Give Them Room To Grow
Providing child care services important for ministry

By Scott Hoover

Nothing can be more distracting during a church service, Bible class or small-group meeting than a crying child. However, for many church administrators and pastors, the sign of a healthy, growing church congregation is young families that most often include young children. In addition, nothing will turn a parent off faster on a church body than if it doesn't provide some type of child care or nursery. That is the reason why in many of today's most successful churches, pastors and administrators have turned to establishing and offering nurseries and child care facilities.f your church is interested in adding a nursery facility or is in the process of constructing a new sanctuary that will include a nursery, there are a number of aspects to consider.

According to Wayne Myrick, CEO of Birmingham, AL-based Myrick, Batson and Gurosky (MBG) Design/ Development Construction, a company specializing in designing and building church facilities, there are certain recommendations that need to be considered when planning a nursery or daycare facility.

Recommendations include

• having the facility located on the first floor
• 35 square feet of floor space for each child
• cabinets, shelves and coat storage within each room
• windows low enough that children can see outside
• an outside entrance opening to a playground or play yard
• toilet facilities to serve the nursery
• bottle-warming facilities in the crib section
• glass partitions between crib babies, crawlers and toddlers so that one attendant can see in all directions.

In addition, according to Leo Shira, research and project development manager of Mazomanie, WI-based Wick Building Systems, each nursery should have storage space for playpens and large toys, adequate tack-board and picture rail to post artwork, indirect lighting for crib babies, low mirrors so toddlers and crawlers can see themselves, rocking chairs and a separate feeding area if applicable. Nurseries also should be wired to receive audio from the church sanctuary, have adequate water fountains for adults and children, acoustical ceilings and additional seasonal and general storage areas.

"Planning a nursery addition is not that different than planning an entire construction project," Shira says. "The situation is going to be different for each nursery depending on the criteria they want to include. Many times we will sit down church leaders and go over preliminary plans that we have drawn up to get an idea just what type of project they are looking to build and where they want to start."

Playing It Safe

The risk of an injury occurring in a child care facility is directly related to the physical environment, children's behaviors and how the two are managed. All injuries can be divided into two categories--unintentional and intentional. Unintentional injuries can result from a child falling, choking or swallowing toxic or other types of materials. Intentional injuries usually occur when children are interacting with each other and can be caused by fighting or abuse.

In order to prevent most injuries in a nursery setting, it is necessary to supervise children carefully and make sure to check child care and play areas for hazards, utilizing safety equipment and teaching children how to play with toys and equipment safely.

In addition, it is important to understand what children can do at different stages of development. For example, children learn by testing their abilities. They should be allowed to participate in activities appropriate for their development even though these activities may lead to minor scrapes and bruises. However, children should be prevented from taking part in activities or using equipment that is beyond their abilities.

"Separate play areas are important because different age groups have a vastly different pattern of play," says Barbara Carlson, president of Houston-based Safe Space Concepts. "Younger children are less aware of their surroundings than older children. For example, older children are more into interactive games with other children while younger children are still mostly off doing their own thing."

Katrin Naess, vice president of Safe Space Concepts, says the idea of constructing indoor play structures was designed by the company as an avenue of play for infants and toddlers that was developmentally appropriate.

"The company's structures primarily are made of a soft foam-like material that not only will protect children, but provide them with developmentally appropriate play structures," she says. In addition, according to Carlson, it is critical for toddlers and infants to be in the right environment in which they can explore and develop muscles.

"When toddlers are playing, they also are learning," she notes. "Safe Space Concepts tries to give children play structures that are height-appropriate and contain different and unusual spaces and textures that allow them to always be learning."

Laurie Gannon is the director of children's ministries at the more than 10,000-member Glendale, AZ-based Community of Joy. The church currently holds four services including one on Saturday night and three on Sunday morning. Each of these services also is blessed with nursery service divided up into age-appropriate classes, each with separate rooms.

Gannon agrees that it is important to keep different ages and levels of learning separated if for no other reason than their own well-being. "For example, we have a lot of children that are crawling or just starting to walk and are very unsteady on their feet," she says. "It would be very unhealthy for these children to be in the same room or area with children that already are running around. In addition, I also think that children are more social with children their own age. And, it also makes it easier on the supervisor or volunteer to do a small activity when children are all at the same learning stage."

Another reason to keep different- age children in separate areas is the amount of supervision needed. At Community of Joy, each age-specific room is set up differently. For example, the infant room includes swings, cribs and floor blankets for children to lie on. In addition, in the middle of the room is an up-to-code infant changing station with a sink on either side. Included next to the changing station are surgical gloves, different types of diapers, baby wipes and powder as well as diaper pails on either side of the changing station.

"We also keep extra clothing that was donated to the church in case of an emergency," says Gannon. "And, we have access to a washer and dryer so that we continually can keep extra blankets, bibs and towels clean."

Gannon says the difference between the infant room and the crawler room is like day and night. "Usually, the atmosphere in the infant room is calm and quiet," she says. "However, in the crawler room, there is a television mounted from the ceiling showing age-specific programming as well as a number of different types of toys available to help develop motor and other manipulative skills."

Community of Joy also offers two two-year-old rooms. One of the rooms offers a more structured classroom-type atmosphere where a teacher does a short lesson out of a workbook that includes punch-out art and projects. The other two-year-old room is for younger children and is more of a play group than a structured class. Here teachers read Bible stories to the children; however, it is not a structured lesson.

Becky Alexander is a children's ministry administrator at Cherry Hills Community Church just outside Denver. She says the church divides up infants, creepers, crawlers, toddlers and walkers for the safety of the children.

"Each one of these groups is in a different stage of development," she notes. "That is why it is vital to keep them separate and with children their own age. If at all possible, church administrators should make sure a facility has enough room to accommodate the different developmental levels they will see in a growing church nursery."

When beginning to furnish a church nursery, all furnishings, equipment and materials used in a nursery need to be child-sized and adapted for children's use. This will help to prevent falls and other injuries from occurring. Floors, walls and ceilings should be smooth, in good repair and easy to clean. Floors also should be free from bare concrete, cracks, dampness, splinters, sliding carpets, telephone jacks and electrical outlets. Make sure carpets are clean and in good repair and that cords from window coverings are not within reach of curious toddlers.

When deciding what types of products need to be included in a facility, one of the most important aspects of any nursery is the crib. According to Cliff Theisen, owner and president of Dinuba, CA-based Nursery Maid, when young couples are looking for a church home, one of the most important aspects they consider is the nursery.

"I am convinced after talking to a lot of different pastors that when a young family is looking at a church, the nursery is what they see and impresses them," he says. "If they are not comfortable where they are leaving their child, then they are not going to choose that church. That is why our cribs have a more homey feel to them and aren't so institutional-looking."

Theisen adds that due to the company selling directly to church administrators and the high quality of its cribs, the church market has readily embraced the company.

"Our products are made of hardwood," he notes. "In addition, one of the main problems that many churches have is space allocation for a nursery. Our cribs are smaller; however, they still maintain the quality of a larger crib. We try to make our cribs look like they belong in a home nursery, because when a mother walks in with a newborn child, it is a very emotional time. The more a nursery can feel like a home environment, the more comfortable the mother will be leaving her child in the nursery."

Staffing and Security Concerns

One of the greatest concerns when instituting a nursery facility must include finding the right professionals to run the program as well as finding staff and volunteers to help run the weekly operations.

"The one aspect that I would encourage all church administrators to look at if they are considering initiating a nursery facility is the area of staffing," says Gannon. "You need to have a very generous pool of volunteers when running any type of nursery. It is very difficult, especially with small children. To be shorthanded can result in a crisis-type situation. We have a congregation of more than 10,000 people and we still have a hard time finding enough volunteers to staff our nursery."

Gannon says the church has a traditional application that anyone who is interested must fill out before being hired. The application asks if they are trained in cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or possess any other type of medical training or background. The application also asks what type of leadership or volunteer experience the individual may have as well as what type of experience they have had with children including any special education or training.

"We also ask for three references that are not family members," she says. "In addition, the church provides a set of guidelines that go over certain policies when interacting with children such as never being alone with a child and what types of actions are appropriate as far as touching and hugging the children. We understand that every child needs and expects a different amount of interaction. Our policy says to keep physical touch brief and appropriate. Additionally, it says that hugging from the side, handshakes and pats on the back are always good to affirm."

Cherry Hills finds volunteers in much the same manner as Community of Joy. Alexander says each volunteer must fill out an application and list at least three references for church employees to check. In addition, the nursery does not allow men to change diapers, has an open-door bathroom policy for any child in the midst of bathroom training and encourages its volunteers never to be alone with a child.

"We also have a teacher training program that all volunteers have to go through," she notes. "This just allows our volunteers to get an idea of our teaching process and lets them know why the rules and regulations are in place."

In order to ensure safety and security of the children in a church's care, administrators also need to look at many of the same security systems that daycare and other child care facilities implement. At the bare minimum, church nurseries should maintain a log for signing children in and out of the facility. Make sure to note the date, time, child's name and the name of the person dropping off or picking up the child. Church nursery professionals also should maintain a file of the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the people authorized to pick up each child.

Debbie Hambleton is the business development manager for JTECH Communications Inc. located in Boca Raton, FL. The 11-year-old company offers a number of different nursery pagers and monitors currently in use in more than 2,000 churches nationwide.

"With our nursery paging system, the parent drops off their child and receives a pager that corresponds to the number assigned to the child by the nursery caregiver," she says. "This allows the parent to go anywhere on the church campus and know that they will be notified discreetly if they are needed back in the nursery. In addition, because only the parent who has the pager can pick the child up, it makes the system very secure. A church in North Carolina had an incident in which the parents were in the middle of a custody battle and the father did not have visitation rights. One Sunday, the father sent his mother into the nursery to get the child, who ended up in Texas. The key element is that only the parent or guardian with the pager may pick up the child. Some insurance companies have recognized this added security and have offered our churches discounts on insurance for the nursery."

Another feature that the company offers with its pagers is an all-call. This allows the nursery to call every parent at one time to come and pick up their child in the case of an emergency such as a fire, gas leak or other event.

"One of the most important aspects to many pastors and administrators is that the pagers are silent and vibrate to let the parent know they need to come back to the nursery," says Hambleton. "We offer a variety of paging systems with varying amounts of range, depending on the size of the church facility. In addition, each pager system has its own frequency that will not interfere with wireless microphones or assistive listening devices, and we also run a zip code check to make sure the system will not interfere with any other churches in the area. Churches purchase anywhere from three to 350 pagers depending on their nursery size, and often add on as they grow."

Gannon says security has been one of the largest concerns the church has had with its nursery. "The way our nursery is designed, parents can pick up their child without ever having to come into the nursery," she says. "They can just reach over the baby gates and pick their child up after the service is over. Right now we are investigating two types of security systems. The first is a key and number tag system where the parent gets a key with a number on it and that same number is clipped on the back of their child. The parent then has to turn in the key before they can claim their child. In addition, another system that currently is being investigated is an identification system where the parent has to sign on a card when bringing the child to the nursery and also when picking them up."

Gannon adds that churches need to make sure nursery professionals only release children to people for whom they have written consent by the custodial parent. In addition, many local police departments will be more than happy to give advice on how to avoid releasing a child into an unsafe situation or to a stranger with no prior written consent.