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I'm just going through the 'All About Me' booklet that I give out to new parents. I'm wondering if I need to scale it down. Do we really need to know the following:
Name of dentist
Name and number of Health Visitor
Whether or not a child is up to date with their childhood vaccinations?
I've never asked for name of dentist and never had to complete that for any of my own children on any nursery/school forms when they were young. When the new EYFS come in you will have to promote good dental health, so would you want the name of the dentist for that? I'm not planning on asking for it, but I do already ask if the child is registered with dentist and whether they go (just ask in passing, not asked on a form anywhere).
I do ask for the name of the health visitor, especially for younger children.
I do also ask if vaccinations are up to date. I've never used the info though and I wouldn't refuse care if a child wasn't vaccinated, so I don't know what purpose it serves really!
I use a pre made form and that does ask for Health visitor and about vaccinations, to be honest the parents don't seem to have a named Health visitor here anymore as they are so understaffed. If there is an issue there is one number to ring and a health visitor gets back to you.
HMMM, i've never thought about asking about dentists etc ... i guess i'll add it to my list! ... as an aside ... how is, or how does anyone cover oral health with their minded children. I'm not getting into brushing teeth!
I ask my 'all about me' from the childs point of view ... name, age, who they live with, pets, friends, something they like to play with, favourite book, favourite animals, favourite tv show, favourite food, anything they don't like to eat, something they've learnt to do recently, something they might need help with and what preschool/school they will ( might! ) go to ... older child i also ask about teachers/out of school clubs.
I have a child record form that asks for Dr/HV, allergies, emergency contacts ( and relationship to child ), parents address, work details and contact details, parents NI number ( I need it when/if they claim funding ), childs NHS number, name of person who will usually collect child, vaccinations (i think we do need them ... maybe child ISN'T vaccinated due to allergy or parental choice, and this could impact on other children in your care. I would have to think very hard about taking on a child who has not been vaccinated (unless for allergy) diet/health concerns/major illnesses/birthmarks & identifying marks, language spoken at home, family's religion, anything else! - child's likes/dislikes/fears. If it is a baby, i ask what the routine for going to sleep is !!! ( and write this in the 'anything else' )
I'd rather have more information than i actually need, than not have a vital piece of information!
I once had a rather militant veggie mum, who on the 'something they don't like to eat' put 'MEAT' !!! Child would refuse carrots and something else... mum said, you didn't ask what she didn't like to eat ... so i laughingly pointed to the 'all about me' and said ... that's what that is for! she did laugh though! ( i also have a 'food' list for parents to annotate, so i have an idea what they do don't eat/like! ... mum on that had crossed out all meat & fish and written 'eats everything' on the rest of it! )