Safety Checks for Your Environment: Tips and Tricks

4:01AM Jul 16, 2024

Speakers:

Narrator

Priscilla W.

Brenda Lowe

Brenda Lowe

Keywords:

safety checks

child care

daily routine

hazard prevention

cleanliness

safety plugs

age-appropriate toys

indoor gates

hand washing

field trips

pet safety

outdoor area

emergency supplies

meal preparation

predictable environment

Welcome to Inclusion Matters a podcast about children's development from the Center for Inclusive Child Care.

Welcome to Inclusion Matters a podcast from the Center for Inclusive Child Care. I'm Priscilla Weigel, the executive director, and I'm very excited to be joined with my colleague today, Brenda Lowe, who works as one of our coaching leads, and she is overseeing a lot of the coaching work and most importantly, supporting each coach on her team. And has been with CICC for many years, and just also has some good experience from living the day to day in child care settings for family child care and center based. So Brenda, welcome. I'm excited to have this conversation with you.

Thank you. I'm glad to be here. This is fun.

It will be fun. We'll we'll cover a lot of ground today, I think, and some really useful things we're looking to discuss with our listeners today. Safety checks for your environment before children even arrive. What do you need to do to make sure that you're setting the stage for success, that you're setting the stage for safety, so that you can truly enjoy the children when they are here. So with that, Brenda, let's just jump right in. And can you tell us why this is important? Why is it important to start your day even before kids arrive to do these checks?

For me, it's always that didn't matter whether I was running my family child care or whether I was in my center, you know, as an educator once upon a time, and then as a director, it was all about my systems and making sure that my systems were in place so that it was like it was stuff that I didn't have to think about anymore. My day would then go on autopilot, and I was less likely to forget about something because it was part of the daily routine. And even as a director, then my staff underneath me, when I had my systems in place and it was a regular drumbeat routine, they were less likely to forget anything. It was just a part of who we were, what we did. And then it like raised our standard, if you will, for excellence, which is important.

Very important, because here in our podcast and any of the resources that CICC provides, we really want to support quality care for all children, and so these safety checks are essential. I love that what you were saying about the regular drum beat of the day to day. So when you think about some of these things that you're looking for, what, let's just go through the list and say, you know, some of those that come to mind for you that are really, really critical.

Okay, and then feel free to, like, jump in at any time or so, because I know you've got some fun stuff too. But I, when I think about this topic, I like, almost have to, like, envision myself walking towards my center, or even, like, my, you know, like, uh, out of body experience for my family, childcare, right? So I like, I'm touring my place. So visualize with me, if you would, um so on the outside. So, like, a prior to, actually, is, if you are center based, and I'm going to bounce back and forth between center and family child care, and actually both as well. But you'll you might notice me pointing out some things that might be a little more specific to one versus the other. Um, if it's center based, like, I like to think about who I'm assigning what to. So if I found my childcare, it's just me, right? I'm my own boss. I'm doing my thing. But if it's my center, I have to think about who's going to do what duties, like, it might be varied throughout the different times of the day. So it might be stuff that my opener might do. I might assign someone as a lead that when they get in, they oversee it. It might be classroom duties that are done in the afternoon, or it might be something my closer has to do.

That's a nice way to look at it, because then it's not just heavy on one person's shoulders. You're dispersing and sharing the load of some really important tasks.

Yeah, yeah, because it's a lot, right? It's a lot keeping up and making sure that our environments are ready and prepped. It's a lot of work. What I think about is, and this one is very specific for family child care as well, but center based as well, is the walk up. So as families are entering the facility. It needs to be clear. And it's funny, I'm, you know, we're here in Minnesota, and I'm thinking of the snow, I'm thinking about the icy sidewalks, I'm thinking about even trip hazards. I'm thinking of any of those things. I mean, yeah, the mess. We want that to be nice and tidy, but also we want to make sure there's no hazards in the way, as those families are bringing in there precious loved ones to us, right, right? nd then here's some things to think about as then you you come into your program, and you know, the night before was, did the cleaners come in and move things around. Or if did you have family members that were there and moved around furniture, items that the children are expecting. You know, we want our our areas to be predictable for children, because we know systems and predictability of children are so important. So we want that to be in place like true story, I had an opener one time she walked in, and we had new cleaning system, and they had taken all of the furniture, and made a great big, like, a pile of furniture. Oh my. And so when she came in, they forgot to, like, put it all away.

Oh dear. That adds a few extra minutes in your setting up in the morning that you weren't planning on initially.

Yeah that was a couple extra minutes and a phone call from her.

Definitely.

She did not like that very much. I don't blame her. Um, so then just walk you through some of the first things I think about is the plugs. Do we have safety plugs that are, like, everywhere, like, everywhere you look your eyes just immediately dark to the wall. And I always like to have, like, fill your stash, make sure your make sure your safety plugs are accessible throughout the day when the what is it, the safety plug monster eats them on you, and you're like, where did that go? I swear it was just right here. Have your stash ready so you can quickly just plug in another safety plug. Or, if you're fortunate enough to have one of those, where they're automatic, you don't have to worry about it. But if you're not have those plugs ready, and you're walking through and you're plugging away. Let's see, you know, making sure that your chunkable items are up, your hazards are away, such as hairspray and gel. And we'll talk more about that as we walk through the different sections. But I'm just kind of giving you the visual of what to expect, also putting away things like staplers and scissors. And it's these little things that you don't think about that we use on a daily basis, so often, and then we just put it down and we don't think about it. If you are family child care and you want to make sure that the garage and laundry room area, perhaps you used them the night before the or over the weekend, are locked up, tucked away. Or if you keep it open that you have your hazards, even laundry soap, those pods can be a hazard. So having all of that out of the way. Making sure cords, your cords are tucked away. Broken toys are tucked away, and that you have enough toys out that are age appropriate. I mean, for you know, when those children arrive, they want to be able to have something, and I've seen it, especially during flu season, right where we're cleaning, and we've got it all piled up because it's air drying. That's lovely. That's wonderful. That's perfect. But then, what are we going to do? Right? We don't want to have boredom, right?

You want to have something to replace those things while they're drying. Definitely. Yeah,

Yep. So do a rotation. Be thinking about indoor gates. So make sure your indoor gates are up and ready, and that, you know, a small thing that people don't think about is, you know those finger pincher guards, sometimes they can just fall apart on us or fall down . So making sure those things are in place when you're walking around your classrooms, making sure the sleeping and nap areas are cleared, ready for children, thinking of family child care, like you might have a shared space with your family members, so you want to make sure that that stuff is cleared out of the way, even the small chokeable items, look for those types of things, and that things are cleaned. Yes. So then moving into like cleaning. Floors are clean. I mean, this is just small stuff, but this is so necessary, and it's according to licensing too. They want things clean. They want things ready to go. Floors are swept, the crumbs from the meal before, tables are wiped. I can't tell you how many times I've walked into programs and I've actually seen like, the crumbs and stuff, you know, all over the place and like, that's that's not what we want our children to be walking into,

Right And when you're talking about sweeping the floors too, as well, you know, you think about the flooring that is so often near a sand table or a sensory area, or even on the playground or in the play space in the backyard, the sand or the items that have fallen on the floor can create a big slipping hazard for families as they're coming in and dropping children off, or children as they're running around the room and playing and so really keeping that broom going, and I always love to use, I used to enlist the children in that task. You know, having a lot of those real small brooms. Those easy, handheld ones that were just easy with the matching dust pans, and just say, oh, you know what I need you over there. Let's go get that cleaned up. Because it is so easy to wipe out, right? Just from walking on any of those items on the floor or outside and skin knees with sand and grit are no fun to clean out. It's hard. That's no fun.

No, let's avoid those accident reports and incident reports if we possibly can, is my theory. Let's work. More work upfront and less work on the tail end. You know, are your, are your cribs ready? Are your cribs ready for your infants? Whether that might be making sure that, you know, we want our cribs to be completely clear of everything, anything and everything. And also, you know, thinking about this a family child care, thinking about when I had my infants, I wanted to make sure whether it was a pack and play I used outside, or it was a stroller that I used outside, that I had that stuff ready to go by the door and that it they were in good working conditions so that I can very easily transport children, transition children, whatever I need to do. Some other systems that I think about, and this might be more of the center base, but, you know, making sure your chargers, your iPads, your walkie talkies, whatever you use for your system that it's plugged in, ready to go, charged, and that your system that you have in place for counting children, the opener might have this ready where they they have that it's out, it's ready, it's ready to go, whether that be paper and pen or whether that be in your fancy schmancy app that you're using, whatever it might be, having it ready for that first family to come to the door. And you're like, and Miss Priscilla's here. Here we are. And then you're welcoming her. And so you don't just dig and fuss.

Yes,

I think of the bathrooms, flush the toilets. And I can't say that enough, flush the toilets every time you turn around those toilets, for some reason they don't get flushed. Yes. And we want to make sure that the bathroom is clean and tidy, and you know that things are put away, like, if we've had family members that have been in the bathroom, I think of the bobby pins. I use bobby pins all the time, yeah, putting that stuff up and that your towels, oh my goodness, the towels Priscilla. What's your system like? Do you need paper towels? Do they need to be refilled? Are using the reusable towels? And so then, if that's the case, like I had a family child care, it was just wonderful. Like she had, it was when the kids were playing the day before she had the children help fold the laundry for, like, the next day. I'm like, Oh, what a great idea.

Yeah, enlist the children's help, because it's their space too. It's their space too. Yeah, I think one thing too and you mentioned this, you know, here and there in our conversation already, but when you think about other things that would be involved in the family child care setting. You might have some pets that you really feel are, you know, of course, part of your family, but there are some cautionary things to be aware of when you have a pet, because pets are unpredictable. So what do you say to that Brenda?

That's exactly the word that I was going to use. Is our furry loved ones. I call them our fur babies. They are unpredictable. And so I think about that. What if they're startled? What if they're irritated, like us as adults, sometimes we just don't want to be bothered with something. And that's the same way for our little furry loved ones. And so I like to keep like, yes, it's okay to have your animals if your family child care, but you want to have them tucked away and safe and so that they have, they want their own space, too. And then that way you aren't going to have a situation where something happens, and then it's a problem, right? So whether it's a cat or a dog or a bird or whatever it might be, your hamster, have them have their safe space. So it's away. And then making sure, because of course, they're out and about before the kids arrive, making sure that feces, and whether it's inside or outside, is cleaned up.

Yeah, litter boxes are away from children, all of those things, because I think that that can be something that, especially if some of your children in your care aren't used to having pets, that could be really a situation, kind of a recipe for disaster, in some cases, because they don't know how to act around other around animals, and so that's a teachable moment for the provider to be, you know, helping them understand how to interact with pets and things, but in a rarely in a really directed way, instead of just kind of roaming free. Because I think our priority when we're caring for young children is the young child in our care. And so to add that other animal that's, you know, could provide some challenges related to safety and discomfort, yeah. And as you said, I love the way you put it. They want their own space too. They don't want to be in the midst of all the chaos.

So just this past weekend, my grandson, he is one, so they're just like, learning to he's like a weeble wobble, right? He's just learning to walk around. And he was suddenly interested in my very loving boxer, and he was in, specifically, he was interested in her eyeballs and her tail. And I was like, yep, nope, we're all done.

Yeah, because, really, the eyeballs, especially for a dog, you know, to be bugging them in their face. That's danger.danger. Yeah, yeah. Oh my. Well, so as we're talking about pets and those types of things. And you know that interaction with possible dirt and gross things, let's talk about getting the hand washing area all ready to go. What are some things that you want to do ahead of time to make sure that you're prepared for quality hand washing for everybody?

You know, I think that one goes back to my this, my systems of the paper towel system, and make making sure those toilets are flushed, but make it those, those towels. I cannot tell you how many times we forget about our towels. So making sure that whether its do we need the refill, do we need it? Then we're not quite out of them yet. So should we have a roll up iandand handy and nearby our area? Are the lights on so that when the children come in, they if they have to go, you know, we're ready to go. And just that it's clean and tidy, like nobody wants to have icky bathroom. And sometimes we're so focused on the classroom area that we forget about that part of the classroom too, and it is still an extension of our classroom. So definitely,

And and now there's another facet to especially this time of year, because when we're recording this, we're going, we're, you know, in springtime in Minnesota, going into summer, field trips, walks, going out in the neighborhood. What are the pieces that you have to remember, as far as safety? You mentioned having like, the stroller or the wagon or whatever, near the doorway or easily accessible. But what are the other pieces that are so important related to safety?

Oh, im so glad that you asked that, because I was just thinking about that, is our outside area,. Are those, again, those animals, you know, making sure whether it's our pets or other visitors that may be joining our space, its just making sure that things are ,there's no number one, no feces. I mean, that's a big thing, and I know it's a big thing with the licensing. But also divots in our yard,. So it might be just uneven grass that might have happened from a child digging, or even the sandbox. Or also from a dog digging, or, who knows where the hole came from, but twisted ankles are a thing for the adult and the child, yeah. And so making sure that we, you know, that everything is even and in place. We don't want anything uneven. And also that are like, if we have that, the rubber matted bottom to our playground, that there's no big gash holes in that, because we are going to have to, you know, fix that, get a work order in, you know, making sure we have enough mulch according to the you know, where we brought it from, that the it meets the manufacturers, that recommendation and that your gates are locked Priscilla,.

Yes. Oh, my terrible, to to look up and see an open gate and go, oh my what happened? Who went out? Where are they now? Oh, my goodness.

And it's like, and then you're thinking, who opened the gate, you know, we don't know who opened the gate or why the gate is open, but I can't tell you how many times that all of a sudden, the back gate, the one that's supposed to be closed or locked for whatever reason, is open. So definitely keeping an eye out for that. So I like to actually walk the perimeter. Good plan. And this might be something that your classroom like, if you don't have time in the morning, this might be something when you first go outside, you're doing that quick walk around. Or if you're the first classroom to go outside, you're doing that quick, quick walk around and making sure there's no chokeables. Yeah, that have been even like a bird can drop an acorn, like, just, I'm just making, I don't know what the birds do, or if they touch. Think of your toddler's face. Do you want your toddlers to walk up and find, oh, look at this. And then they find the acorn that, like, oh, this might taste good, you know. And you don't want that,

No, or anything that could have been tossed over the fence or, yeah, and, and I love that you brought up the bird dropping as well. You know, depending on where you're located, if you have birds of prey who are flying over with some of their, you know, treats that they've heard been partaking in, they might drop chunks of dead animals. And so really, there's a lot of things to be thinking about when you think about that. And of course, as you mentioned when we were discussing this topic, or before we were even recording, you know, what's being tossed over your fence by people walking by, whether it's litter, garbage, other things that are not safe for kids.

Yep. And I think the last thing to add on to that would be just double checking your safety bags, making sure you've got the supplies in there. And this would be helpful whether you're going to be going outside, whether you're transitioning to another classroom, or whether you're going on a field trip. You want those things stopped and ready to go. So in the event you do have an emergency or situation, you have what you need at your fingertips. So that is another I can't tell you how many times it's happened, where I've seen it, and then the teacher or the educators like, oh oh yeah, I'm out of band aids or an ice pack.

Or Kleenex when you've got, you know, a huge runny nose, and you think, ah, what are we going to do? And I, as we kind of wrap up the discussion today too, Brenda, thank you for all these tips, because they're so essential, and they're really, really useful to hear them just listed this way. And what we'll try to do, folks, for those of you who are listening, is include in the resources when we post this on our website, you know, a template for a good checklist. And I know that there are good ones out there, but we'll just get you started in that process. So you will have a list to kind of start to plan. But when we were talking and planning for this conversation, Brenda, you mentioned some things too that could be done ahead of time, especially when kids are napping, or you have some downtime when children are playing. And so can you just, you know, quickly run through some of those things that you can do safety wise, ahead of time to ease that morning walk through and that rushed feeling of, oh my goodness, this didn't happen. So that that doesn't happen to you.

Well, with that, I'll be brief, so ok , the first thing that comes to mind is meals. I know that you're like Brenda ,meals? Why we're talking about meals.? But here's the thing, is, when you can prepare as much as you can in advance, then it is less of having to focus on that when the children are there, or whether they're arriving, like, for example, breakfast in the morning. Like having that, or at least before the children come in the door, having it ready, so that when they come, you are ready to go. You can all you have to just pull and move, and you're not even having to think, because everything is ready to go. So that's one of the things. But it depends on your system. It depends on do you have somebody or yourself doing it in the morning? Are you doing it during nap time? You might be folding those towels. If you're using reusable towels, you know, you might have them soaking in the sink so you can wash them later. It just those little things you can do that keeps your system moving throughout the day. So it's less to have to think about when you're trying to actively supervise those children,

Right! Because we know when children are waiting, that's not a good thing for young children. It's very hard for them to wait for that next thing. So transitions are key, and to be planful and to know that you have things ready to roll that's so important. Brenda Lowe, thank you so much for the time today on this conversation about safety, checking the environment before the children arrive, I appreciate your insights and your expertise. If you want more information related to quality care for young children, please go to our website, inclusivechildcare.org. We are always looking for new topic ideas and things that you feel would be useful, so send them our way. And thank you, Brenda for joining me today on Inclusion Matters.

It was my pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Thanks for listening. For more resources viisit us at inclusivechildcare.org.