Know

Ratios for Family Child Care

确定安全enro儿童的数量ll in your family child care program, it is important to consider

• If you will be working alone
• If you will also be caring for your own children
• The number of children or individuals requiring significant assistance for whom you can safely care

在您的状态下以及您的家庭儿童保育管理员检查许可标准也是至关重要的，以确切地知道有多少孩子和您可以安全地照顾哪些孩子。万博体育下载官方网站

The Department of Defense follows these guidelines when considering ratios for family child care homes:

The maximum group size in a home is six children per provider, including the provider’s own children under the age of eight.

1. When all children are under the age of two, the maximum group size at any one time is three.
2. 在混合年龄群体中，两年后的儿童人数仅限于两个孩子。
3. When all children are school-age, the maximum group size is eight.

In general, safe ratios forsmall family child care homes, where there is one adult provider, mean:

• 不超过六个孩子，包括提供者自己的儿童未满8岁
• No more than two children or individuals who are incapable of self-preservation—in other words, under the age of 2 or older than 2 but with particular special needs. It is important to consider the level of assistance a particular child or person may need, as the overall ratio in the family care setting may need to be lowered to safely care for all individuals when there is a child with significant developmental or physical needs.

Within some states or agencies, for example, within the military services, family child care providers may operateinfant only child care homes, where all children being cared for are under the age of 2 (or in some states, 3). In these homes, a safe ratio is no more than three children, once again including the provider’s own children.

In addition, some family child care homes may provideovernight或者延长护理for children where the child stays in the family care provider’s home during nighttime hours, or for a couple of weeks, perhaps during a parent’s service training or deployment. For clarification between extended care and overnight care, check with your service or local licensing agency about required ratios for overnight and extended care.

Once again, it is important to check the regulations in your state or for your specific program, but a safe ratio for overnight or extended care is no more than three children, including the provider’s own children under 8 years of age. It can be challenging to carefully watch many young children for an extended time; these overnight and extended care ratios are in place to support a provider’s active supervision.

许多州也允许提供者经营大型家庭幼儿节目（有时称为集团家庭），其中至少有两个成人提供者存在和更多的儿童（例万博体育下载官方网站如，通常是八到十二名儿童）。大家庭儿童保万博体育下载官方网站育家庭在不同状态和不同组织中的不同程度定义。所以再一次，检查你的州或机构标准很重要。此类设置的注册的限制也可以由您家中外可用的物理空间确定。

保持适当的比率对于确保安全和高质量的护理至关重要。超出您的州或机构确定的比率可以使其难以提供良好的监督，并适当地满足您在您的护理中的基本需求;它可以让孩子们和你的风险很大。除了安全问题之外，维护所规定的比率有助于确保您可以提供时间和从事关注，以便单独支持每个孩子的健康发展。根据Howes，Philips和WhiteBook（1992），当供应商过分征税时，它们的可能性不太可能有一对一的谈话或计划质量经验。并考虑在拥挤的空间中可能觉得你的感觉。拥挤的空间可以让很多人感到紧张或生气，这可能会影响他们的行为 - 它们可能会成为防守，积极或撤回。儿童也是如此;比率标准帮助您的计划中的所有个人，包括您，感到安全和平静。

Who counts in ratio and when do ratios apply?

The ratios outlined above help to identify which children to count when determining ratio. All children present in the home, including one’s own, under the age of 8 (or for some states and agencies, ages 12 years and younger), must be considered when determining child-to-provider ratios. The child-to-provider ratio applies all the time, even if some children are sleeping. As discussed more below, supervision practices may be different overnight, and family child care providers may take a few minutes for personal time (e.g., to use the restroom), but defined ratios should always be maintained.

重要的是要注意,虽然所有典型个体als living in your household are required to undergo background checks before you can care for children in your home, these individuals do not count as providers unless they are also employees of your family child care program. Although a household member—or perhaps a nearby family member or friend—may be your designated backup in the event of an emergency, or if you are ill, you are the primary provider and should be present in the home at all times. Except for very brief times away to care for personal needs, only you (or for large family child care homes, you and an assistant) should be counted as providers in ratio.

Supervision

Supervision describes the ways adults help protect children from injury or other harm. Supervision is an active process. It involves watching, listening, interacting, monitoring, and preventing problems.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (Caring for Our Children, 2011), "active and positive supervision" involves:

• 了解每个孩子的能力
• 建立明确和简单的安全规则
• Being aware of and scanning for potential safety hazards
• 站在战略位置，以便您可以立即看到所有孩子
• Scanning play activities and circulating around the area
• 专注于积极而不是消极，教导孩子和其他孩子是安全的
• 教育儿童适当安全地使用每件设备（例如，坐在剪刀时使用剪刀，只有剪刀的安全性，因为不安全地使用剪刀可能导致伤害）

您可以看到监督不仅仅是看。它涉及所有技能作为老师和照顾者。监督是您对与孩子信任您的家庭的责任和承诺。它包括每天早上填写日常安全检查表，以确保安全的环境，但它还包括您的互动和有用的指导，以支持儿童的健康发展。

Supervision in family child care can be more complicated than in center-based settings. As a solo provider, you have to be more strategic, as you are the only set of adult ears and eyes to ensure the children’s safety. In the Explore section below, we ask you to consider some common supervision challenges in family child care settings. We will also continue to highlight important supervision practices in the lessons ahead, as things such as the environmental set up can affect the quality of supervision.

关于监督，全国家庭儿童关怀协会（2013年）表示这些应发生这些：万博体育下载官方网站

• Children under the age of 3 are in the provider's line of sight at all times, except when the provider attends to their own personal needs for up to five minutes. The provider assures the safety of all children while attending to their own personal needs.
• Children age 3 and older may be out of the provider’s line of sight for short periods of time, as long as the provider is close by and listens carefully to assure all children are safe.
• Children under the age of 6 are never inside or outside by themselves. When children are inside, the provider is inside. When children are outside, the provider is outside.

Supervision during routine care

We will discuss feeding and toileting in more detail in the Healthy Course. However, as these are more complicated times to supervise, especially in family child care settings, we highlight below best practices for supervision. These are especially important rules for infants, toddlers, and young preschoolers.

Feeding

Follow these safety supervision guidelines during feeding:

• Bottle-fed infants should be held during bottle feedings.
• Older infants and toddlers should always be seated while eating and drinking. Choking or injury risk is greater when children are on the move.
• You need to be within arm's reach of young children who are eating and maintain visual supervision. Choking is a silent accident.

尿布和厕所

For infants and toddlers, remember during diapering to keep a hand on the child at all times. Having materials prepared before diapering allows your hands to stay on task. Toileting routines exposes toddlers to water deep enough for drowning. Hand washing may involve a step stool, which toddlers can fall from. Remember, these types of care-giving routines may be routine for you, but they aren't for toddlers. Their motor skills are still developing. They are still learning to coordinate and balance, so accidents are more prone to occur. Bathrooms are not easy environments to make safe, so your awareness of hazards is crucial to prevent injury.

For potty-trained preschoolers and older children, privacy during toileting is appropriate, but you should still be nearby so that you can hear and help as needed. You can also help ensure that each child washes his or her hands after toileting.

In family child care settings, knowing the diapering and toileting schedule that fits your children’s age and developmental level can help with supervision. For example, perhaps you have set transition times in the day where toileting and diapering happens at once for all children so you can easily watch and assist all. You could also have a small basket of books or a set of safe manipulatives ready for children to read or explore when they are finished. Identifying these toileting and diapering times in your daily schedule will help you and the children develop safe routines.

无疑会成为意外或肮脏的尿布，需要在建立的时间表之外更改。在您每天早上打开课程之前，让您的浴室和尿布区域储存很好，因此您需要的所有材料都已准备好。如果需要立即尿布或厕所访问，您还需要考虑，您将如何监督其他儿童。您可以暂时提供哪些安全活动以及您可以将其他孩子暂时放置的安全空间，以便您可以参加需要改变的孩子？

抵达和离开

到达和出发日常常规是将护理转移到家里。抵达时，迎接每个家庭成员和孩子是一个有意识的和明显的策略，可以说“我知道你在这里感到高兴。”这对家庭表示，他们的孩子正在向你的照顾一天过渡。出发类似。当他们到达并告别孩子和家庭时迎接家庭，完成过渡。

To account for each child, you should have a sign-in, sign-out procedure for you and the families, so you have a record of the departure date and time and the name of the adult dropping off or picking up the child. Children should only be released to the adults that have been approved to pick them up. You should have a signed form from each child’s parents or guardian(s) that indicates who is permitted to pick them up and when. For some children, you may have additional documentation regarding their custody arrangements. Consult with your family child care administrator for policies regarding families with custody arrangements and disputes. Children should only be released to parents who have custody.

Each Family Child Care Setting is Different

Each family child care setting is unique; you will need to adapt the supervision to the children in your care—not only based on their age and developmental level, but also on their unique personalities, strengths, and interests. For example, for infants, especially those that are becoming mobile, or for toddlers who are just learning how to safely get their needs met, your proximity will let you directly help if, for example, an infant begins to grasp onto another child’s body to help her stand or a toddler needs help with the language to request the toy he wants. When determining the level of direct, engaged supervision necessary for various activities, consider the type, complexity, and level of risk involved. More supervision may be necessary when learning a new or difficult skill. Less supervision may be necessary in activities like reading or playing with soft blocks. Independence for older children should be respected and encouraged, although this should be balanced with direct engagement during appropriate activities.

过夜监督

如果您在24小时内照顾孩子，则允许您在下午6点之间的某个时间睡觉。和凌晨6点。如果您的程序中的所有孩子也在睡觉。对于隔夜或延长的护理，您可以观看不超过8岁以下的儿童。如果您在一夜之间照顾儿童，您应该有机制安全监控睡眠（例如，音频或视觉监视器）。

See

Maintaining Ratios

Do

监督不是孤独的任务。在与孩子们互动的同时，您监督最好的。你和孩子们会说话，唱歌，咯咯地笑，让发现，安静的时间，共享一本书，探索玩具和材料，共享一对一的时间，并与同伴一起参加。

Because of your supervision, the children in your care are free to learn about themselves, their environment, and the people around them, which promotes a holistic approach to development. Active supervision aids in children’s cognitive, social-emotional, and communicative development.

When it comes to supervision, try the following strategies:

• Anticipate children's actions.
• Move through all of the spaces where children are.
• 经常扫描区域以确保安全。
• Limit contact with other adults, a cell phone, the television, or other electronic distraction.
• 在肚子的时间内留在婴儿的手臂内。
• Consistently check equipment for damage.
• Frequently make eye contact with children.
• Always keep one hand on an infant while diapering.
• Immediately act to prevent injury.
• Provide interaction and support during play and learning.
• Quickly and effectively respond to children's distress.
• 为高风险活动提供更紧密的监督。
• Sit close to non-mobile infants when mobile infants or older children are near.
• Always place infants on their backs to sleep.
• For young children, be present to support each child’s safe use of the toilet.
• For older preschoolers and school-age children, give privacy during toileting but still be able to hear and help as needed.
• 对于幼儿，现在和仔细观察每个孩子洗他或她的手。
• 留在一臂之力的幼儿正在吃的幼儿。
• Maintain visual contact with children who are going to sleep, are asleep, or are in the process of waking.

请记住，强有力的提供者能够与孩子或一小群儿童同时互动，也许读一本书或探索一起玩面团，同时也监测她或他的护理中的所有孩子。对于家庭万博体育下载官方网站幼儿保育提供者，您应该花时间确定是否存在某些活动，其中您可以与某些儿童进行互动并安全监督所有人。对于这些某些活动，需要花时间计划所有儿童可以立即参与这些体验是有用的。您如何确保这些经验是足够的，以容纳不同发展水平的儿童，因此他们都可以参与其中，并且您可以更有效地监督？您还可以帮助确定儿童可能选择其他儿童是否从事需要更多监督的活动的低监督活动。