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Re-opening your daycare center may be extremely difficult because of the fear parents may have about sending their children back into a group setting with other children and adults.  I’ve heard parents say that they know the center will be open, but they will not take their children to any daycare because they fear their children will become ill.

Those who own daycare centers and those who work as administrators, teachers, maintenance workers, cooks, and nurses, all need to think about how they will handle returning. It’s understood how critically important it is for parents to be able to return to work, but if there isn’t a safe place for their children to be cared for, returning to work will be impossible. So what is it that must be done? How do we approach a ‘new normal’ in terms of keeping children and adults safe in the space?

As childcare providers, we have always understood that safety is a critical element for the care and education of young children. Since the onset of the COVID 19 PANDEMIC, we need to be more vigilant and have the best information we can get to make sure that we are on the front lines of keeping everyone as safe as possible; children and adults.

The link above is for the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and provides excellent information about how to proceed when your childcare center moves forward to protect everyone who enters.

There is a wide range of safety issues when caring for young children in a childcare setting.  Anyone who has been involved in a childcare center understands that children are most interested in having fun. As teachers we also are making sure that learning, discovering new skills, making friends, and being understood.  Children have to know that any adult in the center can be trusted to heal, comfort, listen, guide, and will attend to both their laughter and tears. When thinking about and acting in the best interest of children and adults, the safety of the mind, heart, and soul* must be taken into consideration.

* Read the blog post, The Mind, Heart, and Soul of Early Childhood Education  on website.

Adults working in childcare centers are responsible for hundreds of things. Planning for teaching and guidance, putting a classroom environment together that is appropriate for the ages of the children, making sure that tables, chairs,  (all furniture) are clean and disinfected, making sure toys are cleaned on a daily basis.  Also, making sure that children are clean after they have their personal needs attended to (hand washing, diapering, wiping), and children who are learning to use the potty and sink by themselves are checked to make sure they have done a ‘complete job’. It’s a huge undertaking and the addition of a virulent virus makes it more critical and difficult to make it all work.

All daycare centers should abide by the rules, regulations, and guidelines of their state and agency, but unfortunately not every center does. Most do the best they can with the staff they have and the resources available. Some centers do an excellent job every day, making sure that the items children and adults come in contact with on a regular basis are cleaned and disinfected. It’s not an easy job. Its time-consuming and sometimes expensive, BUT, it must be done especially now that we are realizing how quickly an illness can spread from person to person. 

How can you assure parents that you are doing the best possible job that can be done in terms of protecting their children from contracting a virus that we don’t completely understand? Communication is the key. Post the guidelines for your disinfecting policy where it is visible to anyone who enters. Make sure that you listen to and answer any questions parents have in terms of their child’s safety during this unsettling time. Frequently check on the staff to make sure they are in compliance with the guidelines you are following, and they are feeling safe.

Please share any other resources, suggestions, and ideas that may benefit all who care for and educate young children in daycare or pre-k centers. We need to help each other. We need to help bring our services back. We need to assure ourselves that we are doing everything we can to keep everyone safe.