Must be able to do the following: Communicate effectively with infants, toddlers, their parents, and other staff. Provide quality, nurturing care to infants and toddlers enrolled in the program. Demonstrate skills to properly address developmental needs of infants and toddlers. Conduct and document developmental screenings and assessments of children. Maintain effective, working relationships with children, parents, and staff.
Job Duties and Responsibilities Maintains an open, friendly, and cooperative relationship with each child and family Promotes parent-child bonding and nurturing parent-child relationships. Promotes feelings of security and trust in infants and toddlers. Greets infants and their parents warmly and with enthusiasm each morning. Assures that: each infant and toddler is warmly greeted upon arrival; each infant is held; and each child is gradually assisted to become a part of the small group. Talks, sings, and reads to infants frequently. Responds quickly in a soothing and tender manner to infants' cries or calls of distress. Responds consistently to infants' needs for food and comfort. Implements individualized feeding plans for children; respects individual preferences and eating styles; sits with toddlers and shares family-style meal; models manners and good nutrition. Tends to children's personal hygiene needs, remaining especially attentive to them during routines such as diaper changing, cleaning, feeding, and changing soiled or wet clothes. Respects infants' curiosity about each other; ensures that children treat each other gently. Organizes each day's activities to provide children with a variety of experiences and opportunities that allow them to develop curiosity, initiative, problem-solving skills, and creativity, as well as a sense of self and a feeling of belonging to the group. Conducts developmental screenings and ongoing assessments of infants and toddlers to determine motor, language, social, cognitive perceptual and emotional skills. Completes timely, neat, accurate documentation of screenings, assessments, individualized plans, attendance, daily health checklist, feedings, daily activity logs for parents.Completes menu worksheet for assigned infants and toddlers. Maintains a safe, clean, care-giving environment, practices good personal hygiene and hand washing, and assures the well being and safety of all of the children in that environment. Maintains a positive, calm attitude and a pleasant, soothing voice, and models this attitude and voice for parents and others working or volunteering in the program. Maintains a cooperative attitude of working together with other staff. Discipline Policies and Procedures. Protects all children from physical punishment or verbal abuse by anyone in any program activity, and immediately reports any such incident to the center director or person in charge. Provides for the physical safety of each child from arrival time until departure time. Assists the family advocate in teaching and modeling developmentally appropriate practices for parents in caring for their young children. Observes children to detect signs of illness, injury, abuse, neglect, emotional disturbance, or other special needs, and reports these signs immediately to the center director or person in charge. Performs any other tasks deemed necessary by the center director.
Must have a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential for Infant and Toddler Caregivers or an equivalent credential that addresses comparable competencies. Must have (or be willing to obtain) training and experience necessary to develop consistent, stable, and supportive relationships with very young children.