Guidelines

• Arrive 15-20 minutes prior to your scheduled time, please.  This way you’ll be in the nursery and setting up as people arrive.

• Put on a name tag and remember to be extremely friendly and to introduce yourself when parents arrive with their child(ren). The Nursery Room is the first Infant room on the left down the Child Development Center hallway (Room A).   

• The room should be set-up and clean, offering a variety of items to engage children.  You may have to tidy a bit if the previous time the nursery was used items were not put away properly.  All items have a place and children can help with putting things back where they belong.  

• Write the Date on the Sign-In Sheet, along with your Name(s) on the top as nursery attendant(s).  There are two columns; one for Child(ren)’s Name and the other with Parents’/Grandparents’ Name.

• Ask all parents/grandparents to fill out a name tag for the child and make sure the child’s name and the parents’/grandparents’ name are recorded in the notebook.  This will help us to speak personally, by name, to the child and if needed, we can easily locate the parents/grandparents.

• Encourage parents to sign their name on the Volunteer Sheet if they desire or are willing to serve in this important ministry area.

• Make an effort to interact with the children - read a story, play a game, etc.  The hour goes by slowly for children and will for you too, if you do not interact with the children.  Note:  If/When a child becomes unruly and out of control, quickly locate the parent(s) or care giver(s) and insist on their help in this matter by relaying this message to them: “We need your help right now with your child(ren).”

• Start to straighten the nursery after you have come back from the Lord’s Supper if you chose to attend.  All items have a place and children can help with putting things back where they belong.  Use this opportunity to help the children learn that they too should pitch in and pick up the toys and straighten up the Nursery before leaving.  The room should be left in the condition it was when you entered it.  We want our Nursery to be clean and inviting, a place parent’s will feel comfortable leaving their child(ren).

• Remain until all children have been picked up, verifying they are leaving with the same parents/grandparents that originally signed them in.  Some families may send a sibling to pick-up a child, you will get to know families as you serve in this area.  Straighten anything that hasn’t been cleaned up already.    

Some Additional Thoughts about Our Childcare-Nursery Ministry:

• We have three hours which nursery attendants are needed: Wednesday 

• The nursery is for children under 5.  There should not be a reason for older children to “hang out” in the nursery and may be told to return to worship if they are not scheduled to be there unless this has been discussed with the parent in advance.

• There are at least two nursery attendants during the worship times.  Should a child start crying or need to use the bathroom, one attendant will accompany the child while the other attendant remains in the nursery.

• Christian Growth on Sunday mornings at 9:15 am is designed for three and older.  However, we understand that there may be occasions a three or four year old may need to use the nursery during that time instead of disrupting the classroom.

• If no one is making use of the nursery, feel free to join in on the worship.  Please remain near the back and watch, as sometimes, parents wait until the middle of the service or sermon time to check in their children.  Please notify an usher what you are doing so as they may see a parent take a child to the nursery and can indicate that to you.

• If the hour ends and no children stayed in the nursery, please don’t walk away feeling your time has been wasted.  We advertise that childcare is available and we must fulfill that promise.  Some parents might not use the nursery yet, but are preparing to do so in the near future. (We have a lot of young babies!)  Please don’t think it goes unnoticed that we are there ready and willing to serve in this area, if and when our parents need us.  This may be an invitation to worship at Heart of the Shepherd, all in itself.