It is essential that both parents and child care providers are equipped to deal with any emergency that may arise during the time you are separated from your child. The care provider must known how to contact you and you them should any emergency crop up such as your child being taken ill or getting hurt or if you are going to be late picking them up or if someone else has to pick up your child other your yourself.

What the child care provider needs to know

Whichever choice for child care that you make be it a day care center, babysitter, nanny or a drop in center they will all need to have contact information from you should an emergency arise while your child is in their care.

The basic information they need at the very least will be

• A contact number for you and if you work then your employers phone number too.
• A secondary contact number in case you cannot be reached, this can either be a spouse, relative or friend.
• Any illnesses your child has such as asthma or epilepsy.
• Any allergies your child has such as an allergy to certain food types or bee stings.
• Any medication that your child needs on a regular basis such as asthma inhalers.
• Your full name and address.

Emergency procedures for falls and illnesses

A day care center will have an emergency procedure in place for such things as falls, illnesses and emergencies within the building such as fires.

If your child has a minor bump or cut then it will be dealt with by trained staff in the center, if your child suffers a more serious accident while in their care then they will contact you via the contact number asking you to come and fetch your child home, if you are not available then they will use the secondary contact number.

On the odd occasion your child suffers an extreme accident then emergency services will be called while contacting you and you will be advised to meet a staff member at the accident and emergency room. If your child should fall ill while in day care they will be attended to by the nurse on hand and you will be contacted to come and fetch your child.

All day care centers will practice on a regular basis fire drills and prepare children for the sound of the alarm by turning practice into a game while still making sure every child knows the importance of the alarm.

What you need to do in an emergency

You need to make sure you know the day care centers emergency plan for cases such as fire for example if they have to leave the building then where is the meeting point for picking up your child?

If you are going to be late picking up your child because of an emergency then make sure you give the center as much warning in advance as you can.

Also make sure that if you are going to be late then the center knows you are still going to be collecting your child and won’t be sending someone else.

If you are going to have someone else collect your child then make sure the staff knows who you are sending, tell them their full name and very often it is wise to set up a password for a friend or neighbor to use and staff can ask this person along with their name for the password.

This protects the day care center from letting your child go with just anyone regardless of whether the child knows the person and mistakes cannot be made.

Now your child is old enough to be in school different problems are faced by parents, the education side is no problem we know our child will receive a good education as the school’s curriculum will have been gone over at prior meetings before your child actually started school.

How though do we know if our child is being taken care of physically while in school, if they have a medical condition for instance or what happens if they have an accident or injury while in school?. Will they receive proper nutritional meals and will they eat enough? Will they be looked after when out of school on day trips?

The Child’s head of year

All children will have a head of year teacher, this is someone that they can go to should they have any problems while in school, problems can be anything from being bullied, problems with other teachers or if they are sick.

The child will know where the head of year is and that they can freely go to them with any problem they encounter during the school day. The head of year will keep in close contact with all the teachers in school and with you, if need be they will call you and ask that you meet with them to discuss any problem and problems are usually dealt with quickly and efficiently.

The school’s meals provider

Children are usually placed into groups at dinner time to eat meals and most schools will assign a school’s meals provider or dinner lady as they used to be called.

The meals provider will be there to watch over children and make sure they do actually eat what is in front of them, they will also assist with any problems your child encounters during meal times such as bullying and they will report any problems to the head of the year who will if necessary call you to talk over any particular problems your child is having at dinner time.

First aid and sick rooms

The school will have a sick room/first aid room and members of staff will have had to undergo training in first aid and be competent in dealing with any emergency that might happen in school. Your child will know where this room is and who to go to if they aren’t feeling well.

Parents will have been required to fill in a form prior to their child attending school with any vital information on any illnesses they have including any medication they must take.

If your child has an illness and returns to school when they are well but still has to take medication such as a course of antibiotics then the medication should be handed over to the person in charge of the reception area and all medicine must be clearly labeled with the child’s name, age and class.

Most schools will not take responsibility if it is important that the medicine be taken at a specific time and if this is the case then the school will sometimes ask that you call in and make sure your child takes the medicine at the specified time.

In the cases of medicines such as asthma inhalers then older children will be able to keep these on themselves, younger children and children who need help taking them will have to hand them over to reception clearly labeled where your child can go and take them if necessary.

School day trips

Most schools have certain policies regarding school trips for example there should be an adult for every 6 children that are taken out of school. In most cases help is asked for from parents and parents will be sent a letter asking for volunteers, schools will make a head count as the children board the bus and again once seated.

Checks will be made throughout the day at times such as dinner and again as they board the bus to return to school and when they reach school. During the day children will be split into groups of no more than 6 and each adult assigned a group.

The parents will be asked to make head counts throughout the day to ensure no child gets lost. Any medication that children need will have been put into a first aid box and taken on the bus and parents of groups are made aware of any medical problems a child in there group has and will be given any medicine to take with them.