Making Children Feel Welcome During the Holidays
Over the years, we’ve shared much information about how to welcome new families for the holidays. We covered topics like making a memorable first impression, establishing a new visitor procedure, the check-in and out process, safety procedures, and the importance of saying goodbye.
Today, we want to focus specifically on ways to welcome the children during the holiday season. According to ScienceDirect, “Today children encounter decision-making at an earlier age and are taking on greater roles and responsibilities in family decisions.” Recent research indicates children’s influence within the family extends far beyond the traditional areas of decision-making and can influence how parents perceive and value new experiences, relationships, and family participation.
Understanding the role children will play in a new family’s decision to return is important. Helping kids feel welcome is critical to effective outreach and plays a large part in putting your best foot forward.
Here are a few ideas to help make children feel welcome during the holidays.
- When checking in a visiting child, give them the choice of choosing a small holiday sticker to be placed on their name badge. This will help others identify that they are new and may need extra attention or help meeting other kids.
- Provide a warm welcome by speaking to the child at eye level. Acknowledge them by name and share your name and something about yourself. A basic introduction is a good idea, even if they are too young to understand.
- Pay attention to your tone of voice, always smile, and demonstrate good posture. Children of all ages are very good at reading body language.
- Create a welcoming space by decorating with simple, carefully selected, child-friendly artwork that includes holiday colors, children’s drawings, pictures of families, and images that would catch their eyes but not overwhelm them.
- Play holiday or kid’s worship music at a low volume level when checking them into the classroom. Always provide things for them to do, look at, or play with during drop off – this will help with separating from family.
- For kids sensitive to stimuli or with special needs and disabilities, you’ll want to provide as much calm as possible in the initial greeting. If you have the space, consider adding a room to meet their needs for the holiday and beyond.
- Assign a buddy (a child who has been around for a while) for visiting kids. If you have children who enjoy meeting others and showing them around, assign them to new kids. This is an excellent way to ensure a child has a positive experience and feels like they have a new friend.
- Visiting a new place can place stress on kids. Ask parents how they would like you to handle separation anxiety. For little ones, this might mean asking them how long you should let the child cry before contacting them.
- Have some small pre-wrapped holiday gifts available to give to visiting children when they are leaving. This will help remind them of their fantastic experience with your program.
- Be flexible with new visiting kids during the holidays and acknowledge if a child has strong feelings about being apart from their families. This will help put them at ease and build trust.
- Send a handwritten note to the child and thank them for visiting during the holidays. Include an invite and information about upcoming events.
Click here to learn more about the benefits of secure children’s check-in. Join our growing social community for additional tips and tricks, the latest child protection information, and original content. You can visit the KidCheck blog or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and Instagram.
Photo by Aleksandra Tanasiienko on Unsplash
Sources:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/
