OUR JOB

Our primary responsibility is to love kids! Jesus teaches us this in Matthew 22:36-40 -“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

HOW

Help the child who is standing alone to feel welcome. Try to encourage them to get involved or spend some time just chatting with them.

Greet students as they come, try to learn their names and even the names of parents – especially if the child or parent appears apprehensive. We hope to give all children and parents the assurance that each child is extremely important and will be well cared for.

During worship songs, mix in with the kids, have fun encouraging them to participate and enjoy worship together.

During the lesson, sit by the children who seem to have a hard time settling down. Be positive in a way that encourages them to listen and be involved in the lesson.

We do our best to redirect challenges as positively as possible to encourage child engagement and enthusiasm in learning about and experiencing Jesus.

If a child becomes inconsolable for more than 5 minutes or cannot handle the room environment, send a text to the sound booth with the child’s code (this can be found on the child’s name tag). The sound booth phone number can be found on the white board in each room.

One of the best ways to distract a baby from crying when mom leaves is to overstimulate their thinking by pointing out objects in quick succession around the room with extreme excitement. Their curiosity in what you are showing them begins to override their need for mom.

SUCCESSFUL STRATEGIES

Kids won't remember everything you say - they WILL remember how they felt. It is a BIG value point within MRCC Kids that we create an environment where they FEEL loved and cared for, where they feel heard and valued.

Here are some ways we do our best to accomplish this VALUE

Kids don’t pay attention to age, they respond to attitude.

Kids and leaders who laugh together, learn together.

Leaders and kids who play together, gain greater opportunity to pray together.

Make what is important to them, important to you – get to KNOW them (Be intensional, take the time to learn what they love!)

Be careful not to favor the “good” kids, it’s the “tough” ones that need your love the most. Relate to them and they will relate to you.

Focus on love first - more often than we know, negative behavior is a “test” to see if their greatest need will be met. Do your best to redirect their attention to good decisions.

Kids are looking for fun... if you don’t bring it, they will create their own...

SAFETY

For your safety and our insurance policy, all adults and youth age 16+ must have a completed background check on file. If a parent wants to stay with their child, they can be allowed, but if they want to participate in the activities with other children, a background check is necessary.

Every room must have at least 2 leaders present at all times, one of which must be 18 or older. If one leader must step out, please leave the door open.

Especially in the babies and toddler rooms, we require the printed code label for parents to pick up their children. This code matches the code on each child's name tag.

If a parent alerts you to an allergy concern, the child will need an allergy or medical alert sticker so that all leaders will be aware.

Our bathroom policy allows students to go to the bathroom while a leader stands in the hall to ensure their safety until they return. If a child requires your help, in order to ensure your safety, please leave the bathroom door open and a line of sight with another leader nearby.

Our diapering policy is also designed for your safety. We only change diapers if a parent has communicated permission in writing. If you have not received written permission, please call the parent out of the service to assist their child’s need.

In the case of a real emergency, please notify the parent immediately.

For smaller injuries that do not require immediate parent response, we ask the witnessing leader to fill out an incident report. This ensures clear communication with parents for injury response.

If you suspect child abuse, do not ask the child directly or ask probing or suggestive questions. Report your suspicions to Pastor Allison and keep the information confidential, not to be shared among others. Once reported, the state will request that you fill out a Suspected Child Abuse Report for their records as they begin to investigate.

The best way to visually communicate your leadership in children’s ministry is to wear an MRCC T-shirt or Children’s Ministry printed name-tag. This will help parents identify who will be caring for their child while they are away.

Please make note of our phone numbers to contact a MRCC Staff member as needed - Pastor Allison @ 253-740-8417 or Janae @ 360-932-6910.

COMMUNICATION

NEW Families! They only need to fill out a visitor card ONE time. We will keep that card as they visit. Please write the LAST 4-digits of their PHONE NUMBER on the child’s name tag. This will be the code used if the parent needs to be called from the service. Visitor cards can be filed in the black card holder to be reused each week as the visiting family chooses to return.

When a visitor decides to make MRCC their church home, they need to fill out the reverse side of the visitor card. Please leave this card out for Pastor Allison. Their information will then be entered into the church database so they can check-in at the computer with their phone number the following week.

Leaders are encouraged to write a postcard to kids anytime. Postcards can be found in the room you are serving in. Be sure to write the child’s first and last name on the top of the address portion and leave it for our admin team to address and stamp. We will send these postcards out on Monday morning. Kids LOVE getting mail :) Let’s bless them together!

If a parent needs to be called from the service for any reason (injury, diapering, bathroom, or if the child is inconsolable for more than 5 minutes), please text the code from their name tag to the number listed under “Sound Booth” on the white board in each room. This number reaches the tech person running slides in the sanctuary. They will put the code on the big screen for the parents to respond.

SCHEDULING

In order to help our scheduling team, if you are not available to make your requested serving time, please do your best to find your own replacement. Also, as much as possible, please block out dates through either email or signup genius for the dates you are unable to serve.

Please arrive at least 10-15 minutes early for your scheduled serving time. Or as soon as the service before is dismissed. And, be sure to stay in your room until the new serving team shows up or all children have been picked up.

CHILDREN'S MOVE-UP GUIDE

Infants move to toddlers when the parent feels like their new walker is ready for a more active environment or the helper notices the activity of the new walker is too much for the infant room.

Toddlers are permitted to move to the preschool class once they are 3 and potty trained. Allow the parent to decide when their child is ready unless they become too much of a challenge with the other toddlers.

Kindergarteners move up as they are ready throughout the summer months. We will have a specific move-up day at the end of summer for those that are having a difficult time feeling ready for the move.