What do you do when your child somehow escapes nursery and none of the leaders notice until my husband brings her back after finding her wondering the halls? Well that is what happen today. After Sunday school Jeremy had a feeling to go and check on Courtney in the nursery. When he looked in the window they have there for the parents to spy in he couldn't see Courtney. He at first thought maybe she was too close to the door for him to see, but he could hear her and couldn't figure it out so he started down the hall a little ways and there she was. He expected to see me come around the corner at anytime but I didn't. She was there all alone. He quickly went to the nursery room to ask if they had known what was going on and apparently they hadn't known she was gone and thought maybe she got out when one of the leaders had taken another child to their parent. They asked Jeremy if he wanted them to take her and he said no that he would hang on to her for the rest of the meeting. They got a little huffy and got Courtney's shoes for him.
It is hard to trust other people with your children especially when something like that happens. We are grateful nothing bad happened. I also can understand that having several little children in nursery it can be hard to keep track of them all. She doesn't know how to open the door so it isn't like she could have gotten out all on her own. I know that never sending her back is not necessarily reasonable but what do you do?
5 comments:
When I was a nursery leader, I did not allow parents to open the door to the nursery. We had lots of little ones that I did not want to escape, and when a parent opens the door, that is what can happen without the nursery leader knowing. It was my biggest fear. Instead, I put each child's name on a paper hand, and used the tacky stuff to attach them to the outside of the door. The parent would slide the child's handprint under the door, and we would deliver the child to his/her parents. We did not have any escapees and the door was not opened often because of this procedure. Parents did not just go in and out of the nursery. I think the system worked well. It might be a good suggestion for your nursery. I am so sorry that this happened to Courtney. I am sure that was terrifying! I am grateful she has a father who was inspired to check on her. I also struggle with trusting people to care for my children--they are precious to me. I have a short list of who I trust enough to babysit my kids--it is only family. How to trust again to go back to the nursery? I think the first step is forgiveness and the second step is to help the nursery find solutions to this problem. I hope my suggestion helps. Good luck!
Kim sounds like she knows what's going on. I know our nursery only has people go in and out of one door that is kind of away from where most of the activity is going on so there are usually not any kids there to run off. That is a little scary that she was just wondering the halls but if you want to look on the bright side at least she was wondering the halls of the church and not some grocery store or some other crazy place right? Good for your hubby checking on her!
I think Kim's idea is a great one, if they take it. :/ I would probably talk to the primary presidency about it not directly to the nursery people, they might be defensive, but if the primary leaders tell them to try it, it would probably work. :) I always thought they needed walkie talkies in the primary. Maybe the presidency can just go over with them being really sure who they have and who is there too. That is scary. I remember once we had one get away when we first got married, it was when everybody was coming to get the kids though and it was pandemonium. There has to be a better way.
I worked in nursery for a long time and sometimes it is hard to keep track of all the kids, though that is no excuse. I think the church needs to make sure there are more teachers per kids in my opinion. There were many times we were way shortchanged in the teacher dept and it is not safe so I would look into that. Alora wont go to nursery so she is always with us and I am actually ok with that because I have a hard time trusting people... Randon does not ride the bus, etc. All you can do is check on her often and I know the nursery always appreciates when parents come in to help when they can. A little girl tried to escape our class today though (actually two of them did) so yes, it happens all the time and everyone has to be more aware of it.Help the teachers out more and have the parents be more vigilant on making sure the kids should be where they are supposed to be.
That really would freak me out! I would have a chat with the nursery leader and just let her know your concerns and make sure she knows what happen. The nursery leader would probably be happy if you were to come talk to her about it... communication is the key!
Post a Comment