Press release

ADDITIONAL PARENT-CHILD ROOM FACILITATES THE RECONCILIATION OF WORK/STUDY AND FAMILY LIFE

Photo: TUK, Family Service Centre
University President Professor Dr Arnd Poetzsch-Heffter officially opens the new parent-child room. Photo: Hossein Far/TUK

What to do when the daycare center is closed, and another childcare provider is unavailable? The TU Kaiserslautern offers students and employees two parent-child rooms for these cases. The first room has already been available since 2012, and an additional room in the new research building LASE (Laboratory for Advanced Spin Engineering) now expands the capacities. 

Both parent-child rooms offer an environment that allows children to be brought along and meaningfully occupied while parents can pursue their work. While the aquarium concept was implemented in the first room, the new room ties in with the proximity to the Palatinate Forest. A large tree trunk attached to the floor and ceiling characterizes the parent-child room. "Babies can rock slowly and sleep in slings attached to it, that's our idea," explains Leslie Schleese from TUK's Family Service Centre. "Older children can hide in a den, color at the table and read children's books or play in a cuddle and build corner." There is also a place for them to sleep. Children up to primary school age will find opportunities to play and rest, and parents will find a PC workstation, including a laptop, which will be made available for the time in the parent-child room. A booking calendar regulates the occupancy of the room. 

 "To realize the project, we mainly used financial resources for improving the compatibility of work or study and family, which came from the university's collaborative research center SPIN + X," says Schleese. "Interior designer Eva Stidtgen designed the space on our behalf." Overall, the new parent-child room improves the infrastructure on the TUK campus and thus also the family-friendly study and work atmosphere that is close to the Technical University's heart. 

Photo: TUK, Family Service Centre
University President Professor Dr Arnd Poetzsch-Heffter officially opens the new parent-child room. Photo: Hossein Far/TUK