Appletree Day Care, Inc

Parenting

Keeping Children Safe

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School is back in session. As you stock up on pencils, take first-day pictures, and adjust to new bus schedules, take a few, quick steps that can keep your child safer during an emergency.

From tornadoes to water main breaks, emergencies can occur with little or no warning—even during the school day. As children head back to school, take a few steps to help protect your child from an emergency and to reunite with your child quickly and safely.

Protecting Your Child Is as Easy as A-B-C

Ask how you would be reunited with your child in an emergency or evacuation

  • If students had to evacuate, where should you go to pick them up?
  • How would the school notify you in the event of emergency?

Bring extra medication, special foods, or supplies your child would need if you were separated overnight

  • What essential supplies would your child need if separated from you overnight? (Medications? Inhaler? Milk? Diapers? Battery pack for special equipment?)
  • Does the school have an emergency stockpile of these items or could you bring extras to be kept at school?
  • What is the school policy for how and when medicine can be administered to your child?

Complete a backpack contact information card and tuck one in your child’s backpack and your wallet

  • Emergencies are chaotic! Make sure your child or their school knows how to reach you, and who should be called if your phone isn’t working.
  • Download and complete your own backpack card.

Follow these A-B-C’s so that emergencies are less chaotic, children can be kept safe, and families can be reunited safely as soon as possible.

Click to Download

Safer Ways to Celebrate Holidays

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Attending gatherings to celebrate events and holidays increases your risk of getting and spreading COVID-19. The safest way to celebrate is virtually, with people who live with you, or outside and at least 6 feet apart from others. For information on what fully vaccinated people can do, see the When You’ve Been Fully Vaccinated page.

  • Decorate your home with holiday themed items and banners.
  • Host a video chat party with family and friends to share in the celebration.
  • Plan a special meal with people who live with you inspired by the holiday or event.
  • Have an outdoor celebration with everyone at least 6 feet apart and wearing masks.
  • Watch virtual events and celebrations.
 
Holiday travel tips

Holiday Travel

CDC recommends delaying travel until you are fully vaccinated. If you are not fully vaccinated and must travel, follow CDC’s Domestic Travel or International Travel recommendations for unvaccinated people. If you will be traveling with unvaccinated people, such as children younger than 12 who are not eligible for vaccines, follow recommendations for unvaccinated people and choose the safer travel options. Everyone, even people who are fully vaccinated, will still be required to wear a mask on public transportation. If you are considering traveling for a holiday or event, visit CDC’s Travel page to help you decide what is best for you and your family.

Everyone Can Make Holiday Celebrations Safer

If you are attending a holiday celebration, you may want to think about what steps you need to take to protect yourself and your loved ones from COVID-19.

  • If you are not fully vaccinated and aged 2 or older, you should wear a mask in indoor public places.
  • In general, you do not need to wear a mask in outdoor settings.
    • In areas with high numbers of COVID-19 cases, consider wearing a mask in crowded outdoor settings and for activities with close contact with others who are not fully vaccinated.

Safer Celebrations

Outdoor-activities

Celebrating virtually or with the people you live with is the safest choice. If you do gather with people who don’t live with you, gatherings and activities held outdoors are safer than indoor gatherings.

  • Host a virtual gathering with friends and family.
  • Drive or walk around your community to wave to neighbors from a safe distance.
  • Take a food or gift to family, friends, and neighbors in a way that does not involve contact with others, such as leaving them at the door.
  • Throw a virtual dance party and collaborate with friends and family on a playlist.
  • Celebrate outside with neighbors and friends.
  • Volunteer to help others in need.
  • Attend a virtual ceremony or celebration.

In addition to following the steps that everyone can take to make the holidays safer, take these additional steps if attending a gathering to make your celebration safer:

  • Have conversations ahead of time to understand expectations for celebrating together.
  • Know when to wear a mask.
  • Do not attend or host a gathering if you are sick or have symptoms of COVID-19.
  • If celebrating indoors, bring in fresh air by opening windows and doors, if possible. You can use a window fan in one of the open windows to blow air out of the window. This will pull fresh air in through the other open windows.

Safer Travel Tips for Families with Unvaccinated Children

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CDC recommends delaying travel until you are able to get fully vaccinated. If you are traveling with children who cannot get vaccinated at this time, follow recommendations for people who are not fully vaccinated and choose the safer travel options described below. 

Check CDC’s Domestic Travel or International Travel pages for the latest recommendations for vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers.

  • Wear a mask over your nose and mouth in public. Wearing a mask over your nose and mouth is required on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States and while indoors at U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations. Travelers are not required to wear a mask in outdoor areas of a conveyance (like on open deck areas of a ferry or the uncovered top deck of a bus).
  • Avoid crowds and stay at least 6 feet/2 meters (about 2 arm lengths) from anyone who is not traveling with you.
  • Wash hands often or use hand sanitizer (with at least 60%) alcohol.

People You Come into Contact with During Travel

Safer

Less Safe

  • Close contact with people who are not fully vaccinated who are not from your household

Avoid

  • Crowds

Transportation

During car travel, making stops along the way for gas, food, or bathroom breaks can put you and your traveling companions in close contact with other people and frequently touched surfaces. If traveling in a RV, you may have to stop less often for food or bathroom breaks, but you could still be in close contact with others while staying at RV parks overnight and while getting gas and supplies.

Traveling on buses and trains for any length of time can involve sitting or standing within 6 feet/2 meters of others, which may increase your risk of getting COVID-19. If you choose to travel by bus or train, learn what you can do to protect yourself on public transportation.

Air travel requires spending time in security lines and airport terminals, which can bring you in close contact with other people and frequently touched surfaces. Most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on flights because of how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes. However, keeping your distance is difficult on crowded flights, and sitting within 6 feet/2 meters of others, sometimes for hours, may make you more likely to get COVID-19.

Safer

  • Short road trips with members of your household or fully vaccinated people with few stops along the way
  • If you must fly, try to take flights with the fewest stops or layovers

Less Safe

  • Longer trips by car or RV with many stops along the way
  • Trips by car or RV with people who are not vaccinated or not from your household
  • Flights with layovers

Avoid

  • Long-distance train or bus trips
  • Traveling on a cruise ship or river boat

Accommodations

Check your accommodations’ COVID-19 prevention practices before you go.

Safer

  • Staying in a house or cabin (for example, a vacation rental) with people from your household or fully vaccinated people
  • Visiting a fully vaccinated family member’s or friend’s home

Less Safe

  • Hotels or multi-unit guest lodgings with common areas (e.g., bed and breakfasts)
  • Visiting an unvaccinated family member’s or friend’s home
  • Renting or staying in a house or cabin (for example, a vacation rental) with people that are not vaccinated or not in your household

Avoid

  • Sharing spaces with many people or sharing bathroom facilities (for example, a dormitory-style hostel)

Food

Before dining at a restaurant, check the restaurant’s COVID-19 prevention practices.

Safer

  • Bringing your own food and drinks.
  • Getting takeout.
  • Using drive-thru, delivery, and curbside pick-up options and wearing a mask when interacting with restaurant employees.

Less Safe

  • Eating outside at a restaurant where social distancing is possible and servers and other staff wear masks.
  • Eating inside at a restaurant that is well ventilated, where social distancing is possible, servers and other restaurant staff wear masks, and diners wear masks when not actively eating or drinking.

Avoid

  • Eating inside restaurants that are poorly ventilated, where social distancing is not possible, servers and staff do not wear masks, and diners do not wear masks when not actively eating or drinking.
  • Self-service options that require extensive touching of surfaces, such as buffets.

 

Camping

Safer

  • Camping with people who are fully vaccinated or from your household only and not sharing facilities with persons outside of your household.

Less Safe

  • Camping with people who are fully vaccinated or people from your household only, but sharing facilities with people outside of your household, where distancing at least 6 feet/2 meters is not possible.
  • Sharing tents or cabins with friends or family who are not vaccinated or in your household.
  • Interacting outside with people who are not wearing masks but are keeping at least 6 feet/2 meters apart.

Avoid

  • Camping in large dormitory-style settings with many people and shared facilities.
  • Interacting outside or indoors with people who are not wearing masks and are not keeping at least 6 feet/2 meters apart.

Are You Present with Your Children?

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How often are you fully and completely present when you are with your children? One of the greatest gifts we can give to our children is to be fully present with them. Being fully present can often be a big challenge.

When my children were growing up, I worked full time as a counselor, wrote books, traveled on book tours, and pursued my passion as an artist – in addition to spending time with my husband. The only way I could be fully present when I was with my children was to set aside “time alone” with them. “Time alone” was the daily quality time I spent with each of my children, doing whatever they wanted to do. During this time, I did not answer the phone or deal with the many running issues. It was time set aside to be fully present with them, not even thinking about other things.

When you don’t spend quality time being fully present, the message you give to your children is that they are not important. When answering the phone, or getting things done, or thinking about what you have to do tomorrow is more important than being present with your children, they get the message that being with them and knowing them is not very important to you.

When I was growing up, my mother was always busy. She never had the time to be with me. She never wanted to know about my thoughts and feelings or how things were going at school. She never had the time to play with me or hang out with me. While she said that she loved me and that I was important to her, I never felt it. Words don’t cut it when the actions don’t follow.

If it is not important to you to be with your children – talking with them, playing with them, taking a walk, holding them, listening to them, sharing love with them – then they will likely not feel loved by you. No matter how many things you buy them or how often you tell them you love them, if they are not important enough to you to be with them, they will likely not feel loved and cherished by you.

Your children need your focused attention, and when they don’t get it, they may pull for it in various ways. They may chatter on and on, trying to keep your attention. They may act out by fighting with each other, or by not listening to you, or going into resistance regarding chores, homework, hygiene, bedtime, and so on. For many children, even negative attention feels better than no attention. This may create a very negative vicious circle, in that the more they act out, the less you feeling like being with them, but the less you are with them lovingly and attentively, the more they may act out.

Think about how you feel when someone gives you his or her full attention. Doesn’t it feel wonderful? How often does someone look you in the eyes and give you his or her full attention? How often do you feel listened to and heard by someone? Unfortunately, many people are so intent on being listened to and heard that they don’t listen and hear.

The simple act of being fully present with your children will do more for them than you can imagine. You have an opportunity to give your children a great gift – being fully present with them with your love, compassion, empathy, interest, sense of humor, playfulness, and affection. Each day, you have the opportunity, even if it is just for half an hour, to fully cherish them.

They grow up so fast. Don’t miss this opportunity each day.