Exercise Caution: Is Your Gym Child Care Fit?

HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR
LEGALLY UNLICENSED GYM CHILD CARE.

Licensing for Child Care varies among states. Even if your state does require a license to run a child care, this does not mean that it licenses gym drop-off child care. Check with your local child care licensing department to inquire about the laws.
For example, all child care centers need to be licensed in Massachusetts whether they are large facilities or even just a mom taking care of only one child (that is unrelated to her) in her home on a regular basis; all child care except for care in a health club. I am not referring to day care that happens to be in a gym or health club or fitness club such as the YMCA but to childcare offered for parents who are exercising at the gym and will be leaving their children for no longer than 2 hours.

Many States do not license these child care rooms because the parents are in the building. This is important information to know because this means that the owners or employees of Health Clubs make their own rules about adult to child ratios and other safety measures. The Department of Early Education (EEC), which regulates all licensed child care in Massachusetts, recommends that Health Clubs follow their child care guidelines but this does not mean that there are any penalties for not doing so nor does it mean that the staff is even aware that these guidelines exist. BE CAUTIOUS! Some gym drop-off child care rooms are very safe while others are very dangerous environments for young children. Just because you are in the building does not mean that you know what it is going on in the child care room.


How to choose safe care for your infant, toddler or young child while you exercise:

1. Be aware of the environment when you drop off your child in the child care room. Look around. Stay for a few minutes. Then say goodbye to your child and tell them you will be back after you are finished exercising. (Making sure that your child knows that you are leaving gives him a sense of trust and confidence in you and where you are leaving them. It is okay if your child cries when you leave. Sneaking out will cause your child to develop anxiety even when you are with him.) If it is possible to check on your child without him seeing you, do so. When you return to pick up your child, be aware of what is happening in the room in regard to the caregivers’ interactions with the other children and to what the other parents are being allowed to bring into the room.


2. Look at how the health club follows their other policies and treats their clients:
Do they cancel classes that have many participants to replace them with classes that require clients to pay an additional fee?
Do classes that have been canceled remain on the schedule in order to draw in more clients. (Bait and Switch)
If the gym is not consistent with their other policies don't expect them to follow their own child care ones either.
Ask the opinion of regulars at the gym, if you are not sure.

3. Ask for the gym's written policies for the child care room:
How many children are allowed to be in the room with one caregiver? Does this ratio depend on the ages of the children? Is the child to staff ratio posted?
If the health club is allowing one adult to care for 10 or more children this is probably inappropriate and unsafe unless all of them are of preschool age.

Check with a licensed child care center or the EEC to see what ratios licensed child care are required to have. Example: It is impossible for an adult to safely care for a group of six children under the age of 2, in addition to eight older children.
Caregivers who are educated in early childhood studies or who have experience in group child care will be aware of this. Check with the Health club to see the qualifications of the caregivers.
Is a CORI (Criminal Record Check) done on all of the caregivers. Ask to see them.
What happens when the room is full?
Are the parents asked to wait or does another adult come in the room?
What qualifications does this person have? Have they had a CORI check?
Must this adult remain in the room or does this adult need to leave periodically to attend to their other job? (Be cautious if this is the policy for it only takes a second for a child get injured and it is more likely to happen if there is a high child to adult ratio.)
Will the parents will be informed in writing if there is a change in policy?

4. Ask what the children's rules for behavior are while in the room.
Are the rules posted for the children?
What happens if a child chooses not to follow the rules?
Are the caregivers aware of safe behavior? . Do you see the children acting safely when you come into the room or are they standing on furniture, slamming doors, hiding etc.?
Ask the caregivers what they allow the children to do and not do.
Do the caregivers have group child care experience? Watch how they interact with the children. Do they bend down to their level, give eye to eye contact, smile, talk in a pleasant manner with them?
Ask the caregivers how they would handle various unexpected situations.
Under what circumstances would a parent need to come back to the child care room? How is toilet training handled? How long is a child allowed to cry before the parent is asked to come get them? How is separation anxiety handled? Who will come get the parent?

5. Is the room safe for your Infant/Toddler?
Are there cords that can be pulled on or a T.V. or Large toys that could be pulled on to the children?
Are there climbing structures that they could fall off of?
Is the door to the bathroom (if there is one in the room) kept closed as to prevent a toddler from drowning, head first in the toilet? (Toddlers are top heavy and have been known to drown in small amounts of water.)
Is the door to the child care room kept closed as to prevent children from crawling/walking off? (Especially important if the gym has high children to adult ratios.)
Are the toys and furniture in good, non-fraying condition?
Are all toys large enough for infant/toddlers not to choke on?
Are arts and crafts materials, if there are any, used cautiously around the younger children? Tape, stickers, paint and marker caps, crayons etc. are all choke-able items.
Are unsafe cleaning or other supplies ever stored in the room? (furniture, extra gym equipment, fans, vacuum cleaner? )


6. Are the caregivers required to have updated CPR certification?
Ask to see the copies of the certificates.


7. What are children allowed to bring into the room with them?
Are the rules about what is allowed to come into the room with a child posted?
If your child is likely to put choke-able items in his mouth, it would be advised not to leave this child in a room that allows anything but beverages to be brought into the room: No toys, no diaper bags, no food brought in with the children. All toys that are permanently in the room should, of course, be big enough not to cause a choking hazard. You can be sure an item is large enough not to be a choking hazard if it will not fit through a paper towel roll. Are adults allowed to bring hot beverages into the room?



8. Do the caregivers have written information about potential choking hazards?
Do they know what the signs of a choking child are? Do they know what to do if they see a child choking?
Is the ratio low enough to know where all the children are. (Young children may not come to you for help if they are choking!)
Having the children only eat snacks at a table (if they are allowed) is a good way to make sure everyone sits up. Children should be taught to sit up when eating as this helps to prevent choking.
If baby bags, toys, food etc are allowed to be brought into the room, the caregivers need to be very knowledgeable about choking prevention. It only takes 2 minutes for brain damage to set in if a child is not breathing due to choking.
Are children required to sit at a table while eating?
Are parents asked to bring snacks in a container as not to have plastic bags in the room?

Highly choke-able items: Balloons (pieces get caught in the throat and may not come out even with the Heimlich Maneuver), coins and small toys (anything that can fit through a toilet paper roll) could be choked on by a child and should not be in a child-care room with children under the age of 3.

Children are generally not capable of monitoring what is falling on the floor and should not be expected to be aware that a younger child may get at their snack as they eat. It is not safe to have choke-able food in the room with toddlers even if older children are required to eat at a table. (Especially if the health club is allowing high ratios of children to caregivers.) Most children have not been taught to go to an adult for help if they are choking and so it is very important to have a low enough child to adult ratio that the caregivers are able to monitor all of the children to ensure their safety.

Many gyms do not allow food of any kind in the child care room as it is difficult to regulate what children bring in. In addition to choking prevention measures, many gyms do not permit food due to the increasing incidence of childhood food allergies.

If your gym insists on allowing food in the room, make sure that the caregivers and health club personnel are aware that children do not get their back molars until age 4. It only takes a second for a toddler to pick up a candy or other choke-able food off a table and pop it in her mouth. Gum, other sticky foods, or any choke-able food may not come out with the Heimlich maneuver. It is recommended that these foods not be allowed in child care settings that have young children, infants and toddlers.


Foods that are frequently choked on:
Raisins, gummy chews, gum, candy, marshmallows, spoonfuls of peanut butter and other STICKY OR CHEWY FOOD.

Hard candy, raw vegetables, hard raw fruit pieces, pretzels, popcorn, corn chips or other FIRM FOODS.

Chunks of meat, chunks of cheese, whole grapes, hot dogs, sausages and other ROUND FOODS.

Nuts, seeds, popcorn or other HARD-TO-CHEW FOODS.

If your child (or you) do end up choking (not breathing) and hopefully expel the object, you should still go to the hospital as your throat may swell, so it is best to check with the hospital to make sure you are o.k. The fire department recommends that you call them if you or your child is choking. PREVENTION IS OF COURSE THE BEST WAY TO PREVENT ACCIDENTS. It is a lot easier to keep chokeable items away from children than to get them out of their throat when they are not breathing. It only takes a few minutes of a child not breathing to be left with either permanent neurological problems if the object does eventually come out or to go into cardiac arrest if it doesn't. Pediatric patients don't usually come back from a cardiac arrest.


9. What if you find safety to be a concern and the health club is not interested in changing their policies to rectify the situation?
The Health Department and Selectmen in your town/city can help. Until there is a change in the law, it is the responsibility of parents to monitor the safety of their health club’s child care. Managers of unlicensed child care may not be aware of the safety guidelines that licensed child care facilities follow. Although well-meaning, they may not have the knowledge or experience to safely care for your child. Your Local State Representative may be helpful in getting this law changed.


10. Be Safe, Not Sorry. Exercise Caution.
Having safe, happy children creates a fit, happy you.

Sad article about a 2 year old choking to death on a raw carrot at an unlicensed childcare at: http://www.antonnews.com/hicksvilleillustratednews/2009/03/20/news/