Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

Posts tagged ‘family home childcare’

5 Steps to Providing High Quality & Safe Infant/Toddler Care

As I prepared the Module 6 and Week 28 eCourse Lesson for the member of the Family Home Child Care Empowerment Club, I was inspired to share some of the tips with you!

The topic of week 28 eCourse Lesson was: How to provide a healthy & Safe environment for infant/toddlers. The tips were provided in the form of a health & safety checklist, because I believe that the best way to improve your childcare program is through self assessment.

Today I am going to share 5 steps to Providing High Quality & Safe Infant/Toddler Care:

1. Maintain Ratio. Be sure that there is no more than  four infant/toddlers to a care giver. It can be quite demanding for one caregiver to care for too many infant/toddlers. Moreover, infant/toddlers need lots of loving care and it is almost impossible for one caregiver to meet the needs of more than  four infant/toddlers at any given time. ** In some cases, it is recommended that the ratios are 1-t0-3.

2. Be Alert of the Health/Safety Needs of the Children. For example: It is important that you or your staff know who feels well and who does not. Are the children adequately supervised? Know where the adventurous toddlers are, at all times,etc. Being aware of the health & safety needs of the children is a vital part of providing quality infant/toddler care.

3. Smoke Free Home or Center. You can almost assume that caregivers will be considerate and not smoke around children, however, it is very important that parents know that you have a smoke free facility!

I suggest that you post a SMOKE FREE ZONE sign. Cigarette smoke is very toxic to a child. Moreover, if you have smokers on staff, it is also a good idea to require that they wash their hands after smoking. Furthermore, if  your staff member(s) smell like smoke after a break; require that they change their clothes, before handling the infants/toddlers.

Home Providers: Require that family members smoke outdoors during the hours of childcare.

4. Post the number to Poison Control. You may have already removed all medications and cleaning supplies out of the reach of the children. However, what if a parent fails to tell you that there is medication in a diaper bag and a toddler gets a hold of it?  That’s right…you will need to call Poison control right away!

So be sure to post your local poison control number near your phone. Here is the national number to poison control: 1-800-222-1222. ***Moreover, check diaper bags daily for medication,etc.

5. Small Toys Can Be a Choking Hazard!! If a small toy can fit through the opening of a toilet tissue tube, than it is a choking hazard for an infant/toddler. Be sure that toys that are 1  1/2 inches in diameter are kept out of the reach of young children (preferably under the age of 3).

Infant/toddler learn about their world by putting things in their mouth and this is why you must be mindful of the toys that are within the reach of infant/toddlers.

In summary, I hope that you have found this blog post to be helpful to you. Most importantly, My hope is that you create a High Quality and Safe place for infant/toddlers.

For more information about how to build a high quality family home childcare business (click here) or a Child Care Center (click here).

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With Quality Infant/Toddler Care in Mind,

Shiketa

Follow my Inspirational & Business tweets @shiketamorgan 

@ccarebusiness

Category:

Health/Safety, Infant/Toddler Care

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The “Bear” Necessities of Choosing the Right Staff

Seek to hire people who loved their previous Job

 

I titled this blog post after a book that I am reading called, The Bear Necessities of Business, written by Maxine Clark. Just in case you do not know who Maxine Clark is…She is the Founder and Chief Executive Bear at Build a Bear Work Shop.

I bought Maxine’s Book, The Bear Necessities of Business about five years ago while on vacation in Chicago from one of the Build-a-Bear Workshops.  In fact, I was inspired  to buy Maxine’s book, because I was quite impressed with the company that she created with the help of a great team.

Earlier this year, I went on a field trip to the St. Louis Galleria Build-a Bear Workshop with my preschool graduates and I was loving  the spirit of excellence throughout the store. Moreover, I really enjoyed working with the staff at the Build-a Bear work shop. The staff was so friendly, very knowledgeable about their job and seemed to really enjoy working at Build-a-Bear Workshop. Furthermore, the trip to that store, inspired me to read Maxine’s book again, because I really enjoyed the experience and that’s what I want to give my customers…an Experience.

The night before I wrote this blog post, I was reading a chapter of Maxine’s book and came across a statement that inspired me to evaluate the questions that I ask applicants during the interview process. Maxine wrote: “I am not interest in bringing on people who hated their last job. I want to hire those who loved where they worked and came to us with great habits and ideas they have learned on the job.”

Maxine, also suggested that you hire people who have worked for great businesses that you respect and admire. In my case, that would be Kinder care Learning Centers, Head Start  and any Accredited Child Care Facility, because I know that the teacher has worked in a Quality environment.

Also, Maxine recommends that you ask those you hire this question: “What are we not doing that your previous employer did?

WOW!!! I think this is the answer to the job turn-over in the childcare field. What do you think? Do you know how much trouble that you and I can save ourselves if we simply ask the question: So, how did you feel about your last job?

I agree with Maxine 100%, because I recently hired a teacher that loved her previous job and she came to work with me for the summer and she loves her job. In the past, I hired teachers that hated their previous jobs and they hated working for me.

In summary, I think Maxine shared a golden nugget by mentioning the fact that she does not seek to hire people who hate their previous jobs. So, now when you schedule your next interview, be sure to ask: So, how did you feel about your last job?

What do you think about Maxine’s Philosophy about not seeking to hire people who hate their former jobs? Do you plan to ask the questions mentioned above during your next interview? I look forward to your comments below.

Be sure to get your copy of Maxine’s Book, The Bear Necessities of Business Today! Don’t forget to schedule your next field trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop!

With your business in mind,

Shiketa

Category:

Employee Management, Staffing

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