www.thebabyroom.blog

Humpty Dumpty Day Nurseries and Pre-Schools Ltd is a family-owned nursery group in Staffordshire that provide nursery provision and wrap around care for children from six weeks to 11 years old. They have 4 baby rooms that care for 9, 12, 12 and 15 babies at a time across their two full day nursery settings. With the expansion of the entitlement, they have seen an uptick in the number of babies entering their provision, evidenced by the nurseries onboarding 38 new families in the last 6 weeks. Families are at the heart of Humpties’ baby rooms, so in this blog post, we explore how Humpties builds close and trusting relationships with families.

Setting the tone with families

Humpties makes an astute effort to get to know families from the initial point of contact, whether parents turn up at the door, email, message on social media, or ring them up. A member of the senior leadership team chats with families to understand what their family needs and when they want to start before taking them on a tour of the nursery. Whilst on the tour, families are introduced to the core staff they will see when they officially start. They also ask questions to get to learn as much as they can about the baby and family. This includes:

• Who is involved in the family? This can include grandparents, siblings and family members in other countries, alongside work colleagues, religious institution members, neighbours, sports clubs… the list goes on! It takes a village to love and raise a child, and Humpties acknowledges this from the start.
• What will families bring from their home into the nursery? Humpties considers each family’s cultural capital seriously and looks for ways to incorporate it meaningfully into the baby room. For babies, this may mean including pictures from home, or bringing comforters to incorporate familiar smells into the baby room.
• Who will be doing handovers, and how can we support them emotionally? Handovers can be an emotional experience, especially during settling in, so it’s useful to have a plan in place to offer the best possible support.
• If the baby is already born, what interests them? It’s helpful to know what resources or activities to have on hand, building seamlessly on their baby’s experiences at home.

From the start of the nursery journey, Humpties also discusses safeguarding with new families, letting them know that anytime they may ask questions going forward, it comes from a place of care, never judgment, and wanting to offer support. This approach originated post Covid when families were struggling to see postnatal professionals, and mental health was a challenge for families across the board. They wanted to start relationships with families from a place of openness and honesty, helping to keep communication flowing and children and families well.

Building a baby room community

Once families have been inducted and settled in, Humpties shifts focus to building community. Humpties sees their nurseries as community hubs, telling families that they are always welcome in, which helps to build a strong rapport. This is backed by action. The nursery practices an open-door policy, and families can always pop by for a cuppa, biscuits, and a chat.

In addition to an open-door approach, Humpties has regular events where families can come into the setting to meet other parents. There are not many new parent and baby groups available locally, so Humpties sees connecting families as part of their offer. At the moment, they are specifically working on building community for dads by launching a dad’s group in partnership with Andy’s Man Club. This will be a space for dads to go and chat about being a parent, and have an open forum to support each other in getting involved as active members of nursery life.

The impact on babies and families

For Humpties, building trust with families means delivering what they say they will. For parents, when that trust is in place, they can happily drop their baby off and focus on the day ahead of them, feeling secure in the fact that their child is safe and loved. Moreover, having that trust with families means they know the door is truly always open to share any questions or worries- not only about the child and setting, but also the difficult things life throws at families. This gives staff the chance to rectify anything that doesn’t feel right or offer advice and keep the trust going.

Most importantly, when families and baby room educators have a strong sense of trust, babies can enter nursery feeling happy and comfortable, knowing they can trust the baby room educators to look out for them, keep them safe, and listen to them.

Here are some ideas for building trust with families:

• During the onboarding process, ask families about the nuances of their home life, including who’s involved, what their baby is interested in, and how they want their relationship with the nursery to look.
• Practice an open-door approach with families. When families feel welcomed and integral to the baby room, it lays the foundation for a strong relationship.
• Invest in creating a wider baby room community by creating opportunities for families in the baby room to connect with each other. The baby room can act as a community hub, helping families to develop relationships with each other, and thereby knitting together a strong web of support around the children.