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When your child takes those first few independent steps to go to a play school, it is literally like watching your heart walking outside of your body. While you sure want to see your little one learn many new things, the one thing that you are worried about is the safety & security of the child. Not when you have chosen the right preschool! What then are some of the safety & security measures that you must look out for in choosing the right preschool? Here is a handy guide.

When we speak of child security, ever so often we mean physical security of the child. The fact, however, remains that child safety needs to be ensured in terms of:

☑️ Physical Safety
☑️ Cognitive Safety
☑️ Emotional safety & well-being

Let us look at each of them in detail

Physical Safety

When it comes to protecting the child physically, you need to make sure that the preschool & daycare is equipped with the following:

CCTV Access- This is a must-have preschool safety measure. The preschool must not only be equipped with CCTV cameras but as parents, you must also have access to live footage. That this can keep any untoward incidents at bay and offer you complete peace of mind while you are at home or work, is a given!

Child-Friendly Infrastructure- It is imperative that the school is equipped with child-friendly infrastructure to ensure that they do not get hurt. Be it the toys, mats, furniture & more, every aspect should be designed keeping child safety and security in mind. Classrooms should also be childproof in terms of keeping all electrical cords & switch points out of reach of children.

Access Mechanisms- A very important safety aspect is to control the entry & access of visitors to the school. You need to also pay attention to the dispersal mechanisms & the fact that only authorized people are allowed to collect the child. Checking to see if the background verification of the staff has been undertaken by the school, is also an important safety measure.

No Junk Food- While we may not think of this as a traditional safety measure, nutrition & hygiene has a strong role to play in the child’s physical well-being. You need to make sure that the school does not offer any junk food on its menu. Checking to see that proper hygiene is maintained in the preparation of meals is also an important prerequisite. Childhood is also the time when the child’s relationship with food develops. It is important therefore that this aspect isn’t overlooked.

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Cognitive Safety

When you send your child to school, not only do you want him to learn different aspects, but importantly you want him to fall in love with the process of learning. It is therefore extremely important that you check the kind of curriculum the play school follows. A scientifically developed curriculum that not only enriches the child academically but also endows him or her with important life skills is necessary to set the child up on the path to success. With the right curriculum, you can ensure that children become independent and are confident problem solvers & decision-makers. Sure enough by ensuring this you are offering them a security net for life, as these skills will last them well into adulthood.

The right teachers also have a strong role to play in the child’s development. You want your child to be mentored by teachers who prepare them for the road & provide the necessary scaffolding as opposed to rushing in & solving issues for them. The right teachers will always encourage the children & challenge them to the next level. It is therefore important to check for the credentials of the management team as well as the teachers. Importantly, you want to make sure that teachers are well-trained to be able to deliver the curriculum effectively.

Emotional Safety & wellbeing

Much as for the child’s physical well-being, it is also important to ensure that the play school is helping in the child’s emotional development. This means checking for aspects such as if the child is getting personalized attention, as healthy attention in the child’s formative years can be a game changer. A healthy teacher: student ratio is therefore an important metric to check for.

Importantly, the atmosphere in the school should be one where they feel empowered to express their emotions. The right preschool will teach the child to identify & be comfortable with different emotions & going forward help them build emotional intelligence skills. The child needs to learn early that emotions aren’t seen as an inconvenience. Children are also taught that while all emotions are acceptable, negative behavior is not. This goes a long way as they transition into adulthood, where they grow up with the belief that emotions aren’t to be suppressed & that every emotion has its place in life.

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To Sum Up

Child safety and security is an all-encompassing term & play schools as well as overall early childhood education needs to be geared to offer not just a physically safe environment, but also one where the personality of the child can be nurtured. A deep dive into the measures taken by the school in terms of ensuring physical security, as well as their overall pedagogy, can go the right way in choosing the right parenting partner.

At Footprints, we are focused on the holistic development of children. To this end not only do we ensure that the child is physically in a safe environment, but we also make sure that with our scientifically developed HighScope Curriculum, the child can also be set on the path to success and that there are improved life outcomes for children.