|
CMG NURSERY
CMG Childcare Policies for 2004-2005
Welcome to the Christian Mothers’ Group (CMG) of St. Gabriel Catholic Church. We are looking forward to caring for your children in our nursery. We hope to provide a loving, safe, and Christian environment for your child. Please read the following policies, as they are vital to the success of this program. It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with this information.
LOCATION: Childcare will take place in rooms E, D, & C on the first floor of the Ministry Center. CMG moms also meet on the first floor of the Ministry Center in rooms A & B.
AGES: Newborns and very young children are welcome with their mothers into the CMG meetings, as long as discernment is used to remove a crying child so as to not disturb the group, speaker or program. The CMG Nursery will be able to accommodate infants from approximately 8 -15 mo. in the infant room (E). Room D will have toddlers ~ 1 ½ - 3 years old, and in room C we will place the older children, ~3 - 5 year olds. (These ages are generalized. Exceptions will be made as deemed necessary by the Childcare and Reservation Coordinators.)
DROP OFF & PICK UP: Children may be dropped off between 9:15 and 9:45 am, and picked up PROMPTLY at the end of the CMG meeting at 11:30 am. For obvious safety reasons, all children must be picked up by the mother and witnessed by the nursery staff. Your patience and cooperation with pick up will be greatly appreciated. We will not be able to accommodate sitting for your child if you are not in the Christian Mothers’ Group meeting.
LABELING: Please label your child’s belongings (i.e., diaper bags, bottles, jackets) with their full name.
SNACKS: We request that you bring in bottles for your infant and a sippy cup for your toddler. Water will be served in cups to all other children. A small, age-appropriate snack will be provided to your child.
FEE: The cost for childcare will be $5 for one child, $8 for two, and $10 for three. We will accept cash or check (made out to CMG). There is no charge for any child for mothers on the day they are volunteering in the nursery. If this fee would be a financial burden for you, arrangements can be made to reduce the cost. Please contact Jeanette Cancellieri, Nursery Chair, (704) 895-1073, or Margie Eades, CMG president, (704) 541-7703.
All information would be kept in strict confidence.
RESERVATIONS: The deadline for making childcare reservations is 6:00 PM on the Monday prior to a scheduled meeting. Please call our Reservation Coordinator, Michelle Rogers, @ (704) 366-0069 to reserve a space for your child. Reservations are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. We will begin to accept reservations for the next meeting while at the present meeting, with the exception of the opening brunch. Once reservations are closed, a waiting list will be started. As cancellations are made, the names on the waiting list will be called in the order which they were received. If an opening becomes available, you may be called as late as the morning before a meeting. *NOTE* Please be considerate! Call your reservation between 9 am and 6 pm.
CANCELLATIONS: If you are unable to attend a meeting you have made a nursery reservation for, please cancel as soon as possible! Cancellations can be made at any time! We understand that circumstances, such as illness, may cause a last minute decision on your part not to attend a meeting. Please be considerate of the mothers on our waiting list and the effort of our staff to ensure adequate care to all children. Please call your cancellation to the Reservation Coordinator, Michelle Rogers @ (704) 366-0069 or the Childcare Coordinator, Cindy Noon @ (704) 814-0345 as soon as possible. *FAILURE TO CANCEL your reservation will automatically put you on the waiting list for the next meeting you sign up to attend.*
CHANGE OF CLOTHES: Accidents happen! Please bring in a change of clothes for your child in a labeled diaper bag or backpack. Please include diapers or underpants and a change of clothes for your infant and/or toddler. Baby wipes will be provided.
TOYS: Please do not bring in toys from home. We can not guarantee its safe return to your child. All toys will be stored in a closet in room E for the exclusive use of the children of CMG.
SPECIAL NEEDS: It is the responsibility of the mother to notify the staff each and every meeting of any special needs or concerns for their child. (For example, if your child is allergic to peanuts, OR if your child is potty training and is in underpants for the first time, OR if you suspect that your child may be extra tired this morning, then this is the type of information that needs to be conveyed to the staff every time the child is dropped off.)
SICK CHILDREN: For the health and safety of all our children, we respectfully request that you keep your child at home if he/she shows any of the following symptoms:
· a fever -- within 24 hours of the meeting
· diarrhea or vomiting -- within 24 hours of the meeting
· an unexplained rash
· purulent, runny discharge from the nose, eyes, or ears
· conjunctivitis (pink eye)
· frequent, “moist” coughing
· known exposure to childhood diseases (i.e., chicken pox)
We will be unable to administer any type of medication, for any reason, to your child.
CRYING CHILD: If a child remains upset and we are unable to successfully soothe him/her after 15 minutes, the Childcare Coordinator will come and get the mother from the meeting. Otherwise, you can be assured that your child is enjoying him/herself while in our care. *If your child is not coping well in the nursery, they are welcome in our meeting only if they are quiet and not disruptive to the group, speaker, or program. This is not meant to be unkind to you as the mother, but is meant to show respect to the ministry of CMG. A refund of your nursery fee is available upon request, and only if the child spends little or no time in the nursery. Please see Jeanette Cancellieri, Nursery Chair, with these requests.
DISCIPLINE: There are certain behaviors that will not be allowed within our nursery. Please review these with your child. They are as follows:
· thou shall not yell * thou shall not hit or kick
· thou shall not run * thou shall not bite
These behaviors will be handled first with verbal corrections (i.e., “Please use inside voices.” “Please walk.”). If that is ineffective and the behavior continues, or if injury is done to another child, the mothers will be notified, a “time-out” may be necessary, followed by removal of the child from the nursery setting if behavior does not change and it endangers the other children.
STAFFING THE NURSERY: CMG has been blessed with several very special women who have been hired to care for your children as well as a number of volunteers who generously give of their time to help in our nursery. However, it has been a longstanding policy of CMG that if you use the nursery, you must sign up to volunteer in the nursery at least once per year. It is our hope that if a full compliment of staff is present for each meeting, we will not need all the volunteers. In this case, the moms will be put on “alternate” status. This means that the volunteer moms would be able to attend the meeting unless, in the event of an identified staff shortage, we need her to help somewhere in the nursery. It is our goal to notify the volunteer moms by phone no later than the day before a meeting to convey our staffing plans for her. Jurga Petrikiene, (704) 644-2556, will be our Nursery Volunteer Coordinator this year.
CHILD TO STAFF RATIOS: Maximum numbers will be as follows: Infant Room E--4:1, 8:2. Toddler
Room D-- 7:1, 13:2, and 16:3. Child Room C-- 8:1, 15:2, and 19:3.
LOST & FOUND: A basket with these items will be displayed each meeting on the nursery sign-in table.
SUGGESTIONS? COMMENTS? COMPLAINTS? Please call the Nursery Chairperson, Jeanette Cancellieri, @ (704) 895-1073 or the Childcare Coordinator, Cindy Noon @ (704) 814-0345.
Ministry Center Fire Escape Plan
In the event of a fire alarm, EVERYONE at the Christian Mothers’ Group meeting will be responsible for assisting the evacuation of the Nursery. Our goal is for all members of CMG to help each other in the safe, calm, and timely removal of our children from the Ministry Center. Please read the following information below to familiarize yourself with our plan of action.
*PLEASE NOTE: ALL Rooms, A, B, C, D and E, have EMERGENCY EXITS (doors that open directly to the outside) in case of thick smoke or fire in the hallways.
**Upon leaving the building, continue straight across the parking lot to the stone grotto. That is our meeting place. It is very important that we ALL gather there, and that no one leaves. We will do a head count to make sure that all of our children are safe.
If you have an infant with you at the meeting, regardless of whether or not you have another child in the Nursery, you will only be responsible for the child with you. You will exit the building with this child walking straight down the hall and out the main door in front of the elevator.
If you have an infant in Room E, regardless of whether or not you have another child in the Nursery, you will be responsible to go straight down the hall to Room E and gather your child in cooperation with the nursery staff. You will then exit the building out the main door in front of the elevator.
If you have a toddler or child in Room C or D, OR if you have no children with you, you will be responsible to exit our meeting room and turn right to Room C, then left through the back hallway to Room D. Both Rooms C & D have children present, and there you will assist in the evacuation of these children in cooperation with the nursery staff. You will then exit past Room E and out the main door in front of the elevator.
REMEMBER......SAFETY FIRST!
· When gathering our children, please do not take time to gather the child’s belongings. You may grab the child’s coat if necessary, but our first priority is to evacuate the building! Please do not stop to collect art projects, snacks, toys, etc. Every second counts in preventing personal injury and loss due to fire and smoke!
· If you are the last one to leave any room, you are responsible to make sure that the room is empty of children and that all doors are closed behind you.
· Please remain calm! We will all help and support each other.
· Please note where the fire extinguishers are located on this floor, and remember—PASS
(“P” pull pin, “A” aim, “S” squeeze, “S” sweep).
| 
