safety

[lavrn]

Just a quick note about safety with all these kids running around--I don't know how you handle drop off and pick up, but it had been a problem for us:eek: -- at the end of the night, people started picking up kids and it was difficult to keep up with who had been picked up and by whom-- last year I borrowed a set of 2 way radios, and sent my 14 yr old daughter out to the parking lot-- she stopped each parent before they got in the building and asked who they were picking up and called me on my radio-- I called the kids and sent them out 1-2 at a time-- I stood at the door and handed out the newsletters and bible verses with a little temporary tatoo , sucker, etc and made sure I saw who they were leaving with. It worked well, and made me feel a whole lot less anxious about the whole thing-- the parents appreciated it too, and by keeping the parents outside, we were able to keep the kids attention until it was time for them to go.:cool:

[TrinityJen]

We have the parents sigh-in and sign out. We are still working on how to make it work WELL. When the parents sign-in on day 1 I give them a map of the church and a schedule. We photo copy the sign-in sheets (sorted by class) and take the copy to the class room, there is a place for notes on the sign-in sheet to tell us is someone different is picking up that day. The parents pick up form the last class. The guides are in charge of having the parents sign out and keeping track of the kids. This year I hope to have a better plan for 'teachers kids'. I can't send them to the teacher/guide who is still trying to dismiss, so they are usually picked up by an assigned guide an taken to a classroom w/ the other waiting kids.

Day 1 is usually crazy (of course) but by Friday you know the kids and the parents know where to go.

[Alison from Australia]

We also have a sign in / sign out sheet. We have one lady whose sole resonsibility is supervising sign in / sign out. She has done it all the years we have been doing VBS. We start and finish all together in the main Church building so parents all come to the one place. It seems to work well for us. The leaders' kids just stay in the church and play with the activities we have there until their parents are ready to go.

Alison.

[maanki]

We have about 50-60 children each year. I have 2 of my helpers monitor the
doors and the parents are required to come in so that we know we can identify them and the child can identify them.The children are in no way allowed to just leave or see their car and run out.Nor do we allow children to go home with their friends unless we get the ok from the parent.I held on to a child for 1 1/2 hours afterwards because I would not allow the child to leave with a friend until I reached his dad.Parents get edgy sometimes , but when you explain to them that you are treating their children as if they were your very own and so concerned about their safety, then the parents are very cooperative. Helper's children and those they brought MUST stay in the assembly room ( the last place all the children rotate to) until the helpers leave.Our vbs is at night , so by 9pm, the parking lot is very dark.Besides, it also keeps them from getting hit by a car.

[houseparent]

I was reading the directors manual and I think they have some great ideas.

In keeping with the theme, I am planning on giving the parents there own ID card when they register the children and putting a number with a UV pen unique to each family on each ID card. At closing or whenever a child need to be picked up, everyone shows their ID card and if numbers match everyone gets to leave. Numbers don't match and we resolve things before they leave.

I am planning to use this to promote our VBS in the community that we will be providing this extra measure of security in the hopes that families that are not familiar with us will feel more secure about leaving their children with us and hopefully this will help our VBS grow.

[Cathy from Maryland]

We are a classroom based VBS. About 20 mins before VBS ends, all the teachers close their doors and have a helper be a 'door guard'. A child is not let out of the classroom until the parent/guardian arrives. By having the door closed, the children don't see their parents and run into the hall. Also, by having someone at the door, this also prevents children from 'escaping' down the hall.

[Team 4 Immanuel Baptist]

Does anyone have any practical ideas for a large VBS (200 kids) that are dismissed from the sanctuary after the closing assembly? In the past we have had the parents go to their childs assigned pew, and their leader dismiss them, but even this seems a bit haphazzard. We also have security at the main exit points and in the parking lot, but this is an area where I am not comfortable yet with the safety of the children.

[TNTricia]

At the large one I was at that's how it was done too. pick them up in the pew but that can get crowded.

Growing up we had it where there were no pews and each teacher took the kids to their class area where they met at the start and end and were picked up there. That way you didn't have all the classes and chaos together.

Honestly I'd say have them stay put or moved to a designated area. Then have someone at the door who calls the kids and one by one they come to the door to meet the parent but that could take forever.

hmm maybe you could ask the parents to have a seat in the pews and then have each class come to that area and you could release one class at a time to their parents by bringing the kids to the parents rather than having the parents coming to them.

Good luck!

[Josh1]

Here's what the church did that I volunteered at did. We didn't have a Closing Assembly which was weird for me because there wasn't a wrap-up of anything. The Guides and kids would come into the Assembly room and they would be divided into the different age group. Each age group had an easy-to-read sign so the parents could see what group was what and the parents picked them up from their groups. I thought that this approach worked very well. But then what do you do with the kids that the staff have?
God Bless,
Josh Trommer:rolleyes: