Observation of Early Childcare Programs - Coursework Example

? A Report on Observation Early childcare programs provide formal teaching and basic care of young children in settings away from their parents and homes. The children in these institutions are mostly between early childhoods to eight years of age. Children here learn and extend their familiarization with a wide variety of materials, ideas, and people around them. The children are helped to develop mentally, physically and socially. These care programs are usually buzzing with activity, as children tend to be very playful, active, and full of life. Introduction I spent about 10 hours observing at the SAY San Diego After School Program at Hearst Elementary in San Diego, CA. The children ranged from Kindergarten to 5th grade, which is approximately three to eleven years of age, and numbered up to 90, depending on the day. The program utilized the auditorium, cafeteria, outside eating area, and the playground of an older school. Snacks were served on each school day, and the children ate lunch together on one day (minimum day for the school). Each day also had between 45 and 90 minutes of play, some guided, some free time. Discussion The day care program highly observed hygiene measures. Teachers and students were expected to wash their hands after playing outdoors, before eating (and serving the food), and after using the restroom (Marotz, Cross, & Rush, 2011). Teachers are not allowed to enter the restrooms, unless there is an emergency, so they could only examine the cleanliness of children’s hands after they exited the restroom, but all children were examined to make sure the hands were clean looking. Any child who did not have clean hands was sent back in to wash with soap and water. It was hard to gauge the number of children who followed the correct procedure as many of the children are out of sight from the staff when washing their hands. Though when they washed their hands in the activity room, the result was about 65% followed the correct procedure. The general faults made were in making sure the backs of the hands got soaped up and in rinsing off the soap completely. This is because most of the children washed their hands in haste. When the children were being observed in this room, they were reminded of the correct way of washing their hands by observing their teachers of who always used the correct procedure (Marotz, Cross, & Rush, 2011). The school does not have access to warm water as all the taps are of cold water. The program cannot fix this fault. There were no children in diapers as most of the young children were old enough to use the restroom under the supervision of their teachers. The program and facility do a fantastic job on attempting to prevent infections. The school has two full-time custodians, who clean the areas inside and around the program. The workers cleaned all the surfaces that the children worked, played, and ate on. This they always did before the program opened. They did the same after they are used by the children. Each teacher also carries a first aid pack with him or her at all times. I only saw one child who needed a Band-Aid. Because of the rules and regulations handed down to the program by its parent non-profit committee and the school district that owns the facility, teachers are only allowed to put a Band-Aid on a child. They cannot help clean any wound, and they cannot put any medication on the area if it is not prescribed by a physician (Marotz, Cross, & Rush, 2011). I believe this could be fixed if the program could afford a nurse on duty at all times, but unless the parents of the children decided to pay for it, that will not happen. The youngest children are kindergarteners, and all students in the program are expected to be potty trained. Teachers are always with children at the bathrooms, but they never go in with the children. I saw no safety issues that were out of the ordinary for the children during school time. They played on an asphalt playground that had dirt and sand that had blown on to it, so there was a slipping hazard. The children would sometimes play with equipment in unsafe ways, but they were quickly stopped by staff. Ventilation in the activity rooms was lacking, but the program is in a 50-year-old public school that will not be updated any time soon. Children were not allowed out of a teacher’s site, except at the restrooms. There were no noticeable safety issues other than one cabinet having “sharp” corners, which were not very sharp. Children attempted to run or play in unsafe places, but, they were again quickly stopped by the staff. The program only provides a snack, every day. Lunches on minimum day had to be brought from home, or purchased in the cafeteria. The program does not monitor lunches except in regards to allergens, and strongly discourages unhealthy parts of a home packed lunch, recommending that the child wait to eat the unhealthy parts at home with the parents. The snacks provided were always healthy. They consisted of two servings and were always two different food groups. The different items I saw were string cheese; apple juice; skim milk; fruit cocktail; a few different crackers; and bagels. Children were permitted to bring in their own snacks as well, but had to be considered a healthy alternative to the provided snack. Conclusion I learned that the key consideration in an early childcare program is child safety as it provides a healthy and conducive environment for learning. Both teachers and parents should consider the safety of children in all activities that they involve themselves (Marotz, Cross, & Rush, 2011). I also found out that no matter how much we want to consider our pupils to be like our own children, laws and regulations could bar and restrict us on what we can do for children (i.e. the inability to use first aid except in extreme emergencies). For all intents and purposes, however, these rules are in effect to protect us and children from malpractice and injuries that can be cause by it. I also saw how much time and effort it takes to make sure that the areas are kept clean and safe for children. It is a nonstop part of childcare and education. Reference Marotz, L. R., Cross, M. Z., & Rush, J. M. (2011). Health, Safety, and Nutrition for the Young Child. Florence: Cengage Learning. Read More