Preschool webcam a drawcard for parents

A Bay of Plenty kindergarten has installed a webcam broadcasting pictures so parents can see how their children behave.

In what appears to be a first for a New Zealand daycare, Giggles Educare is broadcasting the pictures to a secure website so parents can see what their children are up to at any time of day.

Working mother Shona Ua-Marsh wanted to be "a fly on the wall" to ensure her daughter was safe and happy at daycare.

In the end the marketing and media manager, who travelled a lot, put her mind completely at rest by establishing her own preschool centre - complete with the webcam.

It has proved a drawcard for enrolments and attracted a lot of interest in Te Puke, where her Giggles Educare opened a few weeks ago, but also in surrounding areas including Tauranga and Rotorua.

Two cameras are mounted indoors and two outside to cover the play areas of the bright, funky centre. Parents have passwords to access the secure website so they can log on to see what their children are up to at any time of the day.

Mrs Ua-Marsh has control of the webcam and records who has logged in, for how long, and which of the cameras have been used.

Parents have access only when their offspring are in attendance and usually spend five to 10 minutes viewing at a time.

"Not even the best hackers in the world can get into this," she said. "You have to get the program from me to download onto your computer for access."

And then there are half a dozen passwords for added security.

The mother of three - two teenagers and a 4-year-old - hit on the idea after struggling to find a daycare facility that suited her needs.

She had moved to the Bay of Plenty from Nelson after marrying a Pukehina man and gave up her job to care for youngest child Chantelle after an unhappy experience with a preschool.

Contact with other mothers who also elected to stay home because of concerns about their preschoolers' well-being prompted Mrs Ua-Marsh to research setting up a webcam-monitored centre. "It was a lot of hard work and red tape."

Dealing with Government agencies confirmed she was the first to employ the technology for a daycare centre.

It has been used in Britain to oversee nannies, and hidden cameras have been installed to check on childminders in the United States.

"It is very expensive but worth it for the sense of security it brings," Mrs Ua-Marsh said.

Parents and staff were enthusiastic about the webcam, which was a "bit of a novelty" for the children for a few days, "then it just becomes a background thing".

The interactive aspect was popular with mothers and fathers, who could then talk to their youngsters at home about what they had seen on the internet, she said.

When one child had a farewell party because the family were moving, and the mother couldn't attend, she was delighted to be able to log in and watch what was going on.

Said qualified daycare worker Cindy Wright: "At first I thought this might be a bit weird, but it's no different from parents actually being in the centre seeing what goes on."