Tender Hearts
Family Child Care Center

Mission Statement
Tender Hearts will provide a safe, nurturing environment for children. Tender Hearts will provide them a safe, stable, loving environment where learning takes place through a variety of creative, fun activities, children will meet, if not exceed, their educational, developmental and personal goals.  The program emphasizes the social, intellectual, emotional, physical and ethical development of children

Philosophy Statement
Tender Hearts believes the family unit is the most important influence in the life of the child. Tender Hearts strives to maintain the role of a family support agency by providing a program sensitive to parent needs for child care and parenting concerns, and children's needs for a warm, loving, consistent environment which enhances their growth and development. I am committed to promoting and supporting all aspects of a child’s growth in an atmosphere of respect. Your child is an individual who is an important member of the family, and whose uniqueness is acknowledged and appreciated by that family. I believe that children are the most important part in our future, and I will work with you to establish the solid foundation children need to feel secure and to provide stability for their future.  

Vision Statement
The goals of Tender Hearts are to provide a well-rounded, quality program through which your child can feel good about him/herself while continuing to grow and develop.  These goals will be accomplished by giving the children experiences with music, flannel board stories, finger plays, reading, science, art and outside activities. Daily activities are designed to: promote a healthy self-image in each child, develop social skills such as sharing and taking turns, develop self-help skills such as buttoning, zipping, feeding themselves, bathroom skills, develop intellectual skills and readiness skills for school.
 
My goals are to give children a sense of self-worth by helping them develop at their own individual pace while learning basic skills. I want children to feel confident and secure enough to explore and grow in a stimulating educational and social environment.
 
Children's behavior will be guided by setting clear limits or rules for children. As children explore their environment they learn by an adult's acceptance or non-acceptance what behavior is appropriate or not appropriate. The adult's role in discipline is to allow the child to explore and test the environment as a part of gaining independence, and to guide the child in positive ways to enhance his/her development and self-control. I will talk with children about expected behaviors and model those behaviors consistently for them.  I will state positively what children can do, using specific terms (e.g., "Please use walking feet" rather than "don't run").  Undesirable behavior will be redirected to another activity.