Expectations for Preschool & Elementary Parents During Sunday School Hours
Please read our Safe Sanctuary Policy for detailed instructions about the safety of your child/youth at Davidson United Methodist Church.
Sunday morning Main Street Kids (Sunday School) is offered at 9:00 a.m. Teachers will be ready to receive children when two unrelated adults are present in the room—no earlier than 8:45 a.m. If only one adult is present, you will be asked to stay until the second teacher arrives or wait in the hallway.
A full lesson will be planned for each hour. Please make the effort to arrive on time. If your children are late, please have them enter the classroom quietly.
Sunday morning classes conclude at 10:00 a.m. Please pick up your child promptly—by 10:10 a.m. at the latest. If you are a teacher who will be waiting on children to leave from your classroom, please alert your children’s teachers or make arrangements for pick-up by an authorized adult.
When worship concludes earlier than Sunday School, parents should wait quietly in the hallway.
Only authorized adults, parents, or grandparents may drop off/pick-up children at the door of the classroom. Older siblings may not pick-up younger children. This applies for every classroom of infants through fifth-graders.
The staff and Children's Education Ministry Team of DUMC have certain expectations for behavior in the classroom. The guidelines for behavior are designed to be age-appropriate. Essentially, the teacher will discuss the action in question with the student inside the classroom. If two episodes of misbehavior occur within the morning, the child will be asked to sit in time-out inside the room. The teacher will alert the Director of Children and Families Ministry, who will talk with the parents. An approach will be negotiated, which may include having the parent stay with the child in the room for one or several weeks.
We need to know if your child has allergies, including foods and the need for an epi-pen or asthma apparatus. Your child’s name badge should display these allergies. If you do not see any allergies on their name tag, please see one of our checkpoint volunteers. They will assist you with this matter. Any snacks served during Sunday morning classes are always peanut-free.
Wellness Policy
When should my child be kept home from the church nursery and/or Sunday School?
Any child with the following should be kept home from church:
A fever of 100° F or higher, or
Nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea, or
Fever accompanied by other indicators, such as:
- Known exposure to communicable diseases (i.e. chicken pox),
- Extreme malaise (tiredness),
- Nausea, vomiting, and/or abdominal pain, or
- Symptoms of upper respiratory infection (i.e., coughing, sneezing, green or thick discharge from nose).
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that a child be without fever and diarrhea for a full 24 hours before returning to normal activities.
What about “pink eye”?
Conjunctivitis is the medical term for pink eye. Children should stay home if:
Eye(s) is/are severely red and somewhat swollen and there is a yellow discharge.
Child excessively rubs the itching eye(s).
Eye(s) is/are watering and sensitive to light.
Children may return to the classroom after 24 hours of treatment.
What if my child is on an antibiotic?
Children may return to the classroom 24-48 hours after beginning an antibiotic. Please check with your physician. We cannot administer any medication at church!
Infant-Toddler II:
Guidelines for Checking Children In and Out of the Nursery
Children move between the Infant/Crawler/Young Walker classrooms during the year based on ability. Please check with your child’s primary child-care attendant before moving your child to another room. When your child reaches the Young Walker Room, he/she remains in that room until our next promotion Sunday in June.
The church will provide a clean, well equipped/age-appropriate room with caring and consistent child-care workers.
PLEASE DO:
Check in at any of the Check-In stations. Enter a cell phone number that you have with you at the time as the pager number. This number will print on the child’s name badge. Print all security badges. Place the child’s name badge on your child. Keep the Parent Security Badge to give to the childcare worker at pick up.
If you are not in the system, please see a check-in volunteer. They will ask you to fill out a “Newcomers” sheet. They will enter your information into the system, print your badges, and show you to your child’s classroom.
Premix bottle if using formula (staff may not mix formula).
Hand child and LABELED belongings (bag, diapers, bottle/cup) to child-care attendant. If you are the parent of two or more nursery age children who are not in the same room, please send a bag per room.
If you want to check on your child, please use our one-way windows. Your child may not see you when you stick your head in the door, but another one may and there is the possibility of a once calmed child becoming upset again.
If your child has trouble settling—let a child-care attendant know how long you wish to wait before being texted. If a child is afraid and cannot seem to settle—child-care staff are to text within 8-10 minutes. If a child is mad—child-care staff waits it out a bit more. If a child is new and has trouble adjusting—we recommend regular attendance and leaving the child a bit longer each week.
Upon returning to the room for pick-up, please hand Parent Security Badge to the child-care attendant.
Wait for attendant to hand child over gate or open gate for child to exit class.
Create a line in the hallway if necessary for pick-up, as families will pick-up one at a time. If your child sees you before it is your turn, he/she may become upset.
MOST IMPORTANTLY:
The caregiver who drops off the child must be the caregiver that picks up the child. No siblings are to drop off or pick-up. It must be an authorized adult. Also, no adults should enter the room unless they are working in the nursery or your child is very upset or new and you first check with the primary child-care attendant for that room. This is for the safety of all children in the nursery. We have had family members without visiting rights come to “visit.” There is also the potential for a little one to “escape” unnoticed anytime that the gate is opened.
PLEASE DON’T:
Please do not enter the classroom—this disturbs other children who may have already settled.
Please do not peek your head in the doorway—use the one-way windows.
Please do not send any medicine—even in bottles or juice—we cannot give medicine to your child (see the last line of our Wellness Policy).
Please do not ask child-care staff to feed your child—if he/she will need to be fed (other than a bottle) during the hour, ask the child-care staff to page you when/if your child needs to be fed.
We cannot give unlabeled bottles or cups to any child. Please initial pacifiers as well!
Preschool Children (Ages 2-4)
Procedures for Dropping Off and Picking Up
When dropping off:
Check in at any of the Check-In stations. Enter a cell phone number that you have with you at the time as the pager number. This number will print on the child’s name badge. Print all security badges. Place the child’s name badge on your child. Keep the Parent Security Badge, as it must be given to the teacher at pick up.
If you are not in the system, please see a check-in volunteer. They will ask you to fill out a “Newcomers” sheet. They will enter your information into the system, print your badges, and show you to your child’s classroom.
When picking up:
Give the Parent Security Badge to the teacher.