We are excited to have your child in our nursery ministry. We understand how precious your child is to you and we want to serve you and your child with that in mind. We realize that it takes an enormous amount of energy to raise small children, and that is why we want to provide you with the opportunity to bring your child to a safe, fun and loving environment so you can be ministered to with minimal distractions.

As parents we know it is a big decision to leave your child in the nursery, so we want to make it as easy as possible for you. Please fill out the check-in form at the nursery door with your child’s name, age, any known allergies and special instructions. If you would like to sit in the nursery with your child the first few times you are more than welcome to do that. We want you to feel comfortable.

Please bring a labeled diaper bag and make sure all personal items are labeled with your child’s name. Feel free to bring a bottle or sippy cup for your child.

If your child cries during the drop off time please try to make a quick exit. Tears are normal at separation during this time, prolonging the departure often makes matters worse. If your child continues to cry and cannot be calmed down we will alert you.

To ensure the health of the children and our workers we want to eliminate concerns for health risks in our nursery as much as possible. Since young children are very susceptible to colds and flus we ask that parents adhere to these guidelines:

• Children need to be fever free, vomit and diarrhea free for at least 48 hours.
• Children should not have constant or thick nasal discharge.

If children are prescribed antibiotics, they may attend nursery 24 hours following the first dose of antibiotics.

• Itchy, watery eyes can be a symptom of pink eye. A child diagnosed with conjunctivitis (pink eye) may attend after 24 hours of antibiotic treatment and once drainage has stopped.
• Children with crusted or matted eyes will not be allowed in the nursery.
• Children with colds or coughs will not be allowed in the nursery.
• Children with an unexplained or contagious rash may not attend.
• Any symptoms of childhood diseases (scarlet fever, measles, mumps, chicken pox, whooping cough, etc.) will not be allowed in the nursery.

For the protection of all the children, our nursery workers follow these guidelines when admitting children to the nursery. Our nursery volunteers are not permitted to administer any medication to your children, if this presents a scheduling issue you are welcome to come in and treat them.

In ministering to children we want to provide a safe, nurturing environment in a loving atmosphere. The safety of all the children in the nursery must be maintained. If your child expresses unsafe behavior, like throwing, biting, hitting or kicking, he or she will be reminded in a kindly manner of appropriate behavior. If the behavior continues we will place your child in a time out, no more than one minute for each year of age. If the behavior is unmanageable after efforts to correct the behavior we will notify you.