Oh centre, my centre! Part I

Today was a big day.

Last night, I got the kids to bed early (for us, here, by 9 is early...) and we picked out clothes to wear so that those decisions did not have to be made in the morning.  We had gone out earlier and purchased special breakfast foods as well, so that there would be extra incentive to get up out of bed, dressed, and downstairs. 

Then I got all of the paperwork that I could think of ready and sorted:  passports, birth certificates, vaccination records, my phone numbers (home and cell), and the quittance de loyer for June.  A quittance is like a rent receipt; it shows that you are paid up for living at a specific address.  I also filled out the forms that indicate which dates I want them to attend their centres de loisirs during the summer vacation (which starts July 5 and continues through August 31).

Before I go any further, I should explain what exactly a centre is.  It's rather like a public day care, but with a dose of summer camp thrown in.  During the academic year, centres operate on Wednesdays, when there is no school (that's right, no school on Wednesdays in France; there are 1/2 days on Saturday starting in middle school, I believe, but younger kids only go to school 4 days each week).  Many parents work, and not all of them have Wednesday baby sitters, so these "leisure centers" are held in the school buildings (but not in the classrooms) and families are billed by the city for each day attended. I will talk about the billing in a bit.

The city has established a fee scale that involves 8 categories.  While we might have a free/redueced/full pay lunch program at our schools, in Paris there are 7 categories of "reduction" that you can establish by bringing your financials to your local school district office.  By the way, the top rate is under 11 euros a day, for a full day (9-5:30) that includes lunch and a snack (more on that later).
The after-care program at my kids' elementary school is $15 for three hours, including a snack, but you can see how reasonable this program is!

Okay, so centre activities are not that different from school at the Pre-K level:  songs and games, arts and crafts, playground time, some outings.  It's definitely less structured than French school, but works the same skills for the younger kids.  For Elementary age kids, it's a lot of recess-type activities and camp crafts, some board games.  No television.  And lunch and a snack, of course!

 Back to this morning.  I woke the kids up around 7:40 and hustled them into their clothes and down to breakfast.  This is easily 90 minutes earlier than they are used to, now that we are on Paris Vacation time.  Even if I'm working full-time, they are on summer vacation.  I am trying to respect that as much as possible! So they had their special breakfasts (he, a doughnut; she, a pain au chocolat) and watched some kid-friendly t.v. (I actually don't mind their watching French cartoons), and we were off.

First to her Elementary-age centre, which is less than a block from our apartment.  I wanted to be there as the doors opened, at 8:20, so that I'd have time to enroll her and then get Thayer to his location; we were a couple of minutes early.  It was cooler than it has been (also a little earlier in the morning than we are used to being outside!), so we stood inside the laundromat next door until the doors opened. 

The receptionist was a friendly if hapless guy who could not find a form for me to fill out.  Instead, he tore off a sheet of paper and had me copy information from another child's form.  Name, address, DOB, and the like.  And some information about me, and our address.  And a signature and a date.  I handed it over to him (the kids were being VERY good, sitting quietly on a nearby sofa) and he thanked me.  Told me to be back by 6 to pick her up. 

And that was all.  No document inspection of any kind.  He did ask me to go to the mairie (the district town hall) to find out how much I'm to be paying for her per day, but that was all.  Hugs to Meredith, and we were on our way.

Thayer's centre is 3 blocks further away, on Rue du Paradis (Paradise Street!).  The receptionist here was rather better organized than her counterpart up the street; she handed me the proper form and I scrunched onto a bench meant for much smaller people to fill it out.  When I handed it over to her, she asked me for my documents.  "What would you like?"  I countered.  This is not a full-disclosure society; give what you must, but don't divulge anything unnecessarily!  "Justificatif d'adresse," she responds.  So I hand her the quittance, which she glances at and hands back to me.  "Livret de famille," she requests (and here, I am a bit ashamed to admit, I had to remind myself that just because she's not smiling, it does not mean that she's unfriendly or unpleasant.  She's just French). I offer up Thayer's birth certificate, which she also takes a look at.  All seems well.

Then she asks for Assurance Extra-scolaire.  This is insurance to cover out-of-school activities.  I do not have it and I don't think we ever have.  I tell her we don't have it.  She asks, nicely, for us to get it for next week.  Also she'd like a copy of Thayer's vaccination record and wants us to go to the mairie to get the rate worked out.  That is all.

So Thayer and I check out the activities -- there are wooden puzzles and mats to roll around on and paper and markers to color with.  Thayer writes me a note:  "I <3 U, Mama," it says, in big blue letters.  I am loving him.  Then he takes it back and adds another letter, changing Mama to Maman, which is French for Mommy.  I am loving him more.  I write his name in big purple bubble letters for him to color, promise him pizza for dinner if he's a good boy, and have him push me out (a farewell activity that we've been using since he was 3, or maybe younger!).

It is 9 AM.  Both of my kids are ensconced for the day in a safe and stimulating environment.  And I am on my way!

Now how did it go, I hear you ask?  Well, that will have to wait until tomorrow's blog!