http://www.fivestarsafety.com/child-safety/preschool-safety.html Preschool safety - the best way to ensure preschool safety for your child is to check out the program you will sending them to in advance. en-us Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:43:06 EST Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:43:06 EST Weblog Editor 2.0 It is often times hard to tell whether the first day in a daycare or pre-school is harder for the child or for the parent! We worry about our little ones all the time and would do just about anything to make sure that they stay as far away from harm as is humanly possible. But, preschool safety starts with you and the choices that you make for your child. As parents and caregivers we have to make sure that the school we will be sending our children to everyday is a good environment and one that takes school safety very seriously. Do your homework Many of us simply place our children in a childcare program that is the most convenient for us, either close to home or work, or the cheapest. But all of the convenience would seem very petty indeed if something happened to our children that could have been avoided. We cannot blindly trust every childcare program as they are businesses and many people start them for the sole purpose of profit and tend to skimp when it comes to preschool safety. It is much better to invest the time (and possibly more money) in finding and placing our children in a reputable place that puts preschool safety on the top of their priority list. Find out if there has ever been any complaints made against the facility as well as the nature of those complaints. If yes, what have they done to rectify those things, but better to move on to the next facility. Find out how they go about hiring new people. Do they check their backgrounds and past work experience? You need to know who will be spending the better part of everyday with your child. While at the facility that you are checking, stop a few other mothers and ask them if they have had any problems and what they think of the overall setup and staff. When you do find one that you like, go there in advance to meet all of the people that will be working there while your child is in attendance. Make it clear, preferably in writing, exactly who is to be picking up your child on a daily basis. If that changes on a particular day, make sure that your child and their teachers are aware of this. Ask what type of security measures they have in place. Our children should only be in facilities that put all preschool safety measures in place and strive to maintain them. Many of the accidents that happen to children each year could have been prevented had preschool safety and child safety in general. cc Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:43:06 EST