Abstract:
As more and more parents are working outside the home, there is becoming an increasing need in today's society for quality day care. Centers are appearing everywhere. Companies and large corporations are opening them for their employees. Churches, YMCA’s, colleges, and universities across the nation are opening centers as they recognize the need A day care facility has opened in a large shopping mall in Fort Wayne, IN. The need is being filled, but how well?Some of the centers that are being opened today have excellent programs. They provide loving care, stimulating developmental activities, and follow strict guidelines that have been set forth by the state, as well as applying developmentally appropriate parctices. Other centers that are opening are mediocre at best, and provide little more for the child than shelter for the day.For my thesis /creative project, I have devised a parent handbook for a fictional child development center that is the epitomy of all child care facilities. I have based all of the center's policies and procedures on state guidelines and suggestions made by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. I have included the center's philosophy and goals, information about the center, a listing and explanation of important policies,, health practices, as well as forms that would be filled out by the parent. Everything in this parent handbook exists as it would if Noah's Ark Nursery were an operating child development center.
