December 13, 2009
In identifying five situations or safety threats for my age group I came up with the following: choking, falls, cleaning supplies not put away properly, and lack of supervision, broken toys or equipment. Choking is a concern for all age’s even preschoolers because some have not learned that everything does not go in your mouth. The safety policy at my school is that the room is checked for any small toys/items often and when found removed. The routine for dealing with a choking concern is that all staff stays diligent about the safety procedures and then hopefully choking will not be an issue. In the home setting a family can prevent the children from choking by ensuring that they buy toys and all items for children that are age appropriate and even then they should always check for small pieces that may break.
Falls are another big safety concern both in a child care setting and the home. The policy at school is to maintain visual on all children and if a child is climbing a staff should be present to ensure safety. All equipment should be well maintained, age appropriate and if indoors it should also have an open area surrounding to avoid accidents. Children should never climb on furniture either at school or home. To prevent falls at school supervision is key to preventing and then you need to make sure all areas are maintained for the children in care so that falls will not happen. In the home environment again the children should be in adult view at all times and they should be taught safety rules on how and where they are allowed to climb. They should never be allowed to climb on furniture and only use age appropriate equipment.
Another major safety issue I find is the care and storage of cleaning supplies both at home and the school. Even though we have cabinets for the supplies, they do not ever seem to get put away properly. Our policy for keeping the supplies stored is when we are done using them, we are to put back into the cabinet and then lock it. We have designated a staff member to be in charge of making sure the supplies are put away properly. When it comes to the storage at home, the family should make sure all cleaning supplies and anything else that may harm a young child is put out of reach and locked away. The school can help by passing along any information they get to the families in their care.
Lack of supervision is another big safety concern for everyone involved in the care of young children. When the children are not supervised any number of accidents can happen and this is just not acceptable. Our policy is that all children should be visible at all times and the staff should be stationed around the room or playground. If staff does not follow procedures then they can be written up or if a child get hurt then they could be in a lot of trouble both with their job, family and the law. It is very important to follow all policies and report anything that you feel is wrong so your director can take it further if needed. With supervision at home the parents should never leave children alone when they are young. Even when we think they are safe, they may find something they could hurt them and this is why we always watch and listen.
It is the adult’s job to make sure all toys and equipment that is used by children is well cared for and maintained. It is our policy to every morning do a walkthrough of the school to check for any broken toys and also check the playground before it is our turn to use it for anything that has been broken or left that may hurt our children. The way to prevent problems is to stay diligent and never stop paying attention to what’s around you because you never know when a child will find something that you did not find for lack of doing a daily check. When it comes to the home area and toy and equipment safety it is the parent’s job to make sure they do not buy toys that are not for the age of their children and if they have children of different ages they should make sure that all little pieces are put away until all children are of an age that they small pieces are safe for everyone. We as care givers can help the families make the right chooses by helping them to learn how to pick age appropriate toys for the children if they ask for help. Sometimes we need to pass along information to our parent’s about recalls on toys and other items that pertain to young children. I feel it is our job to help our parent’s which in turn will keep our children safe and happy.
There are many more safety and hazardous situations both at the school level and home setting. In general if we as teachers can get the training and then hopefully pass it on to our parent’s by way of adding it to our monthly newsletter or posted on the our parent board so they can read the information if they are interested. I have found that another way to pass on information is when we have conferences and back to school night as it is easy to have a table set up with various types of information.
Robertson, C. (2010). Safety, Nutrition, and Health in early education (4th Ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
In identifying five situations or safety threats for my age group I came up with the following: choking, falls, cleaning supplies not put away properly, and lack of supervision, broken toys or equipment. Choking is a concern for all age’s even preschoolers because some have not learned that everything does not go in your mouth. The safety policy at my school is that the room is checked for any small toys/items often and when found removed. The routine for dealing with a choking concern is that all staff stays diligent about the safety procedures and then hopefully choking will not be an issue. In the home setting a family can prevent the children from choking by ensuring that they buy toys and all items for children that are age appropriate and even then they should always check for small pieces that may break.
Falls are another big safety concern both in a child care setting and the home. The policy at school is to maintain visual on all children and if a child is climbing a staff should be present to ensure safety. All equipment should be well maintained, age appropriate and if indoors it should also have an open area surrounding to avoid accidents. Children should never climb on furniture either at school or home. To prevent falls at school supervision is key to preventing and then you need to make sure all areas are maintained for the children in care so that falls will not happen. In the home environment again the children should be in adult view at all times and they should be taught safety rules on how and where they are allowed to climb. They should never be allowed to climb on furniture and only use age appropriate equipment.
Another major safety issue I find is the care and storage of cleaning supplies both at home and the school. Even though we have cabinets for the supplies, they do not ever seem to get put away properly. Our policy for keeping the supplies stored is when we are done using them, we are to put back into the cabinet and then lock it. We have designated a staff member to be in charge of making sure the supplies are put away properly. When it comes to the storage at home, the family should make sure all cleaning supplies and anything else that may harm a young child is put out of reach and locked away. The school can help by passing along any information they get to the families in their care.
Lack of supervision is another big safety concern for everyone involved in the care of young children. When the children are not supervised any number of accidents can happen and this is just not acceptable. Our policy is that all children should be visible at all times and the staff should be stationed around the room or playground. If staff does not follow procedures then they can be written up or if a child get hurt then they could be in a lot of trouble both with their job, family and the law. It is very important to follow all policies and report anything that you feel is wrong so your director can take it further if needed. With supervision at home the parents should never leave children alone when they are young. Even when we think they are safe, they may find something they could hurt them and this is why we always watch and listen.
It is the adult’s job to make sure all toys and equipment that is used by children is well cared for and maintained. It is our policy to every morning do a walkthrough of the school to check for any broken toys and also check the playground before it is our turn to use it for anything that has been broken or left that may hurt our children. The way to prevent problems is to stay diligent and never stop paying attention to what’s around you because you never know when a child will find something that you did not find for lack of doing a daily check. When it comes to the home area and toy and equipment safety it is the parent’s job to make sure they do not buy toys that are not for the age of their children and if they have children of different ages they should make sure that all little pieces are put away until all children are of an age that they small pieces are safe for everyone. We as care givers can help the families make the right chooses by helping them to learn how to pick age appropriate toys for the children if they ask for help. Sometimes we need to pass along information to our parent’s about recalls on toys and other items that pertain to young children. I feel it is our job to help our parent’s which in turn will keep our children safe and happy.
There are many more safety and hazardous situations both at the school level and home setting. In general if we as teachers can get the training and then hopefully pass it on to our parent’s by way of adding it to our monthly newsletter or posted on the our parent board so they can read the information if they are interested. I have found that another way to pass on information is when we have conferences and back to school night as it is easy to have a table set up with various types of information.
Robertson, C. (2010). Safety, Nutrition, and Health in early education (4th Ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
At my center we just had a child fall from the play structure, and break his arm. I’m so glad I was trained in CPR and First Aid. Falling is a big safety concern to me too.
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