PHILOSOPHY

I strongly believe that children learn through play. Their little ears pick up so much information with out them or us realizing it. When they play with their friends they learn from each other. I am so glad that I have this opportunity to teach and learn from your child (ren).

The value of children is so important (they are our future leaders). They have a lot to say if we just give them the chance to. I always give praise for everything.  It will help them with their self-esteem, and I love the look on their faces!

The environment that I will provide will be filled with lots of love, plenty of exploring, lots of on the floor play arts and crafts. There will be limits and rules to follow. I am not a teacher so please do not expect your child to walk out knowing everything for the big world. I will try to teach them some basic information. I want my daycare to be a warm and fun center.

PROGRAM

DAILY SCHEDULE:

7:30 – 8:30...................................... Breakfast

8:30 - 9:00....................................... Free Play

9:00 – 9:30...................................... Music

9:30 – 10:00……………………….Circle Time

10:00 - 10:30................................... Snack

10:30 - 11:30................................... Art activities

11:30 - 12:00................................... Free play with supervision and movie time

12:00 – 1:00.................................... Lunch

1:00 – 2:30...................................... Nap / Rest time

2:30 – 4:30...................................... Snack

3:30 - 4:00....................................... Afternoon Free Art

Activities will be planned with age appropriate. I will provide a balance of actives to help with self-esteem, physical, and growth for young children.

**Please remember that I am not a teacher. My Daycare will be run as a fun and caring environment, with limits and rules.

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION

NAP TIME REQUIREMENTS:

All children 5 years and younger will be required to have rest time (1:00 to 2:30 p.m.). Parents are to bring a pillow and small blanket.  I will provide a mat or a porta-crib for each child.

     WHAT WE ASK OF THE PARENTS:

1.   Please KNOCK and then enter.  Do not wait for one of us to come to the door, sometimes we are in the middle of an activity with a child and cannot leave them unattended.  Bring your child (ren) in and help them with their coats and shoes if necessary.  Give any special instructions at this time.  When picking up your children we will try to highlight your child's day at this time.  There will be a charge of $5.00 if the child is picked up more than 15 minutes after the scheduled pick-up time.      

       2.   Abide by prearranged hours.  If you will be running late, please call us and let us know as soon as possible.

3.   Financial agreements must be kept according to the contract.  Should there be any questions regarding your bill, we will be glad to discuss it and go over it with you.  PROMPT PAYMENT IS REQUIRED as we have a budget to follow and scheduled payments to make.

 4.   Bring a change of clothing for your child.  Dress them according to the weather.  Remember, spring and fall have cool mornings and warm to hot afternoons.  In the winter, we require that you provide gloves, stocking cap, scarf, snow pants and snow boots.

 5.   A child's birthday is an important day.  Because of our conscious effort to teach good nutrition, we request that you avoid extremely sugary birthday treats.  We recommend cheese & crackers, muffins, fruits, etc...

 6.   When needed - we ask you to provide the following:

          Diapers

    Tylenol

    Sun block/Insect Repellent

    Bottles

    Change of Clothing 

DISCIPLINE POLICY

Positive methods of discipline will be enforced before any time outs are given.  The children will be given plenty of redirection opportunities. For example: distracting the child’s attention from the unacceptable activity to a constructive one; talking to the child about the feelings he/she is having; suggesting to the child other solutions to the problem they are having; and removing the child from the source of the conflict.

If all the steps above have not helped with the behavior problem, a short time out will be given.  In the case of bad language, biting, and hitting a report will be given and a signed copy will be kept on file.  After three reports are written about the same child a warning of dismissal is given.  The fourth is grounds for dismissal.  Playasaurus Home Daycare reserves the right to disenroll any child the staff cannot control

PAYMENT POLICY

6 weeks to 18 months ------------------------------$140.00/week

19 months to 7 years--------------------------------$130.00/week

Registration Fee-------------------------------------$20.00 non-refundable

Positions in childcare are considered "open" unless a non-refundable deposit is paid.  This will hold your child (ren)'s slot for a period of 1 week after the scheduled start date.  The deposit is equivalent to 1 week of childcare.

If childcare begins as stated in the contract, the deposit will be applied towards the first week of childcare.  If childcare does not begin on the contracted start date, the deposit will forfeited and become the property of Playasaurus.

Tuition is due every Friday morning, the week of service.  Three late payments are cause for dismissal.  A child may stay no longer than 10 hours per day.  The time starts when the child enters our door until he or she exits our door.  Business hours are from 7:30 7a.m. to 5:30 p.m.  Children must be picked up by the AGREED time. There will be a $5.00 per 15-minute late charge after scheduled pick up time. There is a late charge of $20.00 for every 15 minutes or fraction thereof after 5:30 p.m.  Late fees must be paid upon arrival the same day.  You must pay for all days you scheduled your child to attend.  Payments are expected even if your child does not attend on his/her scheduled day, or you are asked to pick up your child do to illness. You are paying me for the time I am available to you and holding an opening for your child.   Food and Supplies are based on the enrollment.

Five free days per child will be available to your family.  If these days are going to be used for a vacation a two weeks notice must be given.  These days cannot be carried over from year to year.

HEALTH POLICY

Playasaurus is a "Well Child Care Facility"!  This means if your child is not feeling well, for whatever reason, you must make other arrangements for their care until they are feeling well and no longer contagious.  Do not bring your child (ren) to childcare if they have a fever over 100.0 deg, diarrhea, vomiting or have a contagious illness.  The child (ren) will not be allowed back into care until they are symptom free for 24 hours.  If they are too sick to go outside, they are too sick to be at childcare.

If your child has a common cold - slight cough, sneezing, or a runny nose, you can bring them to childcare.  However, when the cold reaches the point when your child will not play, cries, whines, wants to be held constantly, or has a continuous cough, you will be required to keep your child home.  If a child is brought "too sick" you will be phoned to pick up your child and allowed 1 hour to make other arrangements.  If you can not pick your child (ren) up in that time frame you will be charged the $5.00 sick child care charge in addition to your normal daily rate.

To protect the good health of all children these health rules and guidelines must be followed:

 FEVERS:  Children are not allowed to come if they have a temperature of 100 degrees F. or more.

COUGHS:  If a cough exits, your child must bring cough medicine.  If the cough becomes severe I will request that your child see a doctor or stay home until well.

FLU:  If your child has had the flu during the night do not bring them the following morning.

SORE THROATS: Sore throats are very contagious, if after 3 days it is not better and a fever exists it is your responsibility to see a doctor and get an antibiotic.  If your child does not see a doctor they will not be able to come until well and all symptoms are gone.

COLDS:  All children are going to have colds, however, after having it for 1 week and a runny nose, cough or sneezing still occurs, your child must see a doctor or stay home until well and all symptoms are gone.

DIARRHEA:  Three or more episodes in a 24hr period of loose watery stools your child cannot attend and may be sent home.

MEDICATION: Defined as anything from diaper rash cream to prescription drugs, including sunscreen.  Medication must be clearly labeled with child’s name, dose and storage instructions. Medication form must be filled out before any medication is given.  

COMMUNICABLE DISEASES:  I will notify you if your child has been exposed to a communicable disease so that you can observe your child for symptoms.  At the same time, exposure to communicable diseases, and any infectious illnesses of other family members, should be reported so that I may be alerted to early symptoms.

Part of my job as a caregiver to your child is making sure they are healthy and stay healthy.

Part of your job, as a parent, is to make sure you bring me a healthy child.  With your help and understanding, we can have a healthy home for your child to come to.

 If I believe you are being negligent to your child's health or endangering the health of my other children and do not follow the health guidelines of this Licensed Day Care Home, all services may be terminated.  If the situation should come to this you will have 1 week to make new arrangements for your child's care. We ask parents to please follow the guidelines for illness.  This is for the protection of all those involved.  Many times either our childcare or ourselves get blamed for the illness of a child.  Yet, parents don’t realize the majority of this is brought into our home exposing our own family, too.  We STRESS this again - if you are not sure if a child should be brought, feel free to call us ahead of time

GUIDELINES

Following is a list of some of the guidelines in childcare.  They are listed only to give you insight into our childcare and our philosophies.

1.  Name-calling, foul language, or yelling is not allowed,

2.  No hitting, kicking, pushing, pinching, biting or hair pulling,

3.  Food or drinks in the dining area ONLY.

4.  No leaving the yard without permission.

5.  Picking up babies or small children is not allowed.

6.  No climbing in trees, pulling on or swinging from the branches.

7.  "Back Talking" will not be permitted

8.  No climbing on the fence.

9.      Absolutely no gum or candy allowed at childcare!

TERMINATION OF CONTRACT

Our contract shall be terminated if any one or more of the following occur.

1.  Serious illness of a child preventing attendance.

2.  The account becomes delinquent.

3.  Playasaurus determines it is unable to meet the needs of the child.  Playasaurus determines it is not in the best interest of other children in our care.

4.  Please remember we are in a residential area.  Three complaints with your vehicle description, is justifiable cause for dismissal.

5.  Failure of the parents to cooperate with Playasaurus which is determined serious enough to warrant termination.

6.      Parental Termination - Required to give two weeks notice for which you will be required to pay your normal child care rates.  If you have used all your free days, a prorated charge for the days overused, per the period of time attended.

            Example:  5 days per year (1 day per 73 calendar days)

                 January 1^st start of contract through May 1^st termination of contract = 121 days

                 2 days allowed for this period of service. 

                 If you used 5 days, you will need to pay back the extra 3 days used.           

7.      Guidelines are not followed.

Many of the rules and information in this booklet are written from experience and situations we have faced in childcare.  It has certainly been a learning experience for us.  We are always open to suggestions.  If there are any problems or something has upset you, we encourage you to please come and talk to either of us about it.  We want everyone to be happy and comfortable with our childcare.