Summer Day Camp Parent Handbook

The YMCA Shawnee Family YMCA is extremely pleased to provide childcare for your child. By selecting the Y, you are giving your child the opportunity to benefit from a quality program that has a foundation of YMCA traditions and many years of experience in serving children and their families. We are excited to be able to provide an enriching, safe, and fun environment for your child to experience.

Our mature and experienced staff will focus on incorporating the Y’s core values of: Caring, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility into this program. We will also provide opportunities for your child to learn compassion, build self-esteem, and develop lasting friendships.

This parent handbook is designed to answer your questions, promote communication between our staff and your family, and to assist you in understanding our policies and procedures. The policies outlined in this booklet are intended to protect your child and to ensure that his/her experience at the program is positive and rewarding. Please read the handbook carefully with your child and refer to it as needed. We look forward to a tremendous experience!

Sincerely,

YMCA Camp Staff

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Camp Information

Troy & Dollie Smith YMCA, 700 West Saratoga Shawnee, OK 74804

Office: 405.273.4386

• Pre-Camp Opens at 7am. Do not drop your child off prior to 7am.

• Camp sessions begin at 9am and end at 4pm.

• Post-Camp care is provided until 6pm. All children must arrive no later than 9am.

$100 non-refundable registration fee required for all enrollees!

Day camps are for children ages 5 through 12; children must have turned 5 by May 28th - No exceptions!

What to bring to camp:

Every Day:

• Healthy Lunch- Must be non-perishable!! We do not provide refrigeration/microwave for

  lunches. (Please limit the use of Lunchables®. They do not include enough food to provide the

  energy your child will need throughout the day.) Encourage fruit, veggies, and other healthy items.

  Breakfast is not served by the Shawnee YMCA. An afternoon snack will be provided.

• Sunscreen

• Comfortable Play Clothes (no revealing clothing)

• Water Bottle

• Cap/Visor

• Good Attitude

*Girls must wear a “No tummy showing” swimsuit (2 piece allowed if no tummy area is visible). Boys may not wear speedos. Swimwear is required. Street clothing is not allowed in pool. T-shirts can be worn over swimsuits. Please label everything.

For swim days:

• Swimsuit*

• Towel

• Bag for Daily/Wet Items

What NOT to bring to camp:

• Any electronics (this includes tablets, cell phones, etc.). Please don’t put us in the

position of having to be the one who confiscates these items.

• Any toys/equipment unless permission has been granted by that child’s counselor.

• Make Up

• Toys/Stuffed Animals/Blankets/Pillows

• Money

• Weapons

• Trading Cards (including Pokemon)

• Jewelry

• Bad Attitude

Any items brought from this list will be confiscated and not returned. They will be donated to a local charity or women’s shelter. All necessary personal items that come to camp should be clearly labeled with the camper’s name. Items that are lost will be placed in a lost and found area. Due to our limited storage space, if items are not claimed by the end of the camp session, they will be donated to local charities.

Cubby Clean-Out Day

Please make sure to clean out your child’s cubby each Friday. Due to having so many children

enrolled, another child may have that particular cubby if your child is gone that week. All artwork/crafts not picked up on Fridays will be discarded.

PLEASE REMEMBER WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST OR STOLEN ITEMS!

Field Trips

At the current time, we are trying to schedule a few field trips. Tshirts will be provided and must be worn for fieldtrips, no exceptions. We have a lot of fun activities planned for on-site, such as swimming, water play days, science experiments, etc. The campers will also leave the facility on occasion for activities such as the airport track, Lion’s Club Park, Lion’s Club Ballfield, etc. Provided camp tees are not required for these "adjacent" site trips.

About the Y

The Y is the nation’s leading nonprofit committed to strengthening the foundation of communities through youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.

Our Cause

Strengthening the foundations of community is our cause. Every day we work side-by-side with our neighbors to make sure that everyone, regardless of age, income, or background, has the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive while respecting the rights and dignities of all individuals.

How We Do It

Through our three areas of focus, the Y nurtures the potential of every child and teen, improves the nation’s health and well-being and provides opportunities to give back and support our neighbors.

YMCA Mission

To put Christian principles into practice through programs that build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.

Character Development Y’s throughout the USA strive to implement our character development program exemplifying our core values of: CARING, HONESTY, RESPECT, and RESPONSIBILITY. These core values provide a foundation that guide all Y programs, staff trainings, and operations. It is our job to give youth and adults experiences that help them develop a set of positive values, morals, and ethics to live by. The Childcare Staff strives to provide an environment focused on these Y core values. Students will be taught these core values on a consistent basis. Each child will be taught expectations of conduct while in the Childcare Program. Teaching the core values will allow students in our care to form a foundation that will provide a stable, secure base on which to build their lives.

How to Enroll

All paperwork not completed online (vaccination records, any legal documents, etc) and $100 registration fee must be received PRIOR to the first day of camp.

Admissions Criteria

Participants must be between the ages of 5 and 12 years old. Parents must complete, in its entirety, the Shawnee Family YMCA DayCamp Online Enrollment prior to the child’s first day of participation. It is also our policy that every child be fully toilet trained and capable of using the facilities without assistance. We understand that accidents can occur, in which case, we would require that parents pick up their children immediately. We are not allowed to assist with undressing/dressing any child. Due to staffing policies and training, if accidents begin to occur on a regular basis, the child will not be able to attend our programs.

Activities Offered

The typical camp program includes character development activities, arts & crafts, group games, and leadership development. All camp activities are age appropriate. The kids are placed into their respective age groups and taken through activities that are geared for their development level. At certain points during the day, all the children are brought together for group games, songs, and/or special events.

Field Trips/Special Events (TBA dependent on transportation/driver availability) Your child must wear his/her camp t-shirt on field trip days in order to participate. If your child arrives without the required shirt, you will be required to bring their shirt before we leave on the trip or take child home for the day. We will not change our schedule to wait on any child/parent. Each child will receive one t-shirt when camp begins. We cannot provide extra shirts. Field trips are fun and exciting outings to enhance your child’s experience. Fees for field trips are included in the $100 registration fee. NEW POLICY: No additional money will be allowed to be taken on field trips.

Swimming

Campers will need appropriate swimwear (“No tummy” showing swimsuit for girls, no Speedos for boys), a towel, goggles if desired, and a bag for wet items. No water wings, inner tubes or other inflatable devices are allowed in Y pools. All campers will be swim tested each swim day to determine their swimming ability. Swim bracelets will be given to those that pass the test. Campers not able to pass or that refuse to test will be kept in an appropriate area for their skill level. All YMCA Aquatic rules will be followed diligently. Shirts can be worn over swimsuits, if desired.

Child Care Staff Qualifications

The quality and effectiveness of Y services for children are directly related to the skills and personal characteristics of the staff. Recruiting, selecting, training, and supporting the staff are essential, interrelated processes in ensuring the success and integrity of children’s programs. The leaders are required to have experience in working with children, knowledge of recreation activities, and must model the Y’s core values. All Y staff are first aid and CPR certified. Background checks are conducted on all staff members. This includes a criminal background check, national sex offender public registry check, and reference checks. We take pride in our staff training, which includes: emergency procedures, program planning, child abuse awareness, and other areas pertaining to child development.

Equal Access

The Shawnee Family YMCA, in keeping with its mission to help all people realize their fullest potential, encourages and supports the participation of all children in Y Child Care Programs. We serve all children regardless of gender, race, color, nationality, religion, ethnicity, or disability. Consideration is given to the individual needs of every child and the ability of the program to meet those needs.

Marketing

On occasion, the Y takes photographs, film footage, or tape recordings of our programs. This media may include your child’s image or voice and is used only for purposes of promoting or interpreting Y programs. On the registration form you were asked for permission to include your child in these promotional materials.

Staff Relationships Outside of Y Program

For the safety and protection of your child and our staff, Y employees are not allowed to babysit for program participants, spend time outside of program with our families, transport children in their private vehicles, or contact families by personal phone, email, or internet regarding any issue not directly related to the care of the child. Please do NOT put our staff at risk of losing their position with us by asking them to do so. Upon employment, each staff signs a Code of Conduct explaining these rules.

Inclement Weather

Outdoor play is an important part of our daily schedule. Parents are asked to dress their children appropriately for the weather conditions.

Heat Advisories

At the Y we are committed to the safety of all children. All precautions will be taken to prevent heat related injuries. Staff are trained to do the following for your child:

• Make sure there are frequent water breaks

• Lower physical activities

• Act as role models, applying/re-applying sunscreen & wearing hats outside

• Make sure campers are in the shade or indoors whenever possible

• Watch for the signs of heat exhaustion

  
  

Thunderstorms/Tornado

Should there be a tornado warning, all children and staff will go to the Women’s locker room located on the South end of the building. They will sit on the floor against the wall until the threat passes. Monthly drills are done for safety purposes. If severe weather is approaching, staff will contact parents and encourage early pick-up of each child. The YMCA does not have a safe room, basement or evacuation structure.

Sign-In and Sign-Out Procedures

The safety of every child is a priority of the Y. Following Sign-In and Sign-Out procedures helps ensure the safety of your child and allows staff to determine which children are present at any given time.

Sign-In: For your child’s safety, please park in the parking lot adjacent to the building. An adult (at least 18 years old) must walk all children to the designated Childcare area. The adult must sign the child into the program by writing in the time on each child’s sign in sheet. Under no circumstances may a child be dropped off without being signed into the program by an adult. If this occurs, the parent/guardian will be called and required to come to the Childcare site to sign their child into the program.

Sign-Out: All children must be signed out of the program by a parent/guardian or an authorized adult (at least 18 years old). When a child is picked up from the program the parent/guardian or authorized adult must come to the designated Childcare area and sign the child out of the program by writing in the time and providing required signature. All adults picking up children must be prepared to show I.D. so staff can verify their identity. For your child’s protection, anyone without proper I.D. will be stopped from taking a child from the program and the parent/guardian will be contacted immediately. If someone other than the parent/guardian or those on the authorization list needs to pick up your child, you must notify the director in advance. Any restricted individual must have the appropriate paperwork (restraining order, court documents etc.) on file with the director or coordinator.

Late Pick-Up

Y childcare ends at 6:00 p.m. and our staff is scheduled to leave. If you are running late, please notify the Director as soon as possible. A late pick-up fee will be assessed after the program closes. At 6:05,

an immediate charge of $25/per child will be due. If child is still here at 6:30, another $25/child fee will be charged. If child is still in our care at 6:30pm,the proper authorities will be contacted. Fees are due upon pick-up of the child. Parents who have not notified the director they will be late can expect the following sequence of events to occur. These steps are necessary to ensure the safety of the child as well as Y staff members

• 6:00 p.m. Program closes. Staff member in charge begins calling parent work number to check for problems or miscommunications. If contact is not made, alternative contacts listed on the registration form will be called.

• 6:15 p.m. Staff member in charge contacts program director.

• 6:30 p.m. If there is no contact from the parent and no other safe option, the child will be turned over to the proper legal authorities.

  
  

You risk dismissal from the program if you fail to pay the late fee, or if you are late picking up your child three times within a 30-day period. Parents must keep the Y office and staff notified of phone number changes for work, home, and emergency contacts at all times.

Program Fees

Full payment is due online on Monday of each week. Payment is for the entire week and will not be prorated if your child attends less than the entire week. You must sign up for the weeks attending at enrollment. These cannot be altered after enrollment. Payment is due for all weeks enrolled regardless of whether child attends or not. Online enrollment requires payment to be set up to automatically to draft from credit cards {Visa/Mastercard}.

Late Payment

A late fee of $25.00/per week/per child will be assessed when payment is 5 days in arrears. After the third late payment, the fee will increase to $50.00 per occurrence. The YMCA reserves the right to dismiss any child from our program due to delinquent payments.

Delinquent Accounts

Your child may return when the account is brought current or payment arrangements are made. Legal and/or Collection action will be taken for delinquent accounts.

Insufficient Funds

If payment to the childcare program is returned/refused due to insufficient funds, the parent/guardian is

responsible for immediately issuing another payment plus all NSF fees that are assessed.

Tax Information

THE YMCA DOES NOT PROVIDE ITEMIZED STATEMENTS OR RECEIPTS. THE TAX ID # IS: 73-0602462. You may go online to your account and access your payment history.

Financial Assistance

We believe that no one should be turned away due to inability to pay. The Shawnee Family YMCA is a non-profit organization committed to strengthening the foundations of our community, one child at a time. Our annual Strong Communities Campaign is a Y initiative that provides scholarships for programs and memberships to children and families in need. Those families unable to pay the full cost of participation are encouraged to apply. Once approved, you will receive an award letter. It is your responsibility to keep your original copy as proof of your scholarshipamount. Limited funds are available for childcare assistance.

Medication During Program

Any medication that needs to be administered during program hours must:

• Be accompanied by “Permission to Medicate” form (download below)

• Be brought in its original container with the child’s name, physician’s name, and drug name on the

• container.

• Have specific doctor instruction for dosage, times, etc. The Y can only administer medication according to

• original instructions on label. If direction from parent is different, the parent must provide a physician’s

• written change.

• No over-the-counter medication, including pain/fever reducers, cough medicine etc. will be given.

permission to medicate form ymca.

Download • 217KB

Illness/Injury Occurring During Program Hours

The Y does not aim to exclude children from the program unnecessarily. If your child becomes ill/injured, they will be isolated from the other children and you will be contacted to pick him/her up within 30 minutes of notification (depending on the severity of the injury/illness). The YMCA is not equipped to handle ill/injured children beyond securing their immediate comfort. If you cannot be reached, we will contact someone authorized from your emergency contact form for immediate pick up. Please be sure to keep the YMCA informed of any changes in your work/emergency phone numbers. In an emergency, medical aid will be sought immediately. For the sake of your child and others, if a child has a temperature of over 100 degrees, is vomiting, shows other signs of illness, or complains that they feel unwell, parents must keep the participant at home for 48 hours.

Communicable Disease

Communicable diseases are diseases that are transmitted from one individual to another and easily spread among children. Common communicable diseases among children are head lice, pink eye, ringworm, chickenpox and Covid-19. Any child submitting signs of a communicable issue may be required to submit a doctor’s statement stating when they can return to camp.

Head Lice

The Y reserves the right to inspect your child’s head in the event lice is suspected in order to protect all of the other students, staff, and parents In the event nits/head lice are found among your child, a parent/guardian must pick up the child within 30 minutes of the notification. Students with nits/head lice must not return to Y care until 24 hours after first treatment is complete. Parent/Guardian must provide a note from local health department or by physician stating that child is nit/lice free and able to return. In the event that a staff member contracts head lice, that staff member will be required to leave the facility,

obtain treatment, and required to bring documentation from the health department or a local physician

stating person is nit/lice free.

Confidentiality

Student’s records are kept within groups, as staff needs to access them regularly. Any information in a child’s record that is sensitive will be kept in a secure location.

Behavior Management Procedures

Philosophy

The Y strives to maintain a positive approach to managing children’s behavior at all times. “Discipline” is the process of teaching self-control and the ability to live within limitations and agreed upon guidelines. The staff and children at each site establish expected behavior guidelines. Positive behavior is self-rewarding and allows for program activities to occur. When children choose to behave outside the guidelines, some consequence is required to avoid future problems. The overall safety of all children in the program is our highest priority.

Children’s Rules

It is our intent that each child enjoys the planned activities by understanding that they are responsible for their actions. With prior knowledge of our basic rules of safety and good conduct, each child is made aware of how to exercise self-discipline and to understand that we are here to assist her or him and that we expect them to succeed. Character Development is an important part of our program.

Process

When positive behavior is displayed, the consequence is participation and enjoyment of planned activities. In cases of negative or inappropriate behavior, the follow process will be followed:

• Redirection: Every effort is made to help the child understand the inappropriateness of his or her actions and agree to an alternate form of behavior. When the conflict is child-to-child, every effort will be made to have them reason together face-to-face with staff facilitating.

• Removal from the Specific Activity: When redirection has been pursued and behavior has not changed, removing the child from the activity involved for an appropriate amount of time is necessary. The removal time will be age appropriate. Other duty-oriented consequences suitable to the inappropriate behavior may also be utilized at this stage.

• Write-ups: When the child is not successful in correcting the behavior, or the behavior is of a serious nature, a behavior write-up will occur.

• Removal from the Program: If the above process has not resulted in corrected behavior, and/or the child receives 3 behavior reports, the child may be removed from the program.

  
  

Serious Behavior Issues

When a child has a serious discipline problem, on any one occasion, the parent may be called by staff and asked to pick up the child within 30 minutes of the call. Should it be decided by Y staff that a child poses a serious threat to themselves, other campers or YMCA staff members, the child may be suspended from the program for a period of one to five days or may be removed from the program entirely. No child will be allowed to continue in the program who becomes a safety hazard to him/herself or others. In addition to behavior management procedures outlined above, parents must be aware that a child may be released from the program, without refund, for the following misconduct:

• Leaving Y care premises without permission, or going into unauthorized areas

• Using foul language, being rude or discourteous to staff and other children

• Defacing property

• Physical Violence (fighting, biting, putting hands on another child, threatening)

• Bringing or using any illegal substances and weapons

• Any demonstration of sexual contact/words

• Any behavior that jeopardizes the safety of staff or participants

• Stealing

Disciplinary procedure:

• 1st incident – Parent notified in person, by phone and/or in writing

• 2nd incident – Disciplinary write-up

• 3rd incident – The action taken at this point is at the discretion of the Program Coordinator/CampDirector after consultation with the parent.

Depending on severity of offense, suspension or expulsion is possible at 1st offense.

Other Behavior Related Issues

No staff member will ever, strike, swear at, abuse, or threaten with physical intimidation either a child or parent. No staff member will allow a child to be stricken, sworn at, abused or physically intimidated by anyone else in the program. No staff member will ever solicit or accept gratuities in consideration for any treatment of a child.

Parent Conferences

Informal or formal conferences may be requested by staff or parents regarding their child’s behavior. Typically, conferences are requested after multiple behavior reports or extreme changes in a child’s demeanor. We cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you share changes occurring at home or at school. Staff can better provide for a child’s needs when we are aware of changes.

Snack/Lunch Guidelines

The Shawnee YMCA will provide an afternoon snack. Breakfast is not provided by the Shawnee YMCA.

LUNCH POLICY: NO CHILD WILL BE ALLOWED TO BRING SODA/CARBONATED BEVERAGES OR ENERGY DRINKS WHILE ATTENDING YMCA DAYCAMP. IF BROUGHT, ITEM WILL BE REPLACED WITH A BOTTLE OF WATER AND UNHEALTHY ITEM DISPOSED OF. Healthier options would be water or Gatorade. If your child has a food allergy, please make sure to include that information during online enrollment and be sure

to inform the staff of the specific details including the severity.

Child Abuse Policy

The Shawnee Family YMCA takes accusations or suspicions of child abuse very seriously. We are mandated by law to report any suspected child abuse or neglect to the OKDHS and local law enforcement. The contact number for the CHILD ABUSE HOTLINE is 1-800-522-3511. Reports can be made anonymously.