The Rainbow Path to Child Safety

Welcome to The Gathering. This is a wonderful space to be in. It feels very free and safe. We want to maintain that feeling, yet at the same time it is necessary to be sensible in order to keep our children safe and healthy.

As times change, society in general has developed more problems and illnesses. Some of these, unfortunately, can carry over into our safe haven here. To ignore these problems is not wise. They do exist, therefore we as a family must take measues to prevent them.

Here are some helpful ideas that work and we strongly suggest you take them to heart for the sake of all of our precious children.

1. Please keep track of your children (older kids too) Know where they are and when they should be back to your camp or meetng place.
2. If someone else is caring for your children, please make sure you REALLY know who that person is, spend some time with that person. (sometimes, unfortunately, those persons who would harm our children have a facade that "feels ok" and a very trusting pleasant personality). This is not to say don't trust your feelings or other people, please, just take some time and extra care.....our children deserve it.
3. When you leave your children in Kid Village please sign in and out and leave word where you can be found if possible.
4. Older children need to know how to find their "home camp" and parents. They also shoud be shown safe areas (Kid Villiage, info centers, kitchens, CALM) to go to if they are in trouble, lost or hurt. They should know how to describe you and your camp area verbally. For younger children who cannot talk well and might wander off, use tags....pin a piece of paper to their backs or use tape, with your name and camp directions and their name.
5. Parents or guardians of pre-teens and teens keep in mind that the gathering is a very exciting place with lots of freedoms that your kids may not be used to encountering in such a permissive atmosphere. Keep track of them and pay attention to their vibe. After dark at the gathering is very exciting yet also disorienting and often they can wander far from camp and possibly get confused. Make contingency plans and discuss this with them. Turning teens totally loose is not always a good thing. Also encourage them to paticipate in some form of community work to balance out the Party Vibe...... Just encourage them to be responsible and sensitive.
6. If your child gets separated from you or lost please don't wait long to act! If after a search for your child in the immediate area you cannot locate them keep searching and send someone to go and inform child search at the nearest information center, or gate, kitchen with communications, or kid villiage. We need to be told quickly to do the best job, especially if it is cold or close to nightfall. Better safe than sorry.

If you notice anything that looks or feel "not quite right" or a child that looks overly distressed or frightened, please don't look the other way. It's better to check it out than to let a tragedy occour. As parents, please keep in mind that if someone cares enough to interfere or asks questions about your child or your parenting skills that it is coming from the heart and is meant in the interest of all of our childrens best welfare. please try and be understanding.