IT is expectedly child-friendly. After all, daycare centers should focus more on children?s needs and less on such adult concerns as schedules and conveniences.

The unpretentious, three-room bungalow in an interior part of Marikina City is exactly that -- a home where children are encouraged to sing, eat, play, draw and learn new things. In fact, unlike most homes where the nanny takes over because both parents are out working, the Arugaan creche does not force children to nap, stay still or keep their hands to themselves to make the job easier for caregivers.

The home-based daycare center at SSS Village was started in 2008 by breastfeeding advocate Ines Fernandez in response to the needs of breastfeeding mothers.

?The mothers were set to go back to work but could not find a trustworthy place to leave their children,? says Fernandez.

The executive director of the non-government organization Arugaan (Filipino for ?to nurture?) started with six children aged 2 months to 3 years when the daycare went on full-blast operation in January this year.

Arugaan?s home crèche in Marikina is the latest addition to the NGO?s continuing efforts to create an environment that promotes breastfeeding, child-centered development and care, and natural nurturing and nutrition since the organization was founded in 1989. Arugaan has since opened a total of nine crèches until 2007.

Fernandez calls the overall theme of Arugaan?s crèches as non-stop ?Let?s Eat, Learn and Play!? From 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from Mondays to Thursdays, the children are enjoined to sing native and conventional children?s songs; learn about music, arts, language and socialization; play, eat indigenous and healthy foods; and sleep and rest if they really want to.

?Here we don?t force children to sleep. They sleep because they want to or because they themselves felt already tired,? Fernandez says.

The crèche?s feeding program is called ?Food for Tots,? a distinct way to avert malnutrition and bad eating habits abetted by aggressive commercials pushing junk food. The food served to the toddlers and their caregivers here are ?indigenous, traditional, culture-based, affordable, accessible and appropriate,? describes Fernandez.

A typical lunch is composed of kalabasa (squash) soup with malunggay, fried tofu, ground gluten with kinchay, sweetened gluten strips, pasta boiled from corn and other vegetables, and brown rice. Snacks could be kamote (sweet potato) and herbal drinks.

?The first three years of the child are the most critical because they constitute the basic foundation of learning,? says Fernandez, a mass communication graduate of the University of the Philippines. ?These first three years mean forever. Experiences that a child encounters, whether good or bad, are imprinted in both brain and behavior, and manifested in adulthood.?

The furniture, fixtures and décor in the crèche are chosen to encourage the children to socialize with others and commune with nature. A wide clear porch provides the space needed for physical activities, while lush trees and plants providing fresh air and a sense of the outdoors.

At the crèche, it?s never too early to promote ecology as a compost pit sits at the farther end of the backyard. The children also learn to plant and take care of their plants by watering them. ?We promote proper waste segregation and management here. We don?t use artificial feeds for the animals. They also eat what we eat,? she says.

Pets enliven the sessions, with the pets having names culled from current political and social events: the dogs are named George Bush, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama; the chickens are Faldon, Arafat, Tsunami,Trillanes, Lim, Isas, and Thriller, while the cats are called Bin Laden, Diwo and Bayo.

Before going home, the children are encouraged to ?sum up? their day by recalling what they did and what they expect the following day. They also thank their caregivers for caring and teaching them.

Despite such positive outlook for the children, the crèche itself is not without challenges. It sometimes has to address the trauma of some children who have been exposed to violent caregivers before they were enrolled at the crèche. Such children tend to show signs of violence or intolerance toward other children and caregivers.

?When children don?t get the care they need during developmental primes or if they experience trauma, abuse and neglect, their brain development may be compromised,? Fernandez says.

The crèche, like the previous initiatives of Arugaan, integrates the framework of Early Childhood Care and Development with its feeding framework. It believes that early care and nurturing has a ?decisive and long-lasting impact on how people develop their ability to learn and their capacity to regulate emotions.?

Another challenge is the funding. Since it does away with aggressive commercial promotion, the number of enrollees remains lean for easier management and more personalized teaching. Parents pay P3,500 monthly if the child stays in the crèche with a caregiver, or P4,500 if the child is without a companion.

Toys, organic soap and toothpaste for the children and other items are donated by some of the parents.

The Marikina crèche is part of the continuing efforts of Arugaan to create an impact in breastfeeding and childhood nutrition. Previous efforts include the trailblazing crèche at the Philippine Information Agency, a national government agency, which even subsidized up to 75 percent of the enrollment fees of PIA employees? children through the Gender and Development fund until 2001.

It has since subsisted on enrolment fees in partnership with workers? unions, local government officials, supportive factory employer-owners, labor officials, and local communities.

Fernandez says despite challenges such as the heavy promotion of infant formulas, Arugaan continues to work for breastfeeding rights and non-consumerist values ?to protect the next generation, our future.? Women?s Feature Service