Today 75 children aged three to six are being attended to at the "Cantinho da Criança", the nursery of Reconciliação. The children stay all day long, enabling mainly mothers who bear the responsibility for rearing their children alone to go to work and earn the family's living. The children, in most cases exposed to difficult family
conditions, receive pedagogic orientation and affectionate nurturing, which they often lack at home.
This is achieved in a playful manner, always bearing in mind the low age of the children. Within the boundaries of "Reconciliação" they are offered a safe space, protected from the threats and problems of the surrounding slum . The "Cantinho" assures them the right to be children and to play and have fun without being troubled. Their development is stimulated by means of free playing as well as group and movement games. They learn right from the beginning to relate adequately among themselves, living peacefully together and treating each other with consideration. Imagination and coordination are stimulated and trained by means of artistic activities like drawing and painting, cutting and glueing. Games involving numbers and letters prepare them for school. They even experience a preliminary contact with computers in a small IT room.
The children are served five meals throughout the day, which secures them a wholesome and balanced nutrition they often lack at home. Medical, dental and psychotherapeutic assistance is also provided.
The cooperation with parents and families is of particular importance. The staff regularly look up the families in their houses. Problems and daily issues are discussed in parent meetings, and solutions are presented, in order to improve the difficult living conditions beyond the nursery
walls.
