their library, etc.

don't send them to daycare whatever you do!!!!!!!......the health risks accosiated from daycare are extreme.......you have no clue who your child is playing with....what kind of family they come from...etc.....It is best to have individualized child care...such as a babysitter.......but make sure they are experienced lol.....bye.....night y'alls.....

There is no "daycare" of the US sort in Japan.

In order to get a license, these places have to be checked regularly, etc.

Besides that, there really aren`t that many scary families, unclean conditions, etc. Remember, we`re talking about Japan here.

This is very interesting. I stayed home as long as I could. I was very lucky because my mother voluteered to watch them. However now that they only need one to two hours a day It seems harder and there are no after school programs in my area unless I want to pay way too much.

So another question is what if a mother had to return to work earlier then they wanted to....for financial reasons.