Owning a daycare business comes with great responsibility. Childcare jobs include the responsibility of teaching young children about strangers and personal safety.

Helping children protect themselves is a joint effort of adults and children. Most of the responsibility is on the adult to protect the child. Childcare providers may educate parents about the grooming process of offenders. This means explaining how offenders befriend a family and seek situations where they can have secrecy with a child.

Some excellent tips for keeping children safe:

• Childcare providers and parents need to know how to screen caregivers and ask questions to help ensure their child’s safety.

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Each daycare business has its own individual policies and procedures. However, all daycare providers must issue standard childcare authorization forms in order to protect the children in their care as well as their daycare employees.  Daycare authorization forms keep the children in your care safe and limit your liability as a daycare provider. There are a few simple authorization forms that all daycares must implement:

Childcare Pick-up Authorization: Each parent or guardian must complete and sign a childcare authorization form for each child in your care. This form lists the names of all persons authorized to pick up the child. It details the name of the adult(s), their date of birth, their relationship to the child, and their contact information (address and home, work, and cell phone number). The form should also include a statement that says “Under no circumstances will my child be released to anyone other than the individuals named above, without prior written authorization”.

Field Trip or Activity Permission Slips: The field trip or activity authorization form, gives the children in your care permission to leave the facility or participate in a special activity that is outside of the normal daily routine. The field trip consent form should contain the location of the activity, the date and time of the activity, the mode of transportation involved (walking, car, bus etc.).  The field trip consent form should be signed by the daycare provider and the parent or guardian. It should also include a statement similar to: “I understand that the center will take every precaution and care to insure my child’s safety. Adults who will provide proper supervision and will exercise every precaution to avoid accidents, in accordance with the state licensing regulations will accompany visiting groups”.
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Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is, according to the national Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Resource Center, “the sudden death of an infant under 1 year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene, and review of the clinical history” (Willinger et al., 1991:681).

Sometimes called “crib death”, SIDS is sudden, silent, and occurs during sleep. Since most daycare programs and preschools involve naptime, daycare providers and preschool teachers must be aware of SIDS, SIDS risk, and what they can do to prevent SIDS.

SIDS is the leading cause of death in children between one month and one year of age.  In addition, most SIDS deaths happen when babies are between 2 months and 4 months of age.

Is SIDS Caused by Vaccinations?

The Immunization Safety Review Committee which is established by the Institute of Medicine evaluated the evidence of possible causal associations between immunizations that are given in the first year of life and SIDS. These immunizations include Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis (DTaP) vaccine, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine, Hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine, Inacticated Polio vaccine (IPV), and Pneumococus vaccine (PCV).

The Committee concluded that there is no evidence of a causal relationship between these vaccines and sudden infant death syndrome, sudden unexpected death in infancy, or neonatal death. (more…)

If your child care center cares for infants and toddlers, your number one priority must be to keep them safe by maintaining a secure and healthy environment.  High chairs and strollers can be extremely dangerous for young children if they are not built correctly. Infants and toddlers may be at risk of falling and choking hazards if these childcare products prove to be faulty. Take note of the following recent  high chairs and stroller recalls:

2009 High Chair Recalls:

April 2009: Evenflo Recalls Envision High Chairs Due to Fall and Choking Hazards manufactured by Evenflo Company Inc., of Miamisburg, Ohio, 643,000 units. “Recline fasteners and metal screws on both sides of the high chair can loosen and fall out, allowing the seatback to detach or recline unexpectedly. Children can fall backwards or fall out of the high chair and suffer bumps and bruises to the head, abrasions, cuts and bruises. Detached hardware also poses a choking hazard to children”. (more…)

One of the most important duties for those with jobs in childcare is to protect the health, safety and wellness of children in your care. Immunizations make daycare centers and preschools a healthy place to learn and grow.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, vaccines help keeping children safe by protecting communities by helping to protect children who are not able to be vaccinated or who do not respond to vaccines, protecting individual children who are vaccinated against dangerous diseases, and by slowing down or stopping disease outbreaks.

Check with your preschool or daycare center and follow state requirements, as they vary. In most states, preschool children must have: (more…)

As a child day care center owner, your first order of duty is to keep the children in your care safe. Within the scope of child safety, your daycare business must consider which foods are potentially dangerous to small children. Toddlers are at risk for choking and severe allergic reactions caused by food. Daycare providers must select foods that are healthy and safe for toddlers and avoid those that present potential choking hazards.

Be careful or avoid the following types of hazardous foods for toddlers:

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If your child care center cares for infants, your number one priority must be to keep children safe by maintaining a secure and healthy environment. On the list of child care equipment that may be extremely dangerous for young children are cribs for infants. Infants may be at risk of entrapment, suffocation, strangulation, or asphyxiation if childcare products prove to be faulty.

Parents and child care providers MUST check with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall list which can be found at cpsc.gov. You can even sign up to be on an email list which will inform you of current recalls. They continually updated the recall list, so be sure to check frequently for recalls on toys, cribs, and child care equipment.

Depending on the severity of the recall, the manufacturer might mail kits with parts to repair faulty products. Sometimes consumers are told to take the product back to where they were purchased for refunds, store credits or replacement items.

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One of the biggest and most major decisions that a responsible parent will ever have to make is which daycare they will leave their children at. It is best that the daycare provider will take care of your child as close as you have. It is a fact that all daycares can not love and care for your child the way you do, but still there are providers that can provide very good services compared to others.
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When you finally decided to put your child in a day care center, the next step is to choose what day care center it would be. With this matter, there are a lot of factors to consider in evaluating your options. There are a lot of things you should inquire the day care center you are considering.
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A childcare business can be one of the best businesses that you can ever get into. The atmosphere seems to light and happy when it come to a childcare facility. Imagine all the children running, laughing, smiling and playing. Isn’t this what you have always wanted?
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