Maison de Quartier & Vallee de la Jeunesse

(by Marieke Van Esch-Gille)

My name is Marieke and mother of 2 daughters: Daantje (just turned 2 years old) and Juul (6 months). The three of us support my husband, Papa, in his MBA this year. We are from the Netherlands and I chose to focus this year our the family and quit my job as a HR consultant at an international HR consultancy firm. Every day we are profiting and discovering Lausanne and its direct surroundings. Up till now, life is good and the city of Lausanne seems very child friendly to me.

Besides the many parcs and playgrounds, Lausanne has several indoor play areas for parents & children which are great to visit. For me and my two girls it has become a fixed moment in the week: On Monday we go to Maison de Quartier (sous-gare) and on Friday morning we go to Vallee de la Jeunesse. My eldest and I love it as both places have different things to offer.

Maison de Quartier opens their doors three mornings a week for children from 0 till 6 years old. A typical morning starts with handicrafts (on Mondays by the dedicated leadership of Marcella, our IMD partner coordinator)……very nice for the creative mums, or discover something new in yourself in this field. This is followed by free play for the children. We end the morning with French child songs. As a break during the morning, coffee/croissants are served and for the children, bread, water/lemonade and apples. We all sit to have a nice pause in the dynamics.

Vallee de la Jeunesse is a place for children from 0 till 5 years old and their parents (2 mornings and 1 afternoon). It has a great play area for the babies including a partly separate play area for the toddlers. The toddlers will find lots of bikes, cars, hobble horses, books, puzzles, little toys, a small house etc to play with and meet other children. The babies can have fun underneath one of the many baby-gyms. This attracts parents & children from all kinds of nationalities. Two people guard the place and will help you out with your child if needed. The nice thing about it, and Daantje will agree for sure, is that they have a coffee table where you and your child can drink coffee, tea, water or lemonade and eat apples, bread and cookies. The rule is: sit while you eat. I love it from an educational perspective and also because it is a nice moment to mingle with the international mothers (and sometimes fathers).

For me, these visits have a very nice side effect. It turns out to be a great opportunity to speak/ polish my French and really be aware that we are in Lausanne and not only in IMD-land!!

BTW: the activities described of both places are one of the services provided by them.