Welcome!

The Cozy Cottage nursery is meant to be a ministry to you and your child.  We strive to provide a loving, safe, and stimulating environment for your little one so that you may relax and enjoy the worship, fellowship, and learning opportunities Highland Park has to offer.

The nursery is for ages 0-3 divided into two areas:

• Babies:  infant until the child is walking        
• Toddlers: “walkers” through 3 years

The Sunshine Club, our Sunday School program for ages 2-kindergarten, is also available to use in conjunction with our nursery services.

Staff

We know how important it is to you to know a little about our nursery volunteers.  They have a passion for working with infants/toddlers and are devoted to providing excellent care to your child.  Their responsibility is to meet individual needs of each child.

Sanitation

Cleanliness is a major concern at Highland Park, and we want you to feel comfortable with the policies we have adopted.

Diaper Changing:  Prior to changing, the table will be either disinfected, or will have a clean changing cloth placed on it.  Nursery staff has rubber gloves available and will wear them upon your request.

Post Changing:  Upon completion of the diaper change, we will sanitize the table.  If the diaper is wet, it will be placed in the trashcan.  If the diaper is soiled, it will be placed inside our Diaper Genie.  The nursery staff will wash their hands after each diaper change.                          

Sheets:  Crib sheets are changed weekly or between uses by children.  These items are bagged at the conclusion of the Sunday morning services.  Disinfecting methods are adhered to when laundering the items.

Garbage:  All garbage is disposed of at the conclusion of our Sunday morning services.

Toys:  Our staff strives to sanitize all “played with” toys.  Highland Park uses state-approved sanitation methods including sanitation through an autoclave.  Because it’s difficult to keep your toys separate from nursery toys, we request that you only bring a toy if it aids in making your child feel comfortable in our nursery.

Crying

We want your time at Highland Park to be uninterrupted, but realize this isn’t always possible.  As you sign in your child, please advise us regarding your child’s temperament, crying tendencies, and methods that work best to quiet your child.

If our attempts to quiet your child have failed, we will send a nursery volunteer or usher to find you.  Our general rule of thumb is to try to soothe the child for 10 minutes.  If you would like us to notify you sooner or later than 10 minutes, please let us know.

Illness

If your child is not feeling well, he/she will be much happier in your care.  If you think your child may be coming down with an illness or if your child has displayed one or more of the following symptoms within the last 24 hours, please do not leave them in the nursery that day.

• Runny nose or consistent cough         
• Fever (exceeding 100), vomiting, or diarrhea         
• Contagious diseases, rashes, eye infections

Since we are not capable of determining if a runny nose or cough is the symptom of something contagious, we have taken a conservative approach to minimize the spread of illness.  The only exceptions are:

• If your child has been on antibiotics for 24 hours         
• If your child’s runny nose is clear and/or from allergies.