Inge Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 Had a visit from some FD students, from different settings and one commented that we must have a touch policy, we ahve had Ofsted who did not say we needed one or would have it done, This is not for changing nappies but for everyday contact with child eg when they want a cuddle or sit on your knee or need comforting, and along the lines of never being alone while comforting a child... do you have one? sometimes I think if I have to do another policy i will scream........ just doing one for emergency closure (ie, break ins, no heating etc.), but need a bit of a push to start it. any examples of either policy greatly appreciated. feeling a bit fed up with it all........ Inge
alis2son Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 Hi, we dont have one of those either, but only yesterday I was thinking about creating one, because it seems to be in our culture to judge/complain/claim, it wouldnt surprise me that a parent somewhere would make a complaint soon, and its always best to be safer than sorry.
Guest Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 No, surely not If we had to have such a policy - some staff would be constantly worrying whether they should or should not cuddle a child, let a child sit on their lap for a comforting story etc. and may not let children get as close as they may need to. Do we not employ staff that we feel are able to use their common sense as to what type of touch is approriate or not. Children of nursery age need cuddles. I will not be writing such a policy - please don't say we're supposed to.
Guest Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 I have one, only because some children are very touchy, feely and sometimes it can be just a little difficult to deal with esepcially if all the children start behaving like this when they see others behaving in this way and then we cannot get on with dealing with the rest of the children and this leaves some of the children feeling hurt and left out if we need to move on or cannot offer them a cuddle because the snack needs to be done, a child has fallen over etc etc to deal with them. That is not to say that we are uncaring we will give cuddles when needed, we will sit in the book corner with a child on our lap, we will have a child who finds it difficlt to sit for register time or circle time or a child is genuinely upset - I think our policy states in general circumstances that the child has to initiate this and we only provide cuddles as far the need warrants and we prepare them to move on. I will try and find it but it does help eveyrone know what is acceptable contact. It does sound hard I know but it really doesn't make that much difference to our practice but just makes everyone aware that there are 30 children in the group and some will need more attention than others and of course we will give it to them but it does seem to have a knock on effect and some children will then follow suit when they have never been this way. Finding the right balance is the key, comforting some of the children for too long a period can have a detrimental effect and can lead to other problems with other children so we need to be aware of our actions for their own independence and understanding. This sounds awful when I write it and sounds very uncaring but I can assure you we are not - all the staff are prepared to offer comfort when a child needs it - getting the balance is essential and being fair and not giving out the wrong message. Nikki
Beau Posted March 17, 2007 Posted March 17, 2007 I knew there had been this discussion before and eventually after much searching I have found LJW's policy on this. It can be found here.
Deb Posted March 17, 2007 Posted March 17, 2007 Thanks Beau LJW's policy seems pretty balanced and sensible to me. Deb
Guest Posted March 17, 2007 Posted March 17, 2007 Thanks a lot , I am going to look through the forum conversation I missed and try and link the two together somehow as the other policy is more comprehensiv ethan mine. Nikki
Guest Posted March 17, 2007 Posted March 17, 2007 Glad you found the policy I posted. It is still going strong and doing the rounds in our county where our LEA promote as a model of good practice!!! Must be doing something right!
Inge Posted March 17, 2007 Author Posted March 17, 2007 Many thanks Beau, I knew I had seen one but gave up searching as I could not find it, Aslo , to LJW saved me lots of work!! Could this be added to the resources please so that it is easier for others to find?? Inge
Beau Posted March 17, 2007 Posted March 17, 2007 I tried dozens of different word combinations until I found it Inge! Having it in the resource library would certainly be a good idea.
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