Baby Health Care – Baby care center

How Children Benefit From Childcare

You’ve heard all the nasty rumors about child care, but you have to get back to work and you have no choice. But did you know there are benefits to sending your child to daycare If you consider some of these benefits, it will help you come to terms with your own decision whether you have a choice or not. If you can understand some of the ways children benefit from childcare, you will feel you are helping your child grow into a well rounded, happy child instead of punishing the both of you by sticking him in daycare.

Babies need interaction with other children. It’s never too early to start engaging him in activities with other children, whether they are other babies, toddlers or older children. Learning to interact with other children prepares a child for his first encounter with school. A daycare environment is a perfect place to get a child used to other children as he will have to do when he enters preschool or kindergarten. Daycare is a gentler environment, there are less rules and more flexibility than strict teachers may impose. Children benefit from childcare by learning self-control, how to get along with others, and how to share. They are initiated into the world of friendship. Without daycare, he only knows you; you are his whole world. What a shock to find one day around his 4th birthday he will have to start school and will be away from you at great lengths during the day. Children benefit from childcare by expanding their world to include people other than their parents.

If a child has been in daycare there will be less chance of separation anxiety when he enters school. He has become used to you being away from him; he has learned to make new friends and can be content without the undivided attention he normally gets from you. Aside from learning socialization skills, he may also have the opportunity to learn some of the basics such as the alphabet and numbers. This pre-preschool learning environment teaches your child a basic understanding of what will be expected of him once he enters kindergarten. He learns to listen and accept the information that will be thrust upon him in school. Entering school for the first time is challenging, children benefit from childcare by already having exposure to a classroom like environment.

Once the child enters school, daycare can help with homework. Some daycare facilities also offer after school extracurricular activities like scout meetings, and on-site gymnastics instruction. Once the child is in school his horizons begin to broaden.

Children benefit from childcare but it is really the parents that make the most difference in your child’s life. When he gets home from daycare after spending a long day away from you, he will want to tell you about his day. Ask him questions about his friends, his teachers, his subjects. He is capable of interacting with you no matter what his age is, and getting him to vividly describe his day is exciting to a child especially if the parent shows interest. Of course you are interested, aren’t you This child, a smaller version of yourself, is taking on the world a day at a time, and the choices and desires he has will be a direct reflection of you. Make the most of that opportunity while you can, children are only children once.

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Day Care Germs An Unavoidable Pest

Germs are everywhere. And day care germs abound. They are too small to see but we know they are there. Children can spread germs without ever getting sick themselves. They can catch colds, ear infections, diarrhea and worse. More severe illnesses like chicken pox, impetigo and hepatitis are also spread by germs. Toys are a vehicle for day care germs, so are unwashed hands of a caregiver after diaper change or blowing a child’s runny nose. Runny noses don’t always mean a child is sick, but the child can also be carrying something right under your nose so to speak, and you won’t know it for several days until your symptoms start showing. So how can you cut back on day care germs and minimize your child’s sick days Every child gets sick eventually with the average cold, but chances of spreading it to the other day care children and the sick child’s family can be greatly reduced by following a few simple rules.

Always keep up to date with your child’s immunizations. Schools will not enroll children in kindergarten without the immunization records filled out by the family physician. The same requirements must be met for daycare enrollment as well. Keep copies of your child’s immunization records and have them ready to give to the daycare provider. You can request information on the other children enrolled in the daycare facility as well. All children enrolled in any daycare facility your child is going to should be immunized.

You should always have a backup plan for days when your child is sick and cannot attend daycare. Even if you suspect your child is catching something, he should be kept at home. The other daycare mothers will appreciate your compliance with this and they should follow suit. But there are times when some parents ignore the customary considerations surrounding children attending public environments and send their children off to daycare sick anyway.

At home, frequent hand washing can greatly reduce the chances of passing the illness on the rest of the family. As a general rule, washing your hands after coming in contact with your child is a good idea. One never knows if they are contagious with something and keeping your hands free of daycare germs, as well as any surfaces that the child may come in contact with, is good prevention. Door handles, eating utensils, toys, and plastic items such as beginner baby books should all be kept sanitized.

Toddlers should be taught right from the start to cover their mouth when they cough and proper toileting and cleanliness is a must. Stepstools in front of bathroom sinks enable children to wash their hands like big kids and colorful child-oriented soap dispensers add to the fun.

Children build immunities by being sick and then getting well. Daycare germs can speed up the process that would otherwise take place in the first years of school, even babies start building immunities by contact with other children. So a child who has never been in daycare and hasn’t been sick very much will be thrown in a preschool that abounds with germs and his immunities begin to build but at the expense of lost school days. So whether parents like it or not, daycare germs do have their place in a growing child’s life.

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Day Care Safety

Accidents happen, it’s a fact of life, but when it happens to your child it can be devastating. That’s why prevention is still the best cure. Being aware of the day care safety precautions at your facility can help set your mind at ease when it comes time to leave your child. Making sure that some of the standards and safety precautions set by the licensing boards are met is basic but there are also additional questions you may want to ask.

Daycare facilities have come under much scrutiny; the McMartin preschool trial in the late 1980’s put all parents on alert. It also brought to light that closer watch need be kept on our children in these environments. Employee background checks, surveillance cameras (hidden and not hidden) and monitoring devices are now the modus operandi of daycare facilities. These precautions help protect the daycare provider as well as the parent. But some basic day care safety items should still be verified by you, the parent, before leaving your child at any facility.

Are all the licenses up to date Have the current employees been checked out with background checks A thorough background check will include any past felony and misdemeanor convictions, including DUI, and also will check the state’s Sex Offender Registry. Make sure this has been done on all employees who come in contact with your child.

Is there a sign in sheet or another form of verification for picking up and dropping off your child Upon registering your child you would have been given a sheet to fill out which included a list of who is permitted to take your child from daycare. As an extra precaution, a special code word, that only you and your child knows, should be put into play. When someone other than yourself or a designated individual comes to pick up your child in the case of an emergency, your child would ask them the code word. This can help put your child at ease if you are unable to speak with him.

On a more physical level, take a look around the facility. You will want to make sure that all stairs and elevated surfaces are guarded, equipment such as jungle gyms has the falling surface area protected, and windows are protected.

Within the main rooms, especially if this is a family in-home provider, check for small spaces where a child can get trapped. Check for tripping hazards, sharp corners on furniture, splinters and sharp or rusty nails, electrical outlets that are not covered. The same safety precautions you take in your own home should be exercised at the facility.

The environment in general should be free of debris, small items that can be choking hazards, worn carpets or surfaces needing repair. Safety gates should be used where needed, window blind cords tied up or nonexistent, lists of recalled toys should be consulted and those toys removed.

The Consumer Products Safety Commission’s national study done in 1998 was conducted statewide in 220 licensed child care facilities. Two thirds of the facilities tested violated at least one safety hazard of the study. In 1997, nearly 31,000 children under the age of four were admitted to U.S.hospital emergency rooms for injuries resulting from accidents at schools and child care environments. By following just a few precautions, every parent can do their part to see that their child never become this type of statistic.

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What Child Care Options are Available in Phoenix?

Phoenix, AZ boasts a large, diverse population, and it strives to meet the needs of that population. A need in any area is care for the children, particularly during working times when both parents are unavailable. Because of this, Phoenix child care options are as diverse as its people.

Child care is available for all ages, from six weeks of age on up. Parents have a variety of choices. One is to place their child in a traditional child care institutional setting. Here qualified teachers will care for their children in an age appropriate setting, with a reasonable staff to child ratio. Such facilities maintain a classroom setting and structured daily schedule very close to what the child will encounter when entering Kindergarten.

An institutional style pre-school is also available, solely for children of preschool age (three and four year olds). There are two types, traditional and Montessori. In a traditional setting, the focus is on preparing the child to enter school, and the situation is very much like Kindergarten will be. The children follow a schedule, and begin basic work on pre-reading and math skills. Much of this is done in a manner similar to that of a classroom, with much of the learning done on paper, and generally one or two adults to fourteen or fifteen children.

Montessori schools are a bit different. Classes are generally smaller in size, and the focus shifts a bit from the norm to a more hands-on approach; children learn school skills in much the same way they learned in their toddler years. Classrooms are divided into activity areas, and the children move in small groups from center to center completing small tasks. For example, children learn to count and add not by looking at numbers on paper, but by being given a bowl of beans and spooning them from one cup to another as they count. Felt boards or letter peg games are used to teach spelling, and generally there are plants and/or animals in the rooms to teach the children how other species live and grow.

For those who don’t choose to place their children in an institutional setting, several in-home daycares are available. These are people who have elected to open their homes to children, making them part of their daily life and placing them in a setting very close to what they would have in their own home. Costs for these daycares are often lower than those of institutions, and there are often a fewer number of children present; however, unless they specify otherwise, one person is usually responsible for a large range in age, from infant on up. These will often offer before and after school care as well.

Should a parent prefer to have their child(ren) cared for in their own home, they are given the option of either hiring a nanny (think Mary Poppins) or an au pair. A nanny may be hired either independently or through an agency, and may live in the home or commute from their own home daily. They are, in essence, a contracted baby-sitter, and costs for these are usually higher than an institution. An au pair is a student, generally from another country, who comes to live with a host family while attending school. They are given room and board and a small allowance in exchange for a set number of hours of childcare a week, as well as assistance with housework and other chores. In home care is more expensive than out of home; however, the benefits to the child are innumerable.

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Reasons To Breast Feed

For many years, scientists have been playing out
the ingredients that make breast milk the perfect
food for babies. They’ve discovered to day over
200 close compounds to fight infection, help the
immune system mature, aid in digestion, and support
brain growth – nature made properties that science
simply cannot copy.

The important long term benefits of breast feeding
include reduced risk of asthma, allergies, obesity,
and some forms of childhood cancer. The more that
scientists continue to learn, the better breast
milk looks.

In addition to making your baby healthier, breast
feeding may also make him smarter. Many studies
have proved that breast fed babies tend to be
more smarter than babies who were fed with formula
or other methods. Breast feeding does help with
nutrients and the support of brain growth, which
is something every mother should think about.

The benefits for the nursing mom are just as
good as they are for the baby. The hormones that
are released during breast feeding will curb
blood loss post delivery and help to shrink the
uterus back to it’s normal size.

Long term, the breast feeding mom will have a
lower risk for premenopausal breast cancer,
which is the kind that strikes before the age
of 50. The benefits will begin to show with
three to six months of breast feeding and increase
the longer that breast feeding continues.

By now, you should realize that breast milk is
one power packed liquid. It offers more for your
baby than formula, or any other scientific
creation for that matter. As you begin to plan
for the future of your baby, make a commitment
to breast feeding him for as long as you possibly
can – as it will do both your bodies good.

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