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How to Effectively Report Accidents/Injuries To Parents

Accidents & Injuries occur on a daily basis in Child Care programs. Moreover, it is vital that you develop a system that defines who, how and when accidents & injuries are to be reported to parents.

In fact, parents want to know when their children are injured; and when you communicate injuries to parents; they seem to appreciate the fact that you were open and honest with them.

However, if you fail to report injuries to parents; this could lead to parents being skeptical of you and your program. I would like to share Kim’s story with you.

A week before I wrote this post, one of my former high school classmates, called me about an injury that occurred at her child’s daycare. Kim was very upset that she was not notified until 2 days after the incident occurred and she also discovered that her child was questioned by state officials about the injury.

It was obvious to me that Kim knew the program did not handle the reporting of the injury professionally and she simply wanted some advice. As I consulted her, I considered the following two issues:

The parent was not notified that her child had caused harm to another child 2-days after the incident
This incident has affected how Kim feels about her child’s Child Care program.
Kim was also concerned about staff to child ratio in the classroom at the time of the incident

After listening to Kim’s complaint about the Child Care Program; I was inspired to share Kim’s story with you, to inspire you to think about How you report injuries to parents.

Also I thought I would share helpful tips with you on How to Effectively Report Accidents/Injuries to parents:

Assess all injuries and administer First Aid if needed
Document all injuries right away
Find out why the incident happened and what you can do to prevent the incident from occurring again
Notify the parent right away; if a head injury, bleeding, bruising or fracture occurred. If the injury is minor, be sure to call the parent before pick-up time; so that you are not approaching parents with bad news at pick-up time.
Require that the parent & staff member sign the incident report and be sure to give the parent a copy.

What do you think about Kim’s story? Also, feel free to share your procedures for reporting injuries to parents.

Shiketa

Category:

Health/Safety, parent communication

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Ideas for a Fun and Safe Playground Experience

Children love to play outdoors and your role is to provide children with a fun and enriching experience while on the playground. Moreover, I believe that the playground is an extension of your indoor environment.

In fact, going outdoors is a great way to take indoor activities outdoors; enjoy some fresh air; explore the items that are on the playground and explore nature.

Furthermore, going outdoors for at least one-hour a day is a great way to encourage gross motor development, such as: running, jumping, climbing, skipping, paddling, digging and so much more.

There are a variety of ways to encourage gross motor play and outdoor exploration by simply providing a playground experience that the children in your care will enjoy.

Check out the fun & enriching playground activity ideas below :

Gardening Tools

Children love to dig! Having gardening tools will encourage the children to dig for worms, explore or to start an outdoor garden. Be sure to establish safety rules for the gardening tools and that the children are closely supervised while digging with gardening tools.

Water Play

Along with having a water table outdoors, bring out some pails of water with sponges and encourage the children to wash the playground equipment or bikes; this will keep the children very busy!

Side Walk Chalk

If you have a black top or patio area, having chalk outdoors is a great way to promote handwriting and creativity. So the next time that you go outdoors, don’t forget the chalk.

Outdoor Spray Art

Ahead of time, fill some small spray bottles with water and paint; hang large pieces of paper along the fence with clothes line pins. Encourage the children to spray the paper with the water bottles. The children will love this colorful outdoor art experience. *This activity will be messy, so request that parents send a shirt for painting.

Sea Shells in the Sand

Adding sea shells to the sandbox will provide the children with a beach like experience. Sea Shells can be purchased at the local Walmart or arts & craft store.

Bring Dramatic Play Outdoors

Do you have a picnic table on your playground? This will be a great place to promote picnic fun or simply pretending to enjoy a meal outdoors.

Outdoor Construction Play

As the children are playing with the gardening tools, you may have some children that may want to move the soil to another area of the playground. Adding toy dump trucks will be great way for the children to role play as construction workers.

Don’t forget the Bubbles!

Children love to blow, chase and play with bubbles. So be sure to always take the bubbles outdoors with you!

Playground Rules

To assure a fun and safe outdoor experience you must develop a set of safety rules for the children and review them before going outdoors. Here is short list of playground safety rules:

Go down the slide on our bottom
The sand stays in the sandbox
The bikes are for the black top or patio area
We do not climb on the fence, we climb on the climbers
The gardening tools are for digging

Before going outdoors, conduct a playground safety checklist. Also, be sure to conduct a head count before going outdoors and before going back inside the home or building.

With a Fun Playground Experience in mind,

Shiketa

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Art of Owning a Child Care Center

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