Policies and Procedures Guide Your Day |

Clear policies and procedures are vital for childcare programs of all sizes, from family childcare providers to large multi-site operations. State and regional regulations often mandate these guidelines to ensure the safety and well-being of children but their importance extends beyond just health and safety. Continue reading to discover how to use policies and procedures to guide your daily activities and build your program’s purpose.

Why do we have Policies and Procedures?

Policies and procedures are so important for more child care programs. Regardless if you are a family child care provider, a small center, or a large multi-site program, policies and procedures are required by most states and regions to make sure children are safe and healthy.

Policies and procedures do more than create a healthy and safe environment for children, they prompt fiscal soundness of the program, create a line of effective communication between your program and your families, and help you articulate your program’s goals and expectations. Policies and Procedures also give you and your staff what is acceptable, professional, and allowed.

Health and Safety Policies for Your Early Childhood Education Program

Health and Safety is the number one priority for state regulation overseeing child care programs. Because of this they are typically found in all of our policies. Examples of health and safety policies may be guidelines around communicable diseases, first aid requirements for CPR/First Aid Certifications, and the importance of immunizations. Other examples are the importance of ratios, staff qualifications, playground resilient surfacing and environmental space You can read more about Health and Safety on our Inspired Learning Blog

How to Use Policies and Procedures in Your Daily Practices

We can use our Policies and Procedures to guide our daily practices by using them to guide our interactions with families, staff, and using a checks and balances system to ensure we are making them a reality every day. One of the best ways to ensure we are following our policies and procedures in our daily practices is to use a schedule or checklist in our programs.

This helps us to guide our practices and ensures we are responsible for meeting what we advertise to families. Using our policies as a guideline allows you to ensure you have stocked first aid kits, a handwashing procedure, clean and safe environments, and staff who are meeting the requirements outlined by the state.

Life Happens

We know that life happens. Let’s face it, things happen. People call in sick. Reports are due to the state that we haven’t had time to complete. Parents are late and don’t follow the rules. Staff forget. These things can leave you out of ratio, not able to meet your check-ins, this leaves you FRUSTRATED, IRRITATED, and wondering why you put all the planning and reviewing time when it couldn’t be accomplished.

When things go awray, it is essential that we reflect on our vision and mission for our program. Going back to the why we started in this field allows us to move through those life struggles and move beyond the feelings in the moment and return to our program purpose.

Read more about your Program Mission and Vision

Join us for our Live Training on Thursday July 25, 2024 at 1:00pm EST. Register on Eventbrite

Professional Development for Early Childhood Educators and Directors

✨ Access FREE on demand training!

Join our community of early education teachers and directors.
Learn Together, Find Balance, Grow Stronger with practical content you can use immediately! Includes competency certificates*.

*subject to approval in your region

Kathy Banks, EdD. Early Childhood Education

Kathy Banks, Professional Development Lead for brightwheel, has 36 years of early childhood education experience. She has held various positions, including teacher, director, multi-site director, Head Start director, CCR&R, and QRIS Director. She currently adjuncts at several colleges and universities and continues to support and inspire educators through training and practical strategies. Kathy has her Ed.D. in Early Childhood Education and is a nationally certified Family and Consumer Science Developmental Educator. Her experience and education make her a scholarly expert in child development and the realities and challenges of teaching and directing every day.