Hands-on Family Very Much In The Mix

Newcastle Herald

Saturday November 29, 2008

GR

NATALIE and Gino Adoranti appear to have made the best of all possible worlds in the way they have organised child care for their two children over the past five years.

Natalie said her second child required care three days a week while she was at work, and for the rest of the week both sets of grandparents were available on call.

She and Gino could have left their children in the care of grandparents at all times, because they were keen to take on the role, but the couple believed before-school care was important for the development of their children.

Natalie didn't want to increase family obligations.

"I needed to not have to rely 100 per cent on family," she said.

"It is a happy medium."

Gino drops off and picks up.

The Adoranti family were not at first convinced they wanted to use a community-based centre.

"I was open," Natalie said.

But a recommendation from a friend was influential in the final decision.

Her first child started at the Elermore Vale Early Learning Centre five years ago and had now gone on to school.

Natalie has taken on the vice-president's role on the voluntary parents' committee that helps run the centre.

"I like the interaction," she said.

"It is good to have a voice and help."

The committee runs working bees and raises money to ensure the centre is well maintained.

One drawback was that the committee often ran out of volunteers to do the work, but if there was an urgent job to be done, people normally rallied to the cause.

Natalie said the fees were about the same as those at a privately run centre, but she had more say in the centre management at Elermore Vale.

"If you go to a private centre you have no voice. You just pay your fees and that's it."

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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