How do I know my child is ready for school?
Often, LPW is a child’s first experience away from her parents or in care. Sometimes, a child has been cared for at home, but must adjust to a group situation. Certain skills, such as walking, communicating verbally or non-verbally and self-soothing, are critical to adjusting to LPW. Others are learned at school. Ultimately, only you can decide if the environment is a good fit for your child at this time.
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What is the atmosphere at LPW really like? “Joyful,” “exciting,” “stimulating,” “warm,” “nurturing,” “homey” and “chaotic” have all been used to describe our cooperative. On any given day, the mood of the kids can run the gamut from calm to energized to tearful. The important thing is that we expect constant change and develop techniques for dealing with different situations. As you develop a relationship with the other children, you will begin to view the challenges of cooperative childcare in a new, often anticipatory, light.
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Does my child have to be on a “schedule” to attend LPW? Because they are being cared for and having their needs met together, the kids naturally evolve into a shared schedule. Snack, meal, potty/diapering and nap times are set, so children adapt to them surprisingly quickly. It is helpful if your child has made the transition to one nap prior to attending LPW.
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Does my child have to be toilet trained to attend LPW? No, working parents expect to diaper the younger or non-potty-trained kids. However, one of the benefits of attending LPW is the peer support for potty training, which often results in early development of this skill.
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How do I help my child make the transition to attending LPW? With your inputs, our Activity Coordinator and current members will help you and your child through the adjustment process. Some kids adjust very quickly; others need more time. Some have a hard time at drop-off; others exhibit their dismay in subtler ways, or at home with mom and dad. While parents are expected to do what they must to soothe their child if he displays signs of separation anxiety, experience has proven that prolonged goodbyes, chronically late drop-offs and other potentially disruptive steps do not necessarily aid in the adjustment process. Overall, we approach this transition with compassion and concern for every child.
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How do kids nap together? Surprisingly well. Although there is a learning curve for some children with regard to sleeping communally, many take to it right away, and few experience trouble falling asleep after a few days or weeks watching their peers curl up on their mats with their personal bedding and favorite stuffed animals. Some kids continue to nap well throughout their LPW tenure; others go through troubled stages as they might at home. When this occurs, we work through it, sometimes changing the child’s sleeping ritual or moving fussy kids to a separate nap room.
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What happens if my child turns three in the middle of the school year? From time to time, in accordance with coop bylaws, LPW is able to offer an extension beyond the three-year-old cutoff, so that member families can bridge the gap between LPW and preschool. The issue is left to the current membership to decide at the time the request is made.
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Do I have to work on the same days my child attends? We have designed the program so that you work when your child attends. Occasionally, a parent with alternate childcare may wish to work one or more shifts without their child present. This issue may be discussed with the coop’s current members.
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Can my child attend half-days? LPW is designed as a full-day program for working parents or parents with full-day childcare needs; we do not offer a half-day program. It is not uncommon to pick up your child early from school, but we discourage consistently late drop-offs as a rule because they seem to disrupt the other children (and make it harder for the dropped-off child as well). Keep in mind that daily evening cleanup is conducted by picking-up parents as well as working parents.
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Can other family members, friends or caretakers work shifts? In some cases. On your application, you are asked to provide names of other family members, such as grandparents, who you expect to fill shifts. These family members and friends must fulfill all the standard training working parents receive, including working a “shadow shift” as an extra parent without the child in advance of working a real shift. Generally, as a parent-staffed coop, we discourage the use of paid babysitters and nannies to fill shifts, although we have occasionally made exceptions in emergencies.
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What is your philosophy on discipline? At LPW, we expect all the normal tribulations of toddlerhood to present themselves, including pushing, pulling, hitting, material possessiveness and oppositional behavior. When these behaviors threaten to affect other children or hurt the child displaying them, we try to redirect the offending party away from the situation and turn their attention to another activity or object. When children are mature enough, we use brief time-outs in a safe place as a means of giving an upset child space to calm down.
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Can I bring my baby or other child to my shifts? At this time, our policies do not allow working parents to bring a newborn, baby or other child with them to work shifts. Although this decision was a difficult one, experience has shown that it is in the best interests of the toddlers in our care that they be supervised by people with undivided attention. Occasionally, a parent has attended with a newborn to fill an empty or emergency opening, but we try to avoid this. When a family in our community is expecting a baby, we work as a group to cover or swap shifts, train alternate family members and otherwise support them until they have moved through the challenging newborn period.
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My child has special dietary needs. Can you accommodate her? We do our best to address the special nutritional needs of our kids. Some ways we deal with allergies, for instance, are posting an allergy list, providing parents with a message board for daily instructions and encouraging communication about such matters through a listserv and at meetings. Typically, snacks and lunches include three or four food types, enough to satisfy all palates and supply enough food for kids with restrictions.
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