Home daycare handbook for parents

Please don't leave me or YOUR child in this situation. Make sure the change of clothing is appropriate for the weather outside. Please do not bring any toys to daycare. I will not be responsible for lost or broken toys from your home.

This also causes too many problems between the kids. Click here to download 14 week rotation of menus and schedule I will provide breakfast, lunch and snack daily. All foods will be cut into safe-size pieces and served in child-sized portions. Children are expected to try one bite of any food served, unless the child has an allergy or sensitivity to that food.

I have found that children often like foods they did not initially want to try, once they have been exposed a few times. Children may have second helpings of any or all foods upon request after taking one bite.

No child will be required to eat more than one bite of anything. It is my experience that children will eat when they are hungry, and will get all of the nutrients they need when consistently presented with a variety of healthy choices.

Please do not bring any food, gum, or candy. Please don't send your child in the door eating food or holding it in their hand.

This makes a hard situation for all the kids. They want whatever your child has, and it's not fair for them to watch your child eat. If you are wanting to bring something please make sure there is enough for everyone and we can share it at snack or meal time. I have on the wall in the family daycare room a bulletin board. I have all emergency plans, licenses, and a copy of my 14 -week rotation of menus. Also an attendance sign in book on the wall going down into the daycare room.

Also paper cubbies for notes etc to take home, Please check daily for supplies and notices. Thanks… Please sign your child in and out of the daycare, on Friday or last day care need to sign full signature!

Also all current closings and news are located on daycare website www. I will not administer any type of medication, including prescription and over-the counter medications, without a signed consent form. The name and phone number of the prescribing doctor if different , The name of the medication, The dosage amount and frequency, Reason for needing the medication, Instructions for proper storage and preparation of the medication. I will strive to provide a safe, comfortable, stimulating, fun, educational environment in my home with a semi-structured day plan.

Activities will include free playtime, structured playtime, large motor skill playtime, small motor skills activities, story time, arts and crafts, music and dance activities, nature, nutrition, and other educational yet fun activities. I will also provide nutritious meals and snacks, and encourage good personal hygiene skills and manners. A computer will be available also for children may have Internet access, upon written parental consent, but again only while supervised.

These may sound like lofty goals for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, but children can learn all of these things and more through creative play. I do not believe in pushing any child to learn at an accelerated rate.

I will not make a child feel pressured to achieve any developmental milestones. By providing the right kind of fun safe environment, I believe those children will learn at their own appropriate pace. I started in September Preschool thematic approach each week, visit this webpage for more information on topics we study each week.

I do accept DCF assisted daycare. All DCF payments are due on or before the 5th of each month. Any private pay tuition due weekly , biweekly as set in our contract. NOT including weekends and holidays. Pay on 1st of month and avoid late fees.

Your child's adjustment is important to all of us. There will be a two-week trial period for each child. At the end of this period, the parent or I may terminate care. After this two-week period, the terminating party must give notice of termination. If parents elect to terminate care, payment is still required for the two weeks. Your child can be questioned by child protective services at any time without your consent. I will abide by the state privacy law. All records and information about your child and family will be kept confidential, unless I have your written permission to reveal specific information i.

Speech or developmental delays. I also ask that you respect my privacy and that of my family by not sharing any information you learn about my family without my written permission. For example, contents or layout of my home, vacation schedule, routines, etc. I do not discriminate based on race, color, gender, disability, national origin, sexual orientation, or public assistance status.

This is a non-smoking facility. Smoking is strictly prohibited on the premises. Please inform spouses or those on your pick-up list about the policy. In addition, smoking is prohibited on field trips. If you need to excuse yourself from the field trip, please let the provider know so that they are aware of your absence.

I realize your need for reliable daycare and will attempt to give as much notice as possible whenever I must close for any reason. In order to spend quality time with my own family, I will be closed for the holidays. If a holiday should land on a Saturday, I reserved the right to close the Friday before.

And if the holiday should land on Sunday, I reserve the right to close on the Monday after. I will also take 2 weeks 10 days of unpaid vacation. This may be taken all at once or split up, and will most likely be taken one week in the spring and one week in the summer.

I will give a. Also, working with exposure to many families and especially children, it is expected that I will become ill occasionally. Of course we will give you as much of an advance notice as possible. We do celebrate holidays with a small party; a sign-up sheet may be posted on the parent board if you wish to donate. For Christmas, I ask that instead of gift buying for other children in care, that each parent purchase a gift for the daycare that the children may open and share here, but is not mandatory.

You can spend as little or as much as you would like. Some of the things the list might include are: a replacement of a broken toy, educational video or cd, books, games, art supplies, etc. I would prefer your child not know what you are buying to make it more special. Emergency information is kept on file at the daycare. In case of illness or injury this information will be used to notify you or the person designated by you, of your child's status.

If your child is injured while at the daycare, first aid will be administered. If treatment by a doctor is necessary, we will make every effort to contact you or the doctor you have chosen to treat your child.

In all cases, an injury report is completed, and a copy is given to the parents as well as the Department of Social Services. Authorization for emergency treatment must be signed at the time of enrollment to ensure that in the event of an emergency, we can make sure your child receives the necessary emergency treatment he or she needs. It is very important that all emergency contact information is kept up to date and correct.

Please inform us immediately of any changes to keep your information current. Parents are responsible for all costs involved in emergency medical treatment, including emergency transportation if required.

Note: In case of a serious accident or sudden illness requiring immediate medical attention, the following procedures will be followed. Evacuation plans are posted in the daycare.

In the unlikely event, the children will be evacuated to an emergency location, and you will be notified as soon as possible. Our emergency location of choice is the Silver Lake Township Building at the top of the hill on our road. A notice will be posted at the daycare with all information on the alternative sight. McNamara Dr. Go to the top of the hill and the township building will be on your right. For the health and safety of your child and all of the children in our facility, please do not bring your child to daycare sick.

In which case we in turn may become sick making it difficult to care for the children at the high standards that we have set for ourselves. We can only care for children with mild cold like symptoms that are otherwise feeling and acting well. Mild cold like symptoms are clear runny nose, slight cough, and a slight or no fever. If you are not sure if your child should be brought to daycare, then please call and check with us.

If a child becomes ill during daycare hours the parents will be contacted to pick up their child. Parents need to pick up their children within one hour of being notified.

If parents are not available, the emergency contact person will be notified. Note: Once the child is removed from daycare due to illness, they may not return to daycare until symptoms requiring removal are no longer present. The child must also be void of any contagious disease, unless accompanied by a doctor's note stating the illness in question is not contagious, and the child is otherwise feeling well enough to participate in our daily schedule.

A child with any of the following illnesses must be completely free of any symptoms before returning to daycare. If the child is taking antibiotics for an illness, the child may return to daycare after the initial 24 hours of beginning antibiotics as long as he or she has a slight to no fever under F under the arm , no longer contagious, and is otherwise feeling well enough to participate in our daily schedule.

Signs of illness include the following; unusual lethargy, irritability, persistent crying for no reason, runny nose more than clear , cough more than slight , difficulty breathing, diarrhea, vomiting, mouth sores, rashes note from doctor stating non-contagious is ok , pink eye, chicken pox, mumps, measles, roseola, hepatitis A, impetigo, lice, ringworm, scabies, strep throat, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, shingles, and any other contagious disease or rash.

Any child with a fever of degrees or above, orally in the mouth , or axillary under the arm , may not attend daycare. State law requires that we notify parents of children who have been exposed to certain contagious diseases. Please notify us if your child becomes infected, so a note can be posted. Note: A fever in and of itself is not all bad given that it is not too high. Illnesses that cause fevers cannot live in our bodies' abnormally hot environment.

However, a fever is an obvious indicator that the child is sick and possibly contagious, therefore requiring exclusion from daycare. Both nonprescription and prescription medications, ointments, and creams may be given to your child by myself if needed. Parents are required to fill out the proper form and to supply all medications in their original container.

I suggest keeping a supply of fever reducer of your choice and Benadryl at daycare to be kept for emergencies. If your child will not be attending daycare due to illness or other, please let us know as soon as possible so the day's activities won't be held up waiting for your child to arrive. Also, we need to know how many children we need to prepare meals for. No discounts will be given for your child's absences due to illness or vacations. If your child will not be attending daycare for whatever reason, you are still required to pay.

It is the parent's responsibility to provide diapers, wipes, and diaper cream for your child. It is also the parent's responsibility to check periodically to see if or when your child needs more diapers, wipes, and cream, not the providers. Diapers are checked frequently, and changed every two hours or more often if required. Diapers containing 2 are changed immediately. The diaper changing tables are cleaned and disinfected between each diaper change, and hand washing of childcare provider and child is performed after each diaper change.

We are more than happy to encourage potty training as long as the child is ready typically between 2 and 3 years old. The initial start needs to be done at home for at least two weeks with success before it can be effectively started at daycare. Parents will be required to supply pull-ups and wipes. Communication between parents and the daycare provider is imperative for a successful transition from diapers to toilet.

Television viewing is only done once or twice a week, no more than a half an hour at a time and is limited to PBS or an educational video. On occasion, usually only on Fridays, we may pick an appropriate children's video to watch. Children are never required to sit and watch TV, and TV is not offered in place of free play or learning activities.

In cases of non-payment, legal action may be taken, and the parents will pay all legal fees incurred. Routinely it will not be necessary for either party to give notice as it is preemptively known that we provide infant only care up until age age 24 months. However, if the unexpected were to happen prompting you to no longer need our childcare services, 60 Days advance notice needs to be given to us.

Whenever possible even more notice is better. This helps us tremendously. Reason being, unlike large childcare centers, we only care for a maximum of 4 infants, and each future infant spot is already reserved far in advanced usually in excess of 6 months or more. So we are forced to say NO to all incoming requests for present childcare. The daycare is open Monday through Friday am to pm with the following holiday exceptions:.

Note: If the holiday falls on a Saturday daycare will be closed the Friday before. If the holiday falls on a Sunday daycare will be closed the Monday after. As strong as our immune system has become over the years, we unfortunately still get sick from time to time. We also use these days for our continuing education classes CPR, Pediatric First Aid, etc in order to keep our childcare license in good standing.

Of course we will give you as much of an advance notice as possible. We allot ourselves 2 weeks of vacation a year. The dates of our vacation will be posted at least one month in advance. A nonrefundable deposit equal to two weeks of childcare costs is due at time of enrollment.

Payment is due on the first business day of each month or on the first day of the month attending daycare. Payment is based on contract, not attendance. In both scenarios your new payment will default to the current price of the newly enrolled schedule. In all scenarios your new payment will default to the current price of the newly enrolled schedule.

In other words, your days contracted are your days and cannot be altered on a weekly basis. Please be courteous and arrive on time. After hours is time with our family. For the health and safety of your child and all of the children in our daycare, please do not bring your child to daycare sick.

In which case we in turn may become sick making it difficult to care for the children at the high standards that we have set for ourselves. We can only care for children with mild cold like symptoms that are otherwise feeling and acting well.

Mild cold like symptoms are clear runny nose, slight cough, and a slight or no fever. If you are not sure if your child should be brought to daycare, then please call and check with us. If a child becomes ill during daycare hours the parents will be contacted to pick up their child.

Parents need to pick up their children within one hour of being notified. If parents are not available, the emergency contact person will be notified. Note: Once the child is removed from daycare due to illness, they may not return to daycare until symptoms requiring removal are no longer present.

A child with any of the following illnesses must be completely free of any symptoms before returning to daycare. If the child is taking antibiotics for an illness, the child may return to daycare after the initial 24 hours of beginning antibiotics as long as he or she has a slight to no fever under degrees , no longer contagious, and is otherwise feeling well enough to participate in our daily schedule.

Signs of illness include the following; unusual lethargy, irritability, persistent crying for no reason, runny nose more than clear , cough more than slight , difficulty breathing, diarrhea, vomiting, mouth sores, rashes note from doctor stating non-contagious is ok , pink eye, chicken pox, mumps, measles, roseola, hepatitis A, impetigo, lice, ringworm, scabies, strep throat, scarlet fever, tuberculosis, shingles, and any other contagious disease or rash.

Any child with a fever of degrees or above, orally in the mouth , or axillary under the arm , may not attend daycare. State law requires that we notify parents of children who have been exposed to certain contagious diseases. Please notify us if your child becomes infected, so a note can be posted. Note: A fever in and of itself is not all bad given that it is not too high.

A fever is your bodies natural way of trying to protect it self against what ever virus or bacteria is attacking it. However, a fever is an obvious indicator that the child is sick and possibly contagious, therefore requiring exclusion from daycare.

Also, we need to know how many children we need to prepare meals for. If your child will not be attending daycare for what ever reason, you are still required to pay. At Building Blocks Home Daycare we do not give medications to the children. If your child needs to be medicated in order to get through the day, and be able to comfortably participate in our classroom activities, then it is quite possible he or she may be too sick to attend daycare. We will however give certain doctor prescribed medications to the children, of course given that they are no longer contagious, and only if the medication consent form has been signed.

Examples of these would be; antibiotics for ear infections etc and Tylenol for teething or pain associated with bumps or bruises not to bring down a fever. We are required by law to report any suspected incidents of possible child abuse or neglect. Your child can be questioned by child protective services at any time without your consent.

Emergency information is kept on file at the daycare. If your child is injured while at the daycare, first aid will be administered. If treatment by a doctor is necessary, we will make every effort to contact you or the doctor you have chosen to treat your child. In all cases, an injury report is completed, and a copy is given to the parents as well as the Department of Social Services.

Authorization for emergency treatment must be signed at the time of enrollment to ensure that in the event of an emergency, we can make sure your child receives the necessary emergency treatment he or she needs. It is very important that all emergency contact information is kept up to date and correct. Please inform us immediately of any changes to keep your information current.