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Starting
Off Right: Your Meeting with the Child
Whether
you meet the child at the first interview with
parents, or at another time, that first get-together
should be a welcoming and friendly one. Meeting
outside of regular child care hours will give you
an opportunity to relax and give your full attention
to the child’s first visit. This visit will
also give you a chance to observe the child’s
behaviour and the child-parent interaction. Use
your observations and the information provided
by the parents to develop a basic impression of
the child’s personality to help you prepare
for their transition into care.
Here
are some tips for that first get-together:
- Spend
time in the room where the children usually
play to acquaint the child with their new day
care surroundings.
- Infants
and toddlers often prefer to stay near mom or
dad and check you
out from the safety of their arms. Speak to them but don’t rush to
hold them unless both the baby and the parents seem comfortable.
- Have
some age-appropriate toys or activities available. If the child doesn’t
feel like talking he can busy himself with something fun while
you talk with the parents.
- Take
the parents and child on a small tour of your
home, showing them
where they’ll play, where they’ll eat, where they’ll use
the washroom and where they’ll put their outdoor clothes and shoes when
they arrive.
- Ask
older children about themselves and what they
like to do.
- Tell
children about the other children in care and
some of the activities that they
like to do.
- Put
the child’s name on a
sticky tag and label their coat hook, basket,
etc. with their help.
- Purchase
some books that talk about children going to
child care
or play groups. Send one or two home with the
child and parents and ask for it’s
return on the first day of child care. (An excellent
choice is Mr. Rogers Goes to
Day Care. It talks about what to expect in the typical
child care day as well as some of the feelings that the child may experience.)
- Invite
the child to bring a favourite comfort toy with
them on the first day of care.
Reflection:
My grandmother had an expression that she always
used “Start as you mean to go on,” and
I remind myself of that expression every time
I am filling a child care space. The longer
I’ve
been involved in caregiving, the more I’ve
realized the value of putting time and thought
into making sure the child care match has a
good chance of succeeding before it begins,
and then
taking the steps necessary to make sure it succeeds.”
This excerpt was taken from the Family Child Care
Training Project Level 1 - Unit Ten: Starting Off
Right.
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