Safe Start Children’s House (Biztos Kezdet Gyerekház)

The goal of our Children’s House

To create a service environment that, with the active participation of the family and the wider community, ensures equal opportunities during early childhood for the development of innate abilities, successful participation in kindergarten, and a smooth transition to school.

Interview with the head of the Safe Start Children’s House on the occasion of its 15th anniversary

Our Services

Parents participate alongside their children in activities and programmes in a well-equipped, spacious playroom designed for their age group, as well as in the yard.

For children

• Providing activities that foster skill development
• Reading age-appropriate stories and singing songs
• learning and applying lap games, rocking games, bouncing games, and nursery rhymes during daily (play) activities
• activities involving fine motor skills: finger painting, using brushes and stamps, creating with homemade playdough, tearing, gluing, colouring, threading, etc.
• assessment and development using various educational tools, with the assistance of a special education teacher
• observing and celebrating current holidays and the children’s birthdays
• a daily snack prepared together with the parents.

For Parents

• Participation in parent support programmes and community events;
• Providing counseling for parents by health visitors, psychologists, special education teachers, doctors, dietitians, and other invited external specialists,
• Organising parent group discussions,
• As part of household skill workshops, mothers can learn the skills of hand and machine sewing, mending, and toy-making. We bake and cook together with the parents.
• Our Children’s House provides facilities for washing, drying, and personal hygiene.

To use these services, the family must live in the 8th District. The Children’s House is open to children ages 0–3 who do not attend nursery, along with their parents or an adult supervising them.

Attendance is voluntary and free of charge.

Once a year, we hold a swap meeting where local families can choose from a selection of gently used clothes, shoes, and toys.

Our Children’s Day and Christmas events are organised year after year in collaboration with the Kesztyűgyár Community Centre. We strive to enrich both events with music and performances, and to liven them up with arts-and-crafts activities. The summer programme is open to the public; it takes place at Mátyás Square in the district if the weather is good, and at the Community Centre if the weather is bad.

We celebrate our most wonderful holiday, Christmas, in the halls of the Kesztyűgyár Community Centre, where we welcome those disadvantaged families from the district that have children under the age of 3.

The family vacation in Magyarkút has become a tradition for the Safe Start Children’s House in Józsefváros. Families who regularly attend the programme—including older siblings and fathers—can participate. This quality time together provides a wonderful experience for everyone involved.

Other services

• Access to computers, the internet, and administrative assistance are also part of the services provided to parents. We help with writing resumes, searching for jobs and rental housing, and drafting any kind of official correspondence.
• We support families by lending out books and equipment. We offer visitors of the Children’s House the opportunity to borrow parenting books, baby monitors, strollers, and various other items.

Weekly Schedule

At our Children’s House, each week follows a pre-planned schedule. The main focus of the weekly schedule is to support the children’s physical and mental development through daily activities.