Ontario Childcare Licensing Day Nurseries Manual

Introduction

Children are blessings and they need to be well taken care of especially during their early years of life. Many parents are normally worried about their children once they attain the school going age. Parents normally have so many fears concerning the children’s new environment since they know very well that their children will interact with very new people. These fears are greatly related to the sanitation practices in nursery schools. The other fear is normally in relation to administration of medication to the children. There is also the aspect of behavior management in children.

A look at Ontario childcare licensing day nurseries manual shows that there are various policies and procedures that deal with behavior management, sanitary practices and administration of medication. These policies and also procedures dealing with the children act as guidelines which stipulated how the children should be treated in terms of their sanitation, their administration as well as their medication. This paper is dealing with these policies and procedures. Thus the behavior management in all the nursery schools is very important. (Rudolf, 2000)

Behavior management

Before one starts working with children in nursery schools every member of staff, student and volunteer is required to sign a policy of behavior management. This policy agreement is significantly important since it guides the people interacting with the children in the nurseries handle the children in the acceptable manner.

This normally includes various issues that are of great importance while handling the children. First of all, this policy says that no form of corporal punishment is allowed on the children in any time whatsoever irrespective of the children’s misbehavior. According to the Day Nurseries Act, corporal punishment includes slapping, grabbing, biting, pinching, shaking, pushing and hitting. All these acts or behavior practices are not allowed in schools and there are consequences which would follow any person who cares for the children and applies the corporal punishment on them.

The Day Nurseries Act ensures that the child is actually totally protected from any existing harm in their environment. According to the Act, humiliation of the child is not allowed from the child’s caregivers especially in the school environment. This includes degrading the children and making them feel lesser that their fellows, teasing and also using abusive language on the children, taunting the children and also being sarcastic on the children.

If any of the above listed humiliating actions are done on the children either physically or verbally then they are against the Day Nurseries Act. It is not allowed to confine a child in a room alone as it is not safe. This policy states that a child should not be deprived of the basic needs whatsoever while in school they should be allowed to freely have their needs met such as the provision of food, clothing and also shelter. These basic needs are virtually important for the children and therefore their teachers have to adhere to this.

The Ontario childcare licensing day nurseries manual has the behavior management policy that clearly has guidelines as to the behavior that we should have towards the children. This means that at any instance should never be used as a form of punishment to the child. This includes the threats during lunch time or during snack. This helps to ensure that children always have access to these basic needs because they are very essential for their growth.

The behavior management policy states teachers or volunteers have to ensure that access to liquids has always to be available to the child. Liquids in this case include water and juice among others. This are also very essential as many children always feel thirsty when they are in school whether they are in class or when they are outdoors playing. (Rudolf, 2000). Similarly according to the Act the children should not be put in a position where they are forced to eat excessive excessively. Children should thus be allowed to eat only that which can satisfy them and they should not be threatened and also forcefully told to eat their food.

The behavior management policy also requires that a child should not be reprimanded in any way just because he or she failed to use the toilet. This means that a child should not be punished for this reason. This helps to protect the child and help the child to freely tell their seniors when they have the need of using the toilet. On the other hand if the child is reprimanded for not using the toilet then the child may develop a lot of fear and they will not be free when it comes to the toileting issues.

The behavior management policy also states that a child should never be reprimanded or rather punished just because he or she has failed to fall asleep during the time that he or she should rest. This means that the child should be told on the importance of sleep and why it is very needful for them to sleep. This is a practice that many teachers can easily do so the policy is really against it.
The policy requires that when an adult observes any mistreatment on a child, he or she must report the incident immediately. It is illegal for a child to receive any form of mistreatment from their caregivers as well as their teachers in the school environment. In case this happens it can then be reported to the supervisor of the center. This is actually a legal responsibility. In case any violation occurs then the supervisor in charge of the center has to review the whole contravention with the person who is involved. The supervisor then has to outline the necessary and acceptable methods that are required. In case of intentional harm on a child then the person who is involved has to be dismissed immediately from the centre.

Administration of medication

According to the Day Nurseries Act, medication given to children has to be in its original container. The container has to be labeled with the child’s name. The label also has to include name of the medication, the date that it was purchased and clearly show the instructions concerning the dosage. By properly labeling the children’s medications the teachers in the school environments avoid any form of accidents which would occur when the children are given the wrong prescriptions.

This should also include how the medicine needs to be stored. The Ontario Licensing Day Nurseries manual indicates that any form of medication that has to be given to a child must be prescribed by a doctor. This helps to protect the child from being given wrong prescriptions by the teachers or even volunteers. Medicines should also be kept out of the reach of the children. This would similarly help in reducing the number of accidents which occur in the children that are caused by the wrong storage of any medication.

According to medication procedures, it is a requirement that graduated instruments need to be at hand at all times. These should be at least one dozen and also be the clear type of instruments. It is a requirement that a graduated instrument has to be used at all times when medication is being administered. (Rudolf, 2000)

The Ontario childcare licensing day nurseries manual requires that when medication is being administered, in no instances should household equipment be used. These include household spoons. This is important as it helps to prevent any wrong measurements of the drugs or medicine that is administered to the child.

Just in case any changes are required concerning the medication that is being administered to the child, then both the staff member and the parent have to sign and also indicate the specific changes and the dates that the changes were made. This helps a great deal in avoiding situations where a child is being given to different types of drugs when he or she should just be taking one of them.
Just in case an accidental administration of medication is done then a call has to be placed to the poison control center whereby the necessary remedies will be advised to the teacher and the parent. According to the administration of medication procedures, it is a requirement that all medication has to be stored in a locked medicine cabinet.

This is to help avoid accidents or incidences where children access medicine and take it without the consent of the teacher. This is very dangerous and can lead to serious health problems in the affected children. Children in nursery school going age are very curious and can easily access medicine if stored within their reach. Medication creams on the other hand do not have to be stored in a container that is locked. They still have to be kept out of children’s reach.

In case there is any accidental administration of medication, it has to be reported to the supervisor and recorded too for any further reference. If this happens the Ontario childcare licensing day nurseries manual requires that the child’s parent has to be notified immediately. That is why the staff needs to keep the records of each child well including the parent’s contacts so that they can easily be notified in such incidences. (Rudolf, 2000)

It is a requirement that designated staff members have to administer medication when in the presence of another member of staff. Both of them have to sign the medication form. This helps to easily locate the people who administered the medication in case need arises. The medication form signed has to include the measurement of the medication and the administration.

In the case of medication creams, a designated staff member will administer them to the child and then sign the medication form showing that the medication was administered. It is not a requirement that another staff be present when medication creams are being administered. All these medication procedures have to be adhered to by staff and parents of nursery school going children.

This is according to the policies and procedures found in Ontario childcare licensing day nurseries manual. Similarly proper directions should also be followed when it comes to any administration of medication on the children and this should be done by only these people who have been granted such authority.

Sanitary practices

Sanitary practices are very important especially when taking care of small children. A look at the policies and procedures of Ontario licensing day nurseries manual shows that various sanitary procedures have to be adhered to by nursery schools. One of the requirement is that a school supervisor has to ensure that there are sufficient or enough sanitary facilities. These include ensuring that there is running water and also enough toilets in the schools. This helps to maintain the required standards of cleanliness.

The staff and the children have to wash their hands before taking meals. There has to be a teacher to ensure that the children’s hands are clean before they take their meals.
It is also a requirement that the rooms used for studying by students have to be cleaned on a daily basis. This includes dusting all the surfaces that are in the classroom. Cleanliness is highly emphasized when dealing with children such that the children should not be subjected to any form of unhygienic practices.

The sanitary procedures require that the toilets have to be clean always so that the children do not get diseases like cholera, bilharzias among other diseases. It is a requirement that parents get for their children more than one pair of uniform or clothes that they can change in case the ones that they are wearing are soiled. The utensils that are used by children have to be cleaned regularly and rinsed with clean water. (Rudolf, 2000)Another aspect that is illustrated in the day nurseries act is sanitation in relation to food handling. All the food that is prepared in nursery schools has to be very clean. The staff on duty has to ensure that the food prepared is handled with the required standards of cleanliness. This helps to prevent children from getting diseases like cholera easily.

It is a requirement that the water provided to children has to be well treated so that it is clean enough for consumption. Similarly clean water is a very basic requirement when it comes to dealing with children. This means that the children should not be exposed to unsafe water sources such as the leakages from the water sewers. Such exposure could cause a lot of harm to the child in terms of their health.
Food like meat that is cooked for children has to be examined by a qualified veterinary doctor. This has to be done and the doctor should sign a form showing the date of checking and the results of the tests done. Every nursery school has to ensure that there are enough caretakers of the children while they are in school. All these sanitary procedures have to be adhered to. (Rudolf, 2000)

Conclusion

According to the policies and procedures in Ontario childcare licensing day nurseries manual, nursery schools have to adhere to all the policies related to medication, behavior management and sanitary practices. According to the day nurseries Act, humiliation of the child is not allowed. This includes degradation, teasing, taunting, and sarcasm done either physically or verbally. Thus the children should receive proper treatment from their care givers and they should not be made intimidated in any way by their superiors.

This policy says that no form of corporal punishment is allowed in any time whatsoever. According to the Day Nurseries Act, corporal punishment includes slapping, grabbing, biting, pinching, shaking, pushing and hitting. All these acts or behavior practices are not allowed in schools. Similarly the children should not be exposed to any form of intimidation in the nursery school setting.
The Ontario Licensing Day Nurseries manual indicates that any form of medication that has to be given to a child must be prescribed by a doctor. One of the requirement in relation to sanitary practices is that a school supervisor has to ensure that there are sufficient or enough sanitary facilities. These include ensuring that there is running water and also enough toilets in the schools. All these policies and procedures help to ensure the well being of the child.

Reference:

• Policies and procedures (2007)
• Rudolf, M. (2000): Ontario Childcare Licensing Day Nurseries manual; New York; Macmillan Press