Reopening Children's Ministries

We are so excited to welcome our children back tomorrow! We look forward to having them in the nursery, preschool and elementary areas. If you've chosen to stay home and watch the livestream or you are sitting together as a family in the auditorium, we respect your decision. But for those families who have chosen to allow your children to reenter our children's ministry, we're super happy to welcome them! 

I'd like to share several things with you and answer some important questions before you arrive, so you know what to expect. First, why are reopening our children's ministry? While many churches are reopening, most of them have chosen not to reopen children's ministry at this point. Here are our reasons for reopening the children's ministry at Morningside. 

The second question you may be asking is where does my child go when we arrive. Most children are used to quickly finding the gym. As this time, the gym and gym classrooms will remain closed. We will be using the nursery rooms and south wing during this transition. Prior to dropping off your child in his or her classroom, please check-in electronically at one of the kiosks in the hallways. A volunteer will be available to help check in your child/children. If you need to provide special instructions for your infant or toddler, please allow the nursery volunteer to record that information for you. In order to adhere to CDC guidelines, we are asking parents not enter the nursery play areas and south wing without permission from a volunteer.  This excludes nursing mothers. If a child needs your attention to happily transition into a classroom, take the opportunity outside of the classroom to help them. It is better overall that we keep our volunteers and children safe by limiting who enters the nursery rooms and south wing. 

The last question you may be wondering about is what will my child/children be doing during the hour? Nursery will pretty much be the same with fewer toys and more effort given to sanitizing and hand washing when needed. This Sunday in our preschool and elementary areas, we will take some time to introduce our children to the new area. Because of the new space and some special things in the south wing we will also establish guidelines so children know what is expected. We will spend a few minutes talking about change and our unchangeable God. They will then have time to play in the various areas. You can see a sneak peak below. Overall, we want children to feel welcome and safe this first week back in a new space. Each child will receive his or her own bag of craft supplies so we are not sharing crayons, glue sticks, etc. and cross-contaminating.  We will not be serving snacks at this point. We will limit bathroom breaks.

A few last minute comments and requests...
We will practice social distancing as much as possible.
We are not requiring our volunteers or children to wear masks. 
We are not requiring temperature check at the door (we will have touchless infrared thermometers available as a precautionary need).
We will only use the bathrooms if it is an emergency. If a child/children need to use the bathroom, we will utilize the upstairs bathrooms. Two adult volunteers are required to be present and may not enter the bathroom.
We will be using hand sanitizer or washing hands as needed. 

Please have your child do three things before leaving the house: 
1. Eat food
2. Use the bathroom
3. Wash his or her hands

The children’s ministry volunteers and I look forward to welcoming our Morningside Kids back to church!

Lara Cropsey, Children Ministry Director