Church Nursery Policy?

[PuddleJumper1]

Every church nursery I've worked in had a policy in place that there should be 2 workers in each room of children for safety and liability reasons. I'm curious what other churches are doing. I volunteered in our church nursery last night for the first time (we've been at the church for years but have never worked nursery before). I was the only one in the 1 and 2 year old room and when I questioned it I was told they do it all the time. I was completely shocked. It goes against everything I've ever read on proper nursery proceedure (I've been the nursery manager in two previous churches).

 

What is your church's policy on this?

[Heatherwith4]

We have a two person policy and security cameras. There are other rules in place as well. Does your church have trouble getting enough volunteers?

[QueenCat]

Two adults are in our nurseries at all times. If someone is missing, the two nurseries combine until a replacement can be found.

[JFJ in IL]

I am frequently the only supervisor in our preschool room but our Nursery always has one supervisor and several additional young helpers.

Both rooms are connected so I can easily get help if needed. We have a system to silently alert parents during service if we need their assistance.

[gaillardia]

It is my church's policy as well. Can you ask someone else to assist you? Just think if you need to go get a parent for any reason, what do you do with all of the children? You would think a church would want to cover its own pocket and have a policy in place for liability reasons and my favorite, safety.

ETA: Our policy to have two-deep leadership in nursery I meant to say.

[momofkhm]

Small church. Hard to find volunteers. I want to have a 2 adult policy but it just won't work. We put one adult and one teen in the nursery. This after I was the one holding a baby who would not stop crying. You simply can not take a crying baby into church to get his mother. Oh and right now, no babies. No one under the age of 4 truly.

[sassenach]

2 deep, always. We just opened another service and we're having a hard time getting the nursery staffed. We have announced that there will just not be nursery care if we don't get the additional volunteers.

[PuddleJumper1]

Thank you ladies! At least I know I'm not crazy - at least on this issue :)

 

Can you ask someone else to assist you?

 

 

I did. She looked at me confused and said I could handle it by myself and that they do it all the time. (this was not the nursery manager - just another lady who had volunteered but decided not to work because there were so few children)

 

eta - she had signed up for a different age group and there were no children in her age bracket. Didn't want it to sound like she was supposed to be with me and wasn't. My age bracket was the only one that had children to be watched.

 

We put one adult and one teen in the nursery.

 

This would have been a perfect solution. I was literally the only person over the age of 3 in the nursery area for most of the evening and the only one in the room.

[Parrothead]

In our church we don't have nursery. Kids under K'er age don't have Sunday school and during mass are with their parents in the pews.

 

For CCD/Sunday school we have a two adults per class. That policy is throughout the diocese.

[PuddleJumper1]

Does your church have trouble getting enough volunteers?

 

 

As far as I know Sunday morning and Wednesday night have plenty of workers. This was a special service outside our normal schedule. I've never had a child in the nursery here but from what I've seen the schedule looks like at least two in each room. Although the comment about 'we do it all the time' makes me wonder.

 

We don't volunteer in the nursery because we're teaching Sunday School and have to sit with our special little guy during services.

[athena1277]

We wouldn't have enough at our church to have 2 adults in each class. There's only 5 classes from nursery (babies) to teens. The blessing is that being so small, we know each other well and trust the teachers to care for our kids. I would trust any of my kids to babysit them at my home, for example.

[T'smom]

Always 2 adults. Always. Classes can combine if an adult doesn't show up, but the nursery is not to let any kids be left until two adults are there.

 

 

[magic]

We have two workers in each room- either 2 adults or an adult and a teen. Everyone must pass a background check. We also have a nursery monitor who is in charge of checking kids in, bringing in snacks, monitoring who is entering rooms, and is the one to get parents if there is an issue. We have 6 monitors (I am one) we rotate weeks but are available to fill in if need be. On our weeks, we also take out trash from the nursery and wipe down everything. Anything that needs washing or sanitizing is taken care of as well. Most parents are not familiar with the faces of the various workers but can identify us monitors because we are seen more often.

[ScoutTN]

Always 2 people. Our church is large and we have paid staff in addition to "the draft" - all healthy, able-bodied, adult church members serve in the nursery or preschool rooms on an alphabetical rotation. children can help in the preschool rooms when their parents are on to serve.

[trinchick]

We have one person in the nursery, and occasionally one or two of the Confirmands help out. Our nursery attendees are mostly toddlers, and attendance is usually about 4-5 kids per week. Infants generally go into the "big church" with their parents.

 

The only issue with having one adult in our nursery is the occasional child who is toilet training. The nursery is in a basement annex without a bathroom. To take a child to the restroom requires the adult to bring all of the kids to the restroom, involving a trek upstairs. Not fun.

[Guest]

We are required to have two adults at all times.

[PeacefulChaos]

Our church nursery and preschool classes require a minimum of 2 adults who have gone through Reduce the Risk (training) and background checks, no matter the number of kids. If a married couple volunteers, they don't count as 2 people - they have to have another person in there with them.

[TechWife]

2 adults required (any teen helpers are additional)

Background check required

all nursery, preschool, children & youth workers wear picture ID's

 

If kids arrive and there are not two adults in the room, they must stay until two adult workers are there. If they leave before that, they must take their child with them.

 

Personally, I wouldn't stay in a room with kids in that setting without another adult present.

[Ellie]

Small church. Hard to find volunteers. I want to have a 2 adult policy but it just won't work. We put one adult and one teen in the nursery. This after I was the one holding a baby who would not stop crying. You simply can not take a crying baby into church to get his mother. Oh and right now, no babies. No one under the age of 4 truly.

 

It was always the same for me in the smaller churches where I was the nursery coordinator. :-(

 

In order for that to happen, you have to have complete support from the pastor, who is willing to take the heat when the nursery is closed because there is only one adult to work in there.

 

My favorite church nursery was at Rock Church in Virginia Beach. The policy was one adult for every four babies (I think the ratio might have been higher in the toddler room); when that ratio was reached, parents had to wait in line until someone volunteered.

[Orthodox6]

No experience, since children (even babies) go to church services with their parents. You have me curious, though. Although a church nursery [probably] is not bound by local laws, wouldn't a sensible "rule of thumb" be to follow the same ratio of adult-to-children guidelines used in daycares?

[Ellie]

No experience, since children (even babies) go to church services with their parents. You have me curious, though. Although a church nursery [probably] is not bound by local laws, wouldn't a sensible "rule of thumb" be to follow the same ratio of adult-to-children guidelines used in daycares?

 

It is "sensible," but in smaller churches it's often difficult to pull off: everyone wants the baby in the nursery, no one wants to work. :-/

[MomatHWTK]

What Ellie said. Everyone in the church insists that we provide the service, but very few are willing to be the person to actually provide the service. :(

[Orthodox6]

What about a co-op approach? No child is cared for unless the parent(s) agrees to rotation of helping.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Ideally we are supposed to have two coried adults in the nursery for two services and Sunday school. In reality it's often an adult with my dear 12 year old whose been serving in that manner for two years. It's a small church, never enough manpower. Nursery is infant to age three. It's often more than even two people can handle. I served in it ten years and never put my kids in there. I was no longer serving joyfully so I quit and have zero guilt about doing so. I wish more of the parents would take a turn but they rarely do.

[misty.warden]

What about a co-op approach? No child is cared for unless the parent(s) agrees to rotation of helping.

 

 

I agree with this, it's unfair of the parents to expect care and leave a single worker alone and liable for any issues or accusations. We don't have a nursery in my church and occasional loud kids in mass are par for the course, but I can't see trying to make it work any other way than a required participation and no drop-offs if the help isn't there.

[happypamama]

The church we have most often attended in this area seems to have a policy of two unrelated adults in each of the two nurseries. It doesn't always seem to be parents in the nursery either; it seems to be other adults (often grandparentish age) who enjoy spending time with the babies. (There are a fair number of babies in the service too; it seems to be toddlers in the infant-toddler nursery. I don't leave my babies in the nursery, but I have appreciated taking an older baby there for nursing/playing when they get a little noisy.)

[Crafty Mathy Mom]

Small church. Hard to find volunteers. I want to have a 2 adult policy but it just won't work. We put one adult and one teen in the nursery. This after I was the one holding a baby who would not stop crying. You simply can not take a crying baby into church to get his mother. Oh and right now, no babies. No one under the age of 4 truly.

Our church is like this. We always have two people, but it's usually an adult and a teen. Children ages 3 through 2nd grade go to children's church which always has enough volunteers.

[Ellie]

What about a co-op approach? No child is cared for unless the parent(s) agrees to rotation of helping.

 

Rock Church was able to pull that off because the pastoral staff thought the nursery was so important. There was a deacon and his wife--a *DEACON,* mind you, and HIS WIFE--in charge of the nursery, and they were there most services. All other ministry participants were also required to work in the nursery for six months before they could do their ministries. Parents were allowed to leave their children in the nursery a specific number of times (I forget how many--it's been 30 years since I visited there!), and then they had to work in one service before they could leave their children again.

 

Not all pastors are willing to do that.

 

If *I* were in charge--really in charge--I'd turn everyone away if I didn't have two *adults* in the nursery at all times. I'd also cancel children's Sunday school classes if there were no adults willing to teach, but I'm just cranky like that. :D Oh, and if children misbehave in Sunday school, I'd require their parents to leave the service and come into the Sunday school class, rather than sending the children to sit with their parents.

 

Oh, if only I ruled the world!

[bolt.]

Small Church...

 

Our nursery is informally covered -- usually by spontaneous volunteers that speak directly to the parent(s) of the baby that they are volunteering to take care of. The nursery is just a room that parents are free to use... like, to *nurse* in if a mom prefers not to NIP, or to change diapers, or if their child is more in a 'play' stage than a 'cuddle' stage of development, or if a baby/child is unusually vociferous. (Normal levels of quiet child-noise-making are not unwelcome in our main gathering area.)

 

Anybody is free to offer to help a parent in that room, just as they would be free to offer to hold another person's baby during the service. The parents are in charge of whatever decisions they make about who they allow to hold or take care of their children, and whether or not they feel comfortable leaving the child in the nursery with the alternate adult, or just staying together.

 

(It would be utterly ridiculous to have two adults hang out in a small nursery that is only used intermittently.)

[TravelingChris]

I believe all the churches we have been in have had some paid sitters plus using volunteers. I know there is a two deep policy in every church I attended at that age. All churches had at least two workers in each room of the nursery.

 

I haven't used a nursery in many years since my youngest is 16.

[In the Rain]

I've seen this is in small churches we've attended, but not large ones.

[SorrelZG]

In our smallish church with a single nursery there are three to four adults scheduled each service.

[Kathryn]

Our current church doesn't have a nursery, but our previous one had the "two-deep" policy and they had to have been background-checked and taken a class on church abuse.

[KrissiK]

Ugh! You have hit a nerve. We have a very small church and only have 1 nursery attendant, even though I have been harping for years about safety issues, liability issues, blah, blah, blah! No one listens to me. Yes, we have a hard time finding volunteers. So the attendant is paid. Sometimes I think it's going to take some kind of crisis to wake people up.

[Ellie]

Ugh! You have hit a nerve. We have a very small church and only have 1 nursery attendant, even though I have been harping for years about safety issues, liability issues, blah, blah, blah! No one listens to me. Yes, we have a hard time finding volunteers. So the attendant is paid. Sometimes I think it's going to take some kind of crisis to wake people up.

 

 

I'm not opposed to paying people to work in the nursery. I am opposed to one person being in there by herself.

 

IMHO, the policy should be that if a parent leaves her baby in the nursery four times, she cannot leave the baby in there again until she volunteers for one service (which could be a service she doesn't usually attend, IYKWIM). But as I said, the leadership of the church has to completely support a policy like that; not all of them are willing to put up with the whiners who want to drop their children off people who only want to be fed and never want to take responsibility for their own children. Dang. Can't think of a charitable way to phrase that...

[KrissiK]

 

 

I'm not opposed to paying people to work in the nursery. I am opposed to one person being in there by herself.

 

IMHO, the policy should be that if a parent leaves her baby in the nursery four times, she cannot leave the baby in there again until she volunteers for one service (which could be a service she doesn't usually attend, IYKWIM). But as I said, the leadership of the church has to completely support a policy like that; not all of them are willing to put up with the whiners who want to drop their children off people who only want to be fed and never want to take responsibility for their own children. Dang. Can't think of a charitable way to phrase that...

I don't have a problem with a paid attendant. But, we have a very small church. Our girls are the only ones in the nursery during SS. So, I would be the only one on the rotation. I might as well just stay home. During church, we have been getting more attendees, but a lot are new people and you can't quite say to someone, "I know it's only your second Sunday here, but you can't use our nursery unless you're on the rotation." So, that leaves us and another family and I'm on the children's church rotation as well. I'm not saying, by any means, that parents shouldn't help out. I think they should. But, when you have a small church with a lot of old people.... This has been a problem we have been struggling with for a long time and it tends to get ignored because there is no good solution.

[Alice]

We have a very small chuch also and about 6 years ago went to paid workers, that really mostly solved the problem. We also have a two adult (or one adult and one teen over the age of 16) in all classes with kids (from nursery up through teens).

[Ellie]

I don't have a problem with a paid attendant. But, we have a very small church. Our girls are the only ones in the nursery during SS. So, I would be the only one on the rotation. I might as well just stay home. During church, we have been getting more attendees, but a lot are new people and you can't quite say to someone, "I know it's only your second Sunday here, but you can't use our nursery unless you're on the rotation." So, that leaves us and another family and I'm on the children's church rotation as well. I'm not saying, by any means, that parents shouldn't help out. I think they should. But, when you have a small church with a lot of old people.... This has been a problem we have been struggling with for a long time and it tends to get ignored because there is no good solution.

 

:grouphug:

[bolt.]

But as I said, the leadership of the church has to completely support a policy like that; not all of them are willing to put up with the whiners who want to drop their children off people who only want to be fed and never want to take responsibility for their own children. Dang. Can't think of a charitable way to phrase that...

How about,

 

"People who happen to have children, but who are gifted and called to other areas of ministry and don't do very well at the ministry of showing the unconditional love of Christ to infants."

 

...or maybe, "People going through a hard battle that they aren't disclosing to the people at the door of their Church nursery."

 

...or maybe, "People who thought that the Church was a place that couldn't wait to minster to everyone who walked through the doors and are surprised to find not only a lack of persons who think babies are worth spending time with, but who also think that babies are extensions of their parents and not individual recipients of Church ministry anyhow, so they think a nursery is a service to parents, not an opportunity to be Church to an infant."

 

(Personally, I think parents should be the very last place anyone would draw volunteers for nursery or children's ministry. I think kids have a critical need to experience the love of the Church, not the usual love from their own parents while at a church building.)

 

IMHO, the policy should be that if a parent leaves her baby in the nursery four times, she cannot leave the baby in there again until she volunteers for one service (which could be a service she doesn't usually attend, IYKWIM).

And what's with the assumption that this is a Mom thing? If it's an intact family, both Mom and Dad should bear any parental expectations, and if it's a single mom... I'd never lay on her a larger burden than she is already carrying.

[Laurie4b]

Thank you ladies! At least I know I'm not crazy - at least on this issue :)

 

 

 

I did. She looked at me confused and said I could handle it by myself and that they do it all the time. (this was not the nursery manager - just another lady who had volunteered but decided not to work because there were so few children)

 

eta - she had signed up for a different age group and there were no children in her age bracket. Didn't want it to sound like she was supposed to be with me and wasn't. My age bracket was the only one that had children to be watched.

 

 

 

This would have been a perfect solution. I was literally the only person over the age of 3 in the nursery area for most of the evening and the only one in the room.

 

 

That's dangerous. What if some kind of emergency had come up? Once we had a toddler sitting on the floor who just tipped over backward and hit her head on the hinge of the door. Scalp popped open and it bled like crazy. It wasn't serious, but if an injury like that occurred, how would you get help and how would you be able to document how it happened? There is no proof when it is only you and a bunch of tots.

 

In our church, 2 per room PLUS a supervisor who is outside the room keeping an eye on things. Honestly, I wouldn't volunteer under the conditions you describe. Suppose a child develops "shaken baby syndrome" or something. There is no way to prove that you didn't do it. (No witnesses). Suppose a child in your care shows signs of sexual abuse. Parent takes kid to doctor and they don't know who did it. Any persons who have been one-on-one with that child would be investigated and potentially accused.

 

I really wouldn't do it.

 

It's not an issue of whether you can watch 3 kids 3 and under or something. You could do that with your own children, but this is a group of other people's kids and the liability, etc. is just through the roof with just one person in there.

[Laurie4b]

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." --Jesus ( Matthew 18: 5)

 

What a beautiful mystery: Jesus is in the person doing the welcoming in His name: Jesus also so identifies with the little children, that welcoming one of them is counted as welcoming Him. Working in nursery is a privilege, not a chore for those who are called to it.

 

We were able to stop paying nursery attendants AND able to stop forcing parents to rotate as volunteers in the nursery when this became the vision for recruiting workers. Very few holes since; lots of holes before.

 

VISION makes all the difference!

[Ellie]

Of course, there are many who don't believe a nursery is a necessity. Parents have been hearing God speak to them for a gazillion years while the kidlets were crawling around and nursing and being childlike.

[PuddleJumper1]

 

It's not an issue of whether you can watch 3 kids 3 and under or something. You could do that with your own children, but this is a group of other people's kids and the liability, etc. is just through the roof with just one person in there.

That was exactly the point I brought up that night. I plan to speak with the nursery manager on Sunday but if this is the policy I'll be going to the Pastor. The possibilities for a serious issue are endless.

[PuddleJumper1]

I headed out soon after posting this. Just coming back to it now. Thanks for all the perspective. I'm planning to speak to those in charge and go up the chain if necessary. I will not be volunteering in the nursery under these conditions. The other night was one of those 'stuck in a situation before you realized how stupid it was' type of things. Once I realized there was no one to grab as I was by myself.

[Dustybug]

Our church has a 2 people policy as well.

[blondchen]

Our church has a two-person policy as well, with background checks required. Ideally, we'd like it to be two unrelated persons (for liability/abuse protection) but it doesn't always work out that way. Once our church grows a bit more we'll probably have that in place as a hard rule.

 

...or maybe, "People who thought that the Church was a place that couldn't wait to minster to everyone who walked through the doors and are surprised to find not only a lack of persons who think babies are worth spending time with, but who also think that babies are extensions of their parents and not individual recipients of Church ministry anyhow, so they think a nursery is a service to parents, not an opportunity to be Church to an infant."

 

(Personally, I think parents should be the very last place anyone would draw volunteers for nursery or children's ministry. I think kids have a critical need to experience the love of the Church, not the usual love from their own parents while at a church building.)

 

 

Amen, sister!! This has always been my view on children's ministry, and it's my church's view as well. As communicated by our leadership, children are VIP's in our church, as they are to Jesus! About 50% of our congregation (which is diverse in terms of age and life stage) volunteers to be in monthly rotation for Sunday morning kids ministry during the worship service. And the vast majority of workers are either single without kids, parents of teens, or empty-nesters, who understand what an important ministry they're doing in God's kingdom, both to the children and their parents. We almost always have teen helpers in the nursery as well, who know and love the little ones. This is the body of Christ at work, and it is a joy to experience it. I realize that very small churches or church plants or churches with a high concentration of elderly, etc. have unique issues in regard to childcare, but for any church of reasonable size, if it can't sufficiently staff its nursery with volunteers during the corporate worship time at least, it needs to close its doors for lack of Biblical priorities.

 

 

“And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." --Jesus ( Matthew 18: 5)

 

What a beautiful mystery: Jesus is in the person doing the welcoming in His name: Jesus also so identifies with the little children, that welcoming one of them is counted as welcoming Him. Working in nursery is a privilege, not a chore for those who are called to it.

 

We were able to stop paying nursery attendants AND able to stop forcing parents to rotate as volunteers in the nursery when this became the vision for recruiting workers. Very few holes since; lots of holes before.

 

VISION makes all the difference!

 

 

Another AMEN. YES YES YES!!! This is the attitude with which we recruit our volunteers as well - which is why it WORKS!!

 

Of course, there are many who don't believe a nursery is a necessity. Parents have been hearing God speak to them for a gazillion years while the kidlets were crawling around and nursing and being childlike.

 

 

This is true, and it would behoove the church to keep that in mind when they view children as mere distractions to the adult "worship experience" (a concept which I abhor). In keeping with the idea of having children underfoot pretty much all the time (LOL!), at our church children of all ages are welcome in the sanctuary throughout the worship service, and I actually keep my 15-month-old with us during the singing because I want her to be exposed to corporate worship from the youngest possible age, as my older two have been. I do draw the line at the sermon, however, and do not expect my little ones to just sit quietly and color if they can go to another room and be taught from the Bible at their own level. My toddler goes to the nursery and my 5- and 3-year-olds go to the children's class, and my older girls return for communion, which is weekly. I know that "children's church" is a relatively new development in church history, but if the church has a building to accommodate a children's class, then I believe it's a valuable thing - not primarily for the parents, but for the children. There are strong opposing views on this - many in my own denomination vehemently disagree, in fact - but that's where DH and I land, and our denomination does allow churches complete freedom on that issue.

 

That said, whether or not someone feels that a nursery is a "necessity" - it certainly is a wonderful ministry to children and their parents and I would hope that out of love for JESUS, people would step up and serve HIM by lovingly serving His precious children.

[kiwik]

We roster childcare like everything else. In a two month rotation I do morning tea twice and creche twice. If you have a child in creche one of the parents is on the roster (exceptions do occur if both parents are on too many of the job lists). There are two on creche and occasionally we ask for a third volunteer. When full we have about 8 kids under 2.5 and 16 preschoolers altogether. Babies stay in church with their parents or withdraw into a soundproof viewing room with a soundsystem (and cot, couch, changing table, toys etc).

[Laurie4b]

In our church, we have two services, so we don't rotate. We believe the gospel is best conveyed in the context of a discipleship relationship, as Jesus did. That's not possible when people are in and out every so many weeks. Our workers serve weekly and we get subs for them when they are sick, out of town,etc. It provides a lot of continuity for the children. We allow a bit of rotation in nursery as long as there are one or two weekly people in each class (we have high ratios volunteer to child). Ideally, there would be none. There is none for children 2 and up. Interestingly, we have had less trouble with recruitment this way than when there was rotation. I think the reason is that it is much more meaningful when you have a group of little people with whom you interact each week, share Jesus with, serve, pray for, . Meaning/vision motivates people more than anything else!