When we first survey nurseries for Isa, we did not put budget into consideration. The first thing we looked at was the facilities. the care takers, the surroundings. These are all the things I look for. I believe in positive environment to nurture a well and discipline behavior.

But to get a complete factors on point means paying extra and we did not want to put our financial strain on ourselves so we looked for a day care that charges affordable fee. We had Isa over at the nursery for a year. Everything was fine except an incident made me decided to look for a better one. But because we had paid advance, I decided to let him finish that 1 year cycle.

A few months before the end of 2018, I scouted for other nurseries. This time I wanted more than surroundings and teachers. I wanted Isa to be exposed with other languages which I feel would be very beneficial for him long term and for his future. I called a few Chinese/English based nursery and I'm happy to know that most of them provide HALAL meals for the kids. I believe many nurseries know that parents started to realize the advantages of having to master different languages for their children. I don't emphasize education on Isa but I wanted him to have fun, to improve his social skills, to let him learn to be more independent. Children are meant to have fun but because I restricted him a lot at home, so the only chance he gets to let loose is in school.

But........

Everything was good until I saw the fee 😀 . An average good Chinese/English based nurseries or day care ranges between RM700 to RM900. But knowing how Juan sees his money, I find ways on how to make him see where his additional RM300 goes to. So we went to the nursery that I planned to send Isa to and gather some information from there. Lots of questions being thrown to the teachers based on my experience with Isa's previous day care. I requested to look around the nursery too (make sure you do that because most nurseries are okay to bring you around). When I had the chance to take a walk to see the whole area from kids play area to the kitchen, I will see the small things that some parents might not noticed. Being a very particular parents, I want to make sure that my children's safety is the school's top priority. I will list down the differences of a RM400 and RM700 school below.. Please be informed that whatever information I listed is based on my personal experience and this could vary in every parents but I do hope that this list helps a lot. But then again, all nurseries are not perfect. Most importantly that your child gets what they really need. A conducive learning experience and positive surroundings.