Journal 10

Health Alert:

It has been reported that your child may have been exposed to whopping cough (Pertussis) at the center.

What it is:
Whooping cough is a contageous disease spread by bacteria. It is most common in children under 5 years of age. It causes severe coughing spells. Whopping cough can also lead to pnemonia, convultions, bleeding of the brain and sometimes death.

How is it spread:

Whooping cough is spread through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. It is contageous from the beginning of the cold until 5 to 7 days after treatment with antibiotics starts.

What to look for:

It begins with an irritating cough, cold and a runny nose, the cough becomes more servere and ends with a high pitch whoop. Thick, clear, sticky mucous may be coughed up.

What you can do:

Medical supervision is recommended.

If you suspect your child has been infected:

Seek medical attention. This is a very contageous disease.

What we are doing to prevent the spread:

Proper hand washing, not allowing children to share food or drinks, advising children to cover thier mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing. There is also a vaccine to prevent Whooping Cough.

Journal 9

Drop off and Pick up Times:

Our center is open from 6:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M Monday through Friday. We ask that children be dropped off before 10:00 A.M. daily in order to maintain the routine and structure of the classroom. If your child has an appointment or special curcumstance and may need to arrive late,  please speak with the office to make arrangements.   If your child will not be attending the center on a particular day please notify the center Director for attendance purposes.

We have an open door policy so children may be picked up at your convenience but we do ask if you wish you pick them up during resting time please notify the office so we can make arrangements not to disturb the other children in the classroom.

Our center closes at 6:00 daily. There is a late pick up fee of $1.00 per minute per child. Please notify the office if you are running late.  We will notify the Police Department if you are more than 30 minutes late to pick up your child.

Journal 7

After watching the What Not to Wear Video I got some tips on how to dress for success. It is very important to dress appropriate at work. First impressions are important, and if you are a director at a childcare center, you meet new people daily. Often times, you may be the first thing a potential client sees after entering the facility. Your appearance can make a huge impression on new families. Dressing professional is as important as acting professional. If you dress  too casual you can be perceived as unprofessional. When working in this field, you should definitely not show much skin. We work with children and therefore childcare workers should be appropriately dressed. Also, it is important to look clean and energized when arriving to work. When childcare employees come to work with there hair not brushed and thrown up, it gives the impression that you are not well rested, you were in a rush to get out the door, and perhaps you are not "put together." Unfortunately in this field, we are often not respected or appreciated for the work that we do. We want families to see us as professional early care providers, not babysitters. After watching the episode I noticed how a persons confidence can be boosted when they dress nice. They feel happier with themselves which is very important in this profession. Also, wearing clothing that is torn, stained, wrinkled and extremely old is unprofessional. We want to feel good about ourselves so others feel good about us also!