Nursery, Children's Ministries
Welcome!
Welcome to the Covenant Nursery! We are blessed to care for your child while you participate in worship or other church related activities. In the nursery, as in all other areas of our church, our goal is ministry. Each child needs to feel safe and secure in order to develop the ability to trust Jesus as Savior. We make a special effort to create a warm, loving environment where your child can have happy early learning experiences at church.
We are pleased to have your child participate in our nursery. We have established some guidelines that will make your child's experience in the nursery as enjoyable as possible. Please read over these guidelines. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact a Nursery Committee member by calling the church office at (314) 432-8700.
Registration
Before arriving at church, please label all your child's belongings, including the diaper bag, toys, pacifiers, cups, bottles, etc. This will help insure that they will not be misplaced or inadvertently given to another child. Please provide at least one disposable diaper for your child.
Please sign the registration pad each time you leave your child in the nursery and leave specific information about where you can be located during church. You may leave special instructions on the registration pad regarding your child, such as when a bottle is needed, potty training instructions, etc.
When dropping off your child, you will receive a claim tag. This must be returned to the nursery worker when you are ready to pick up your child. This policy is for the protection of all children.
Finally, please return promptly to pick up your child from the nursery at the close of service. This is a very concrete way of saying thank you to those caring for your child.
Snacking
Children are routinely given a snack of cookies and juice at a designated time during nursery operation. If a child has any particular food allergy, this should be indicated on the registration form. A verbal reminder to the volunteers is also a good safety precaution, and an extra note can be placed on the child's nametag.
Crying
When a child is having difficulty adjusting to the nursery environment and cries for an extended period of time, the parents may be notified. However, prior to notifying the parents, the volunteers will make every effort to resolve the situation and will use discretion in determining when to take this action. Pagers are available to parents during the church service so that they can be easily and discretely notified if their child needs them.
Discipline
We believe that we are committed before God to be faithful to support parents in their endeavors to raise godly children. It is our goal to positively encourage a child to exhibit proper behavior and redirect that behavior when necessary. If necessary, older children will be placed in a time-out chair for the number of minutes that corresponds to their age. When a child is placed in the time-out chair, they will be told the reason they are being disciplined and the behavior that is expected. If redirection and time-out is ineffective, the parents may be asked to come and administer discipline.
Illness
We strive to make the nursery a healthy environment for all our participants. To achieve this goal we request that you do not leave your child in the nursery if they have exhibited the following symptoms in the last 24 hours:
- Fever
- Vomiting or diarrhea
- Thick runny nose or congestion
- Undiagnosed rash
- Conjunctivitis (pinkeye)
- Respiratory difficulties
- Childhood illnesses such as chicken pox, measles, etc.
If your child suddenly becomes ill or is continually crying beyond normal, we will locate you.
Serving in the Nursery
The nursery is a ministry provided to your family by a team of over 150 volunteers from the church. We provide a child to worker ratio of three to one in the infant nursery and four to one in the toddler and preschool nurseries.
We can always use additional help in the nursery to make this goal a reality. If you decide to get involved in the nursery ministry, you will enjoy the benefits of meeting many people and you will also get a firsthand look at how the nursery serves your child.
If you are interested in being a part of this ministry, please contact a Nursery Committee member through the church office at (314) 432-8700. For the safety of volunteers and our children, we do request that each volunteer fill out a child safety application.
