THOSE LAZY, HAZY, CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER...

I hope that those of you still here in Leiden (or indeed more or less anywhere in Northern Europe) are managing to make the most of the short bursts of sunny weather which seem to be all that the jetstream is offering us this summer. To those at home with small (or not-so-small) children, remember that they are generally a great deal less put off by wet weather than we cynical adults tend to be, and are totally happy to head off for a probably-wet outing if appropriately armed with waterproofs and wellies and enough snacks!

The museumkaart (www.museumkaart.nl) really comes into its own in this kind of weather, with its free entry making ducking into the Lakenhal for twenty minutes (or until the rain stops) an excellent stopgap. As usual, there are many, many lovely activities at Leiden's museums this summer, and www.leidsemusea.nl lists the lot. The cyclical nature of life also means that a browse through previous summer HomeinLeiden pages will probably fill you in on much of what is available this summer.

As ever at this time of year, along with packing for the trip away there is a background of 'sorting things out for next year' to the summer holiday in our household ... trips to Appel en Ei for 'new' clothes for inconveniently growing children, hanging around Oerlemans on the Hoge Woerd until the styles/sizes we need are in the sales, and the hardest of all, trying to make appropriate arrangements for childcare. It may get slightly cheaper once children are in school and out of full-time daycare, but it doesn't get any simpler!

Updated childcare section

Finally, after far too long off the air, the Childcare section is online again, fully updated with a new section on after-school care, and correct to the best of my knowledge. It is now also extended to cover Oegstgeest (owing to a small shift in the centre of gravity of the HiL editorial team) and care before/after school (ditto). The section contains both general information about the situation in the Netherlands as a whole, and a list of peuterspeelzalen (playgroups for mornings or afternoons of structured play) and full-time childcare options in the area.

If you are new here and making childcare choices in a strange country (in Dutch as well), it can be very hard to judge what will be the best for your family. You are not alone, though, and although far from all the places we've listed have reviews, there are plenty of parents in the HomeinLeiden network who would be happy to share their experiences, and if you email alice@homeinleiden.nl we shall do our best to help. The Vogelwijk playgroup on Wednesday mornings is also an excellent starting point for finding someone who knows someone with a child at more or less any facility in Leiden!

New English-language childcare at Compananny in Oegstgeest

There's going to be a new English-speaking childcare option in the area, to add to TeddyKids on the Herenstraat in the south: Compananny in Oegstgeest. Compananny is a company running crèches in the Amsterdam/The Hague region, and their Oegstgeest branch is starting an English-language group in September 2012. They're already quite happy to deal with you (the parents) in English at all times anyway, but this new group will also have English native speakers looking after the children. Compananny is a newcomer to the area and HomeinLeiden have heard good things about them; the lovely Alison Sutton, of Childrearing Matters is working with them on their pedagogical philosophy.