What do parents expect from nurseries?

Abstract

Our children suffer from perfectionist parents, for whom the most important thing is to have their infants speak at least one foreign language already in the kindergarten, take part in musical sessions on weekly bases, and just because it is trendy, take horse-riding lessons at the weekends fifty kilometers away from home-Kindergartens have become more vulnerable, and do not fulfill all the requirements of society in this money-centered world. At the same time, overloaded children might become neurotic as their age-related characteristics are not handled accordingly. The peace of kindergarten life is disturbed by the extra lessons and activities, satisfying the needs of parents suffering from compulsion to conform. We, adults, do not notice that we deprive our children of living their real childhood, moreover, a huge gap separates the age-related specifics from the parental expectations. In this research we were looking for answers to questions such as what the parents think about the kindergarten their children go to, about the educators and their way of working, what expectations they have regarding the kindergarten teachers and the kin-dergarten as child-care institution...