Small Treasures Philosophy
The program focus is to provide a warm, nurturing and stimulating home environment for children to grow and develop socially, emotionally, physically and cognitively. Small Treasures strives to form relationships between parents, children and educator that are built around a core of cooperation, understanding, and open communication.
It is my belief that children learn through play. Each child will develop and blossom at his/her own pace, given the right environment. In keeping with this philosophy, most of the artwork your child does will be open ended. We do have craft projects, but the children are encouraged to do as much of the work as they can by themselves so that the end product is truly their own creation.
About Small Treasures
Small Treasures is a state licensed and nationally accredited family child care home.
Small Treasures provides the unique opportunity for children to learn and grow in a home environment, which exposes the children to a variety of experiences that help them with important skills such as cooperation, problem solving, and negotiation. These are lessons that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.
Small Treasures is child-directed and provider-supported in its planning of activities. Through meaningful one-on-one conversations, children learn that their thoughts, feelings and opinions are valued and respected. This program is designed for attendance from infancy through school age, Small Treasures is licensed {#9029159), through the Department of Early Education and Care, located at 1250 Hancock Street, Quincy, MA 02169 phone 617.472.2881. Parents are welcome to contact this office for information regarding the program’s regulatory compliance history.
Small Treasures Director: Ruth Baltopoulos
Ruth is the mother of 2 daughters — Zina, age 38 and Sofia, age 37. Ruth has been involved in early childcare and education since 1987. An active member of her community and local public school system, she is a current Town Meeting Member and past Warrant Committee Member, and served as PTO president at Cunningham Elementary School, Pierce Middle School and Milton High School. In addition, she has chaired and actively participated in many grassroots and fundraising efforts during her years in the town of Milton. Ruth loves animals in general, and owns horses, dogs, cats, chickens, and rabbits! Outdoor activities are an interest, and are
interwoven into the daily childcare schedule.
Experience & Affiliations
Ruth has 30+ years child care experience, 40+ years of experience in business management, and a lifetime of experience with the mentally & physically challenged (older sibling), Nationally Accredited in 1997 (and one of the first to be accredited in MA), First Aid Certification, Adult, Child & Infant CPR Certification, Member of the National Association for Family Child Care; Facilitator, Mentor and Referral Coordinator for the Milton Area Family Child Care Association, and Member of the Advisory Council for the Milton Early Childhood Alliance.
Rates
Small Treasures computes a weekly tuition fee based on your daily schedule, which includes all organic meals and snacks.
Hours
Small Treasures is open Monday through Friday from 8:00AM to5:00PM. In the event of an emergency closure or delay, parents will be notified between 6:30 and 7:30 AM.
**Small Treasures follows the Milton Public School snow schedule. Please check with local television or radio stations to be aware of closure in the event of a snow storm. If the weather seems reasonable and you must go to work, please call for special consideration**
References
Donna Dickerson 617.696.2834
Cathy Cunliffe 802.464.1153
Niki Rukstalis 617.298.0617
Attendance/Schedules
If a child is absent for any reason or will be late arriving, please call within the hour prior to your expected arrival time. Parents are requested to call after 7:00AM or before 9:00PM, although emergency calls are always accepted. Parents are requested to give at least 2 weeks notice of any vacation time or optional absences. Whenever possible, two weeks notice will be given if personal time off is needed for the Director.
Parents should be timely and adhere to their contracted schedule. Please do not arrive prior to or later than your contracted arrival and departure times without consulting with the Director for additional paid time. If you need to deviate from your contracted time, please contact the Director to discuss options. Small Treasures reserves the right to spontaneity, and may schedule outings around the day’s anticipated drop-off and pick-up schedule.
Unscheduled visits or impromptu early pick-ups are welcome with the realization that you may not find us here! Parents may permanently change their schedule with Director approval and upon the signing of a revised contract.
Drop-off / Pick-up
Please make drop-off and pick-up times short and sweet for the benefit of the entire group. Small Treasures has a range of drop-off and pick-up times at either end of the day and prolonged transitions serve as a substantial delay to our schedule. A warm hug and kiss and a clear good-bye or greeting generally works best. When a new child is beginning care, exception will be made as needed. Authorized pick-up persons are listed on your child’s registration packet., and written permission is required to release your child to anyone other than those listed on the enrollment form. If I have not met the person who is to pick up your child, please let them know that I will need to see a picture ID before I can release your child to them. If for
some reason one of the child’s parents is not allowed to pick the child up I will need a copy of the court order for the child’s file. Without a court order I cannot legally refuse to release a child to his/her parent. If you are going to be late due to an unforeseen or emergency situation, please call. Children learn very quickly in what order everyone leaves and very often will become upset when their parent does not arrive on time.
Late Policy
Late fees are accrued on a per child basis. Pick-up beyond your contracted time will result in a charge of $15 for the first 10 minutes or increment thereof, and a $3 charge per minute thereafter. Consistent late pick-ups without *emergency status* may result in termination of care.
Financial Responsibilities
Tuition fees are to be paid in cash every Friday morning for the upcoming week. There is a basket just inside the childcare entrance in which your fee should be deposited. If your child is not scheduled on a Friday, you are vacationing, or if Small Treasures will be closed for a holiday/vacation, please deposit your fee ahead of time. A $15 fee will be charged for tuition received late. Holidays, absences, the child’s vacations, emergency closures or delays due to inclement weather do not affect fees. Parents are responsible for payments 52 weeks a year. EIN number for filing purposes: 04-3081674
Vacation Weeks 2023-2024
Small Treasures will close for (4) scheduled vacation weeks each year. All parents who have children registered are financially responsible for these closings:
*12.25.2023 thru 12.29.2023 *
*04.15.2024 thru 04.19.2024*
*06.24.2024 thru 06.28.2024 *
*08.26.2024 thru 08.30.2024*
**On the infrequent occasions that Small Treasures must close early, the date will
be posted as far in advance as possible**
Holidays 2023-2024
Small Treasures will be closed on the following holidays:
Labor Day, Monday 09.04.2023
Indigenous Peoples Day, Monday 10.09.2023
Veterans Day, Friday 11.10.2023
Thanksgiving, Thursday & Friday 11.23/24.2023
Christmas, Friday 12.22.2023
New Year’s Day, Monday 01.01.2024
MLK, Jr. Day, Monday 01.15.2024
Presidents Day, Monday 02.19.2024
Memorial Day, Monday 05.27.2024
Juneteenth, Wednesday, June 19, 2024
**Small Treasures celebrates a variety of holidays with the children through crafts, songs, foods, stories, etc. If parents celebrate a holiday that they feel may be of interest to the group please speak with the director**
Sick/Bereavement Time
The Director is allowed a total of (12) sick days per annual contract period (one per month). Please be aware that these will not be used except in the case of extreme illness. Small Treasures has had only a half dozen instances of closure due to illness in the past 30+ years. In the case of Bereavement, three days will be taken to attend services.
Parent Involvement
All families are invited to schedule a time to share a planned activity with the group at Small Treasures. Once the schedule is made, it will be the parents’ responsibility to make any necessary changes and notify the Director. All parents are welcome to spend a day at Small Treasures experiencing time with your child, and the group as a whole.
Discipline
A safe, loving environment is important to keep children happy and healthy. There will be no corporal punishment used at Small Treasures. Hitting and or name calling is not allowed. If a child is misbehaving s/he will be redirected to an appropriate activity with positive messages such as, “we sit on the couch” or “we walk in the house”. If a child is having consistent trouble getting along in the group, s/he may play by themselves at the table for a time until they feel ready to rejoin the group. If a child is hurting someone else s/he will be removed to time out for a short “cooling off” period which will not exceed 1 minute per year of the child’s age. Most children respond very well to these methods, however if a child’s behavior is consistently dangerous to him/herself or the other children a conference with parents may be scheduled in an attempt to form consistent strategies to improve the situation. If the behavior cannot be resolved it may result in termination of childcare.
Appropriate Clothing
All children should arrive for care dressed appropriately for outdoor play. Unless it is raining or extremely cold, we will spend time outside every day. When the weather prevents us from going out we more than likely will be doing a seated play activity. The children will get dirty. We will also need a complete change of clothes to be kept here in case of toileting accidents or spills. It is the parent’s responsibility to make sure that the clothes kept here are appropriate for the season and have not been outgrown.
Emergency Policy
In the event there is an emergency or injury to your child you will be notified immediately. If you cannot be reached, the emergency contact person(s) on your child’s enrollment forms will be called. If neither the parents nor the emergency contact person(s) can be reached, and your child requires medical attention, the Director will transport your child to the nearest hospital or call an ambulance, depending on the severity of the injury.
If the Director needs to leave the premises to accompany a child to the hospital, an emergency backup person will be called to stay with the other children. All parents will be notified so that children can be picked up as soon as possible. For this reason it is very important that you be available, and immediately notify the Director of any changes to your work/home phone number or those of your emergency contact persons.
If there is a fire on the child care premises, the children will be evacuated by the nearest exit and meet in the driveway by the Red Maple tree. The Director’s mobile phone, or a neighbor’s home phone, will be used to call emergency personal and all parents.
In the event of a major emergency or natural disaster, your child will be evacuated to the Milton High School Field House on Gile Road, which is the designated shelter for this area. You will be notified of the situation and required to pick up your child immediately. If the Director is unable to make calls, parents will need to call Milton Police Department at 617.698.3800 for information.
Illness Policy
For the health and safety of everyone, I do not accept ill children into childcare. If your child has a fever, is vomiting, has diarrhea or any other contagious illness, with the exception of mild cold symptoms, s/he will not be accepted into care. Children with severe cold symptoms (heavily running noses, green discharge, lethargic, uncomfortable) which require more than ordinary care should be kept home to avoid infecting the entire group. Please be sensitive and respectful of the fact that sending sick children puts the rest of the families at risk for illness and missing
work. Children should not be attending care if they have been dosed with medication unless it has been cleared with the Director, and the Director should always be made aware of any prescription or over the counter medication your child is taking. Please call within the hour prior to your usual arrival time if your child will not be attending childcare.
If your child becomes sick with any of the above symptoms during the day you will be notified and you are expected to make arraignments to pick your child up within 1 hour of notification. Any child sent home from childcare because of illness, may not return until his/her temperature has been normal without the aid of a fever reducing medication for at least 24 hours and all other symptoms have been gone for at least 12 hours. If the Director is sick, or becomes ill during child care and cannot provide care for your child, parents will be notified as soon as possible so that alternate arraignments can be made.
NEW – COVID Guidelines
The Department of Early Education and Care has revised regulations for programs operating during the evolving Covid health concerns. The document can be found here:
https://eeclead.force.com/resource/1598635047000/ChildCarePlaybook
A daily health attestation must be discussed at drop off for each child in care. Link to form:
- If anyone in your home is being evaluated for COVID or has been asked to isolate after an exposure, then I ask that your child be kept home until the test on the person under investigation returns as negative.
Medication Policy
The Dept. of Early Education and Care requires written permission for the administration of all medication, and a log will be kept. Written permission will include: date and time medication is to be given, correct dosage, name of medication, and the parent or guardian’s signature. An annual permission form may be signed for nonprescription diaper ointments, insect repellent and sunscreen. Medication permission forms are available on request. All medications, prescription or nonprescription, topical or oral, must be provided by the parents. All medications must be in the original packaging and prescription medications must be in the containers in which they were originally dispensed, with the original labels affixed, showing the child’s name, dosage, and date, and must be administered exactly as directed on the label unless authorized in writing by the child’s licensed health care practitioner.
SIDS Practices and Safe Sleep
Small Treasures practices SIDS risk reduction practices, including sleeping infants on their backs in an individual crib, portacrib, or bassinet, without pillows, comforters, stuffed animals or other soft, padded materials. Supervision of children is equally important during the times that a child is sleeping at the program, particularly when that child is an infant. EEC has very specific regulations around safe sleep practices. All infants are placed on their backs to sleep, unless a child’s physician orders otherwise (such an order must be given to me in writing). I check on children every 15 minutes during naptime. If your child is less than six months old, I will directly
supervise them during naptime for the first six weeks they are in care. For more information regarding Safe Sleep, please feel free to review the ‘Family Child Care Policies’ section of www.eec.state.ma.us.
Lead Poisoning Prevention
All Family Child Care Educators are required by EEC to provide parents with information regarding the risks of Lead Poisoning. The following are some facts that all parents should know about lead and lead poisoning:
• Lead poisoning is caused by swallowing or breathing lead. Lead is poison when it gets into the
body.
• Lead can stay in the body for a long time. Young children absorb lead more easily than adults.
The harm done by lead may never go away. Lead in the body can:
o Hurt the brain, kidneys, and nervous system
o Slow down growth and development
o Make it hard to learn
o Damage hearing and speech
o Cause behavior problems
• Most of the lead poisoning in Massachusetts comes from lead paint dust in older homes. Many homes built before 1978 have lead paint on the inside and outside of the building.
• When old paint peels and cracks, it creates lead paint chips and lead dust. Lead dust also comes from opening and closing old windows.
• Lead dust lands on the floor. Lead gets into children’s bodies when they put their hands and toys in their mouths. Children can also breathe in lead dust. Children between the ages of 9 months and 6 years are most at risk.
• Important: Home repairs and renovations also create lead dust.
• Most children who have lead poisoning do not look or act sick. A lead test is the only way to
know if your child has lead poisoning. Ask your doctor to test your child for lead. Some children
may have:
o Upset stomach
o Trouble eating or sleeping
o Headache
o Trouble paying attention
As mentioned earlier, if your child is over nine (9) months of age, you will need to provide
documentation to me that your child has been screened for lead poisoning. Most children will be screened annually until either age three (3) or four ( 4), depending on where the child lives.
There is no known source of lead in the child care home. For more information on lead poisoning, you can visit http://www.mass.gov/dph/clppp or call the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program at (800) 532-9571.
Food
Small Treasures will provide organic morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack. Parents are requested not to send food with their children. All meals follow guidelines for proper nutrition. For children not yet on table food, parents are required to supply formula and baby food. Small Treasures welcomes mothers providing breast milk for their child.
Communication Sources
Upon entry into the program, Small Treasures requires a register of information on each child to be kept on file, which may include custody agreements, court orders or restraining orders. Parents are responsible for giving Small Treasures any information that could be relevant to the health and safety of their child, or others, such as: change in address and phone number for home or parents work, contagious illness in the family, and any incidents which could affect the child’s behavior. Updates of the child’s records will be done annually.
Small Treasures will post a Daily Information sheet recording the menu and events of the day. General information for parents, reminders, and memos will be found on the bulletin boards directly inside the childcare entrance. Please check this area daily. Parents are requested to communicate any concerns, questions, comments, or impending vacations/scheduling changes.
Child Educators are mandated reporters, and as such, must by law report suspected child abuse or neglect to the Department of Social Services.
Children’s Records
EEC regulations require me to maintain an individual written record for every child I have in care. These records include the information that parents complete at enrollment, as well as progress reports, incident reports and other documentation regarding your child’s care. Records are updated at least annually but may be updated as frequently as is needed. As a parent, you have access to the record that I maintain for your child, and you have the right to add information or to request that information in your child’s record be changed or deleted. You also have a right to receive a copy of your child’s record; however I may charge a reasonable fee for that copy. Please let me know about any questions you have regarding your child’s record.
General Supplies
Each child should have:
·· a change of clothing (parents should check frequently for season/size appropriateness)
·· diapers and wipes (if needed)
·· a cozy blanket
·· slippers
·· a family photograph which can be laminated
Diaper Supplies
Parents are responsible for supplying disposable diapers for their child. In addition, they should supply wet wipes (box style), and powder or diaper rash ointment if needed. Soiled laundry will be sent home in a plastic bag for laundering and should be replaced on the next scheduled day.
Toilet Training
Toilet training is a major milestone and there is no magic age of readiness. Some signs are: waking up from nap with a dry diaper, willingness to sit on the potty, and showing an interest in others using the potty. Parents should spend a weekend working on the process at home when they feel the child is ready. After having success over two days, and having discussed it with the Director, children may attend in thick training pants. It is suggested that an extra change or two of clothing and training pants are sent in during the beginning phase.
**Please do not bring your child into care in training pants or underwear without
first having a discussion with the Director**
Toys and Personal Items
Children may not bring toys from home, unless they have been invited to for a special occasion such as Show and Tell, Teddy Bear Picnic, Book Day, Game Day, etc.
Nap/Rest Time
Small Treasures will provide sheets and blankets, nap mats or playpens, and provide each child with an individual nap space. Naptime for infants is based upon their personal schedules.
Afternoon rest time is from 1:30-3:30, although this may deviate based on daily schedules and events. All children are required to lie down at this time. Because our mornings are very busy and our day starts early, even children who do not rest at home will very often sleep here.
**Please do not request that a child be kept up/awake**
Water Play
When children have water play there will always be direct supervision. During, hot weather children may have access to a sprinkler and/or wading pools in the yard.
Forms, Permissions & Authorization
Enrollment forms must be completed and accompany your child on their first day of care. Physical and immunization forms should be completely by the Pediatrician and arrive within 4 weeks of your child’s enrollment date. All forms must be updated mannually. Please notify me of any changes to the information on the enrollment forms so that I can keep them current. Failure to return your child’s forms may result in termination of care.
A child will be released only to authorized persons on record by verbal or written consent. Children will be released to unauthorized persons with written permission only. Children must arrive and depart the premises in the appropriate car seat/belt as dictated by law.
A permission form will be signed by all parents to acknowledge that I am at times required to accompany children between a transportation vehicle and the home. Children may be left unsupervised for brief periods of time, on the child care level, in a safe environment, with the house in view at all times.
In the event of an emergency or disaster where children needed to be transported, Small Treasures would do so either by foot/stroller or in a vehicle.
Curriculum/ Progress Reports
All Family Child Care Educators must carry out a routine that is flexible and responds to the needs and interests of children in care. The routine must include things such as; meeting the physical needs of children in care, sixty minutes of physical activity every day, child-initiated and Educator-initiated activities and daily outdoor play, weather permitting. Additionally, the Educator must develop a curriculum that engages children in developmentally appropriate activities by planning specific learning experiences. The curriculum must include things such as; learning self-help skills that foster independence, opportunities to gain problem solving and decision making competencies and leadership skills and opportunities to learn about proper
nutrition, good health and personal safety. Educators are also responsible for providing an environment that promotes cultural, social and individual diversity. Progress of children will be handled by direct communication on a daily or as needed basis. Additionally, a written progress report will be generated every 3 months for infants or children with special needs, every six months for toddlers/preschoolers, and annually for school age children. Small Treasures seeks to be your partner inworking with your child and will offer an opportunity to meet and discuss your child’s progress.
Daily Schedule
Children learn the routine quickly and judge time by what we are doing. Keeping to a basic schedule is very comforting; therefore, meals and certain activities are done at the same time daily. Free play, outdoor activities, and arts and craft activities are much more flexible and depend on the weather and the mood of the children. Children are not required to participate in arts and craft activities. Every effort will be made to include everyone in the activities, but free play is always an option during these times. There is no television in the childcare area, and we do not watch any television programming whatsoever. Occasionally we will use educational applications on an iPad for learning various subjects, yoga, reading, etc.
Birthday/Holiday Policy
Children’s birthdays and various holidays are observed at Small Treasures. Parents are invited to provide treats. Small Treasures will provide the paper goods for all celebrations and parties. We have a no gift policy!
Deposits
A non-refundable deposit of a week’s tuition will be required to hold an anticipated September opening for your child. To hold a current opening, half week tuition per week will be required until your child begins care.