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Hours of Service

Lifetime Play, located at 501 W Lasley, St. Marys, KS 66536.

The hours are from 7:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. Lifetime Play staff is flexible, and doesn't mind when your schedule changes within business hours. Children are expected to be picked up on time. An overtime charge of $1.00 per minute per child will be assessed the first 15 minutes after scheduled pick up time. After 15 minutes late, the overtime charge is $5.00 per minute. We allow for 10 free overtime minutes per year.

Admissions and Rates

When we meet to consider having your child join daycare, we will be sharing details with you about our daily schedule, methods of discipline, plans for naps and meals, weekly projects and organized playtimes. We will ask for your input in regards to your child's preferences, personality, and current schedule, so that we can best plan a way to integrate your child into the group. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have in regard to any aspect of daycare.

We do not discriminate in admissions based on race, creed, religion, sex, or national origins. We do, however, recognize that not every child will fit comfortably into our daycare. For this reason, every new child begins on a 4-week trial basis. During this 4-week period, the parent, or the provider, is allowed to give a one-day notice to terminate care on the basis of not being a good match. After the trial period, a two-week notice is required for either party to terminate care. If you decide not to use the last two weeks of care, you are still required to pay the fee.

There is no enrollment fee for your children. The daily rate for walk-in drops off is $40, for a maximum of 8 hours and should be paid on the same day. Payment for Full and Part Time care will be expected on Fridays of the same week of care for all payment methods. Lifetime Play reserves the right to refuse child care until past due payments are current.

Full time: Infants 6 weeks to below 18 months old rates are $145 for up to 40 hours per week. Children 18 months to 5 years old rates are $125 for 40 hours per week. School age children above 5 years to 11 years rates are $115 for 40 hours per week. The maximum is eight hours per day and 40 hours per week or an additional overtime charge will be added. We will guarantee the spot for your children as our Full timer.

Part time: Infants 6 weeks to below 18 months old rates are $115 for up to 30 hours per week. Children 18 months to 5 years old rates are $105 for 30 hours per week. School age children above 5 years to 11 years rates are $70 for 25 hours per week. The maximum is eight hours per day and 30 hours per week or an additional overtime charge will be added. We cannot guarantee the spot for non-Full timer.

Again, payments for Full and Part time childcare are due on a weekly basis, every Friday either upon dropping off your child, or at pick up at the end of the day. Other than that payment should be made at the same day.

In the event a child is unable to come to daycare, due to sickness, parents are still expected to pay the pre-arranged price negotiated for the child. If there is a foreseeable absence upcoming, such as a family trip or vacation, lower rates may be negotiated with the daycare director. Payment or fee authorized by the director must be made to retain the child's spot.

We are able to accept DCF Child Care Subsidy payment. It is the parent's responsibility to pay Lifetime Play the amount that the DCF Child Care Subsidy does not cover. All payment types are due weekly on Fridays of the same week of childcare.'

Paid Holidays

The following days are considered paid, contracted holidays: Good Friday, April 2, 2021, Easter Monday, April 5, 2021, Memorial Day, May 31, 2021, Independence Day, Monday July 5, 2021, Labor Day, September 6, 2021; Thanksgiving Day, Day after Thanksgiving, November 25 and 26. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be observed as paid days off on Friday, December 24 and Monday Dec 27, New Year's Eve, Friday, Dec. 31st; News Day, observed Monday, January 3, 2022.

When these holidays fall on a weekend, the Friday or the Monday will be taken as a paid holiday.

Please provide me with the following items:

1. A change of clothes, labelled with the child's name, to be used in case of accident.
2. Diapers and wipes for those children not potty trained.

Items from Home

Please do not let your child(ren) bring toys from home. It is extremely hard to separate personal items from items at the daycare. Staff also wishes not to provoke jealousy in the other children. There will be "Show and Tell days", but please wait until you have a note from staff before letting your child take items from home to daycare.

Regarding security items, such as certain toys, stuffed animals, and blankets, we understand that a child may have a certain attachment to a toy or blanket, but we ask that these items be kept home also, so as to prevent them from getting lost/ misplaced or left behind.

Toilet Training

For the children who are transitioning from diapers to underwear, please let staff know when you're beginning potty training at home, and tell them the method you are using. Better communication will increase efficiency in the learning process of your child.

Fire and Storm Drills

Fire and storm drills are practiced monthly to teach the children how to deal with an emergency situation. Staff are trained in basic first aid and infant/child CPR.

Supervision

Lifetime Play has an Arlo security system and 4 cameras. The purposes of the security cameras are for the safety of both children and staff. Access to the live feed will be available to parents/ guardians of children in the care of Lifetime Play. This is a closed and secure feed, only Lifetime Play clients and staff have access.

Discipline

At Lifetime Play, we strive to provide an encouraging and positive environment for the children. Due to the nature of children, sometimes in the learning process, there will be behavioral difficulties. If there are any behavioral issues with your child, we will discuss them with the parent / guardian, and work together to enforce positive discipline, affirmations for good behavior, and use positive discipline strategies and techniques designed to help your child. If there are any behaviors at home, please let us know, so that we can have consistency between home and daycare, working on behaviors to eliminate negative reactions and try to encourage and nurture the child to want to do better. Lifetime Play will not engage in any discipline that is physical, emotionally degrading, or verbally abusive to children.

Please refer to our Discipline Policy document.

Notice to Terminate

If you wish to discontinue care through Lifetime Play due to other reasons, we politely ask that you give a 2 week notice before termination of service, either verbal or written. Please under normal circumstances be considerate of this agreement. Termination on our end will have the same policy, with the exception of serious harmful behavior, such as biting and drawing blood, or injuring another child. Termination may also occur when an account is a month past due on payment.

Grounds for Termination of Care

We understand that children need to learn, but sometimes it is not easy for them. Children make mistakes, and that is ok. However, behavior that is harmful to the well-being of other children, or the daycare, or the staff, will not be tolerated. Examples of this behavior are chronic and frequent biting of other children, physical harm to other children, disruptive temper tantrums, running away, and general refusal to comply with daycare staff. Staff will discuss with parents and form a plan if any of these behaviors occur. Repeat offenses may be grounds for termination.

We encourage positive redirection. Positive discipline teaches children where limits are set, how to maintain control of their bodies, and how-to problem solve in the event of a conflict.

We encourage children to empathize with one another's feelings and see the results of their actions. We discourage inappropriate behavior. Often, eye contact and verbal affirmation of expected behavior works well to redirect from negative behavior. We use "Time Out" as a method of discipline. Any child that is put in time out is always supervised by a staff and shall remain in time out only 1 minute per age of the child. When time out is over, it is explained to the child why time out occurred and what correct behavior is expected. No child is subjected to corporal punishment verbally demeaning words, or physical discipline at any time. Discipline shall never be related to food, rest, or toileting.

We will make every effort to work with parents of children who are having difficulties in child care. Behavior of children which disrupts normal daycare activities on a frequent or extended basis may indicate physical or emotional problems requiring the attention of a professional specialist. The provider, with parental consent, will take the necessary steps to refer the child to the Public Health Nurse, a Mental Health Consultant, or other appropriate places for a professional evaluation.

Children displaying chronic disruptive behavior which is upsetting to the physical or emotional well-being of another child may require the following actions:

1. Parents of the child will be called in for a conference. We will discuss the issues and identify some possible solutions. A plan of action will be developed and agreed upon by the parents, staff, and a health/behavioral specialist.
2. If the plan of action is not working, the parents will be called in for another meeting. We will discuss what is not working and develop another action plan.
3. If no progress has been made towards solving the problematic behavior, the child may be suspended from care.

This daycare guarantees that no child shall be spanked or subjected to any other form of physical punishment. In addition, this daycare will not subject a child to any discipline, which is severe, humiliating, frightening, or any kind of discipline associated with depriving a child of necessary nutrition, rest, and toileting.

This home daycare uses discipline strategies to accomplished desirable behavior:

• Positive Reinforcement: Focusing on things children are doing right, rather than on negative behaviors.
• Redirection: Distracting the child's attention from the undesired behavior.
• Forestalling (Proactive): Anticipating children's actions, positive and negative, before they happen. We can then intervene and stop a behavior from occurring (looking for warning signs that an action might be about to happen). We can strategically place ourselves to intervene before an undesirable behavior occurs.
• Modeling Appropriate Behavior: Showing children how to act by example.
• Positive Phrasing: Putting comments in a positive rather than a negative phrase.
• We can teach the children to resolve their own disputes by taking advantage of opportunities that arise in which we can guide them to peaceful cooperation. Older children are encouraged to help the younger children.

We can teach the children to resolve their own disputes by taking advantage of opportunities that arise in which we can guide them to peaceful cooperation. Older children are encouraged to help the younger children.

Action Plan Physical Acts of Violence: Disobedience and Negative Comments.
These behaviors are demonstrated by hitting, pushing, biting, name calling, disrespectful rebellious behavior, bully behavior, etc. We will immediately intervene. We will assess the needs of the child being victimized to determine whether he or she requires any special attention (medical or otherwise). The child aggressor will immediately be cautioned and directed to make amends (to apologize or share, for example). If the inappropriate behavior continues, the disobedient child may be subject to:

1. A time out; or
2. Being physically removed from the immediate vicinity of the incident; or
3. Being limited in partaking in the immediate activity or related future activities.

If a dispute over a toy is the source of the incident, the toy may be temporarily removed. The parents of an aggressive or disobedient child victim will be notified of an incident so that the parents may address the incident accordingly, as well. The safety and well-being of every child is ultimate goal of any and all forms of discipline contemplated by this daycare.