Another school year has come to a close. While you clean up the last of the toys in your daycare, reflect on the year and take a moment to think about how you’ve made a difference in a child’s life.
As a daycare owner, you play a pivotal role in supporting the early development of a child. You are tasked with creating a safe and creative space for students to grow. This is not a job that anyone should take lightly, and we are grateful for all that you do.
Building a Better Daycare Experience for Children & Parents
Your daycare serves as a “home away from home” for many children. Each year presents a new opportunity to build a better daycare experience for everyone under your care, as well as their parents.
The children who enter your daycare are at a pivotal age for development. Creating a classroom environment that is safe, nurturing, and visually appealing is a key component of supporting the early learning and behavioral patterns that will develop in your care.
While child care providers will never reach the “perfect” environment, it is something to strive for, and the right daycare solutions can help get you there.
Because of how important the time spent at daycare is, we have put together a list of tips to help you improve the experience for all involved.
1. Analyze Feedback from Staff & Parents
While the end of the year is a time to celebrate, it is also a time to acknowledge areas of weakness. In situations where you are too focused on running the business side of things, turning to your staff and the parents of your daycare for feedback is a great starting point.
Running a daycare is a continuous learning process and prioritizing areas of need is critical for making year-to-year improvements. It requires evaluating the scope of your business, from classroom organization, activity scheduling, and how documentation is processed.
Start by making a list of any troubling areas you ran into this year, and know that they are entirely solvable.
2. Schedule New & Engaging Activities
Your daycare center is an epicenter of creativity and learning for young ones. It’s important to keep things interesting each year by mixing up daily activities that keep children stimulated and continuously learning.
This is where activity management software can help streamline your activities by allowing you to schedule play sessions, assign instructors, and print out necessary supplementary material. With an all-in-one organization system put in place, your fellow child care providers can relax and trust that activities are carrying on as planned.
Staying organized while implementing new activities into the day, along with managing all of the other responsibilities that come with running a daycare can be a challenge. However, your ability to do is so is crucial for the efficiency and success of a program.
3. Revamp Your Registration Strategy & Update Rosters
The way your daycare center handles the registration process is often a telling sign to parents on how the rest of the year will go. A positive daycare experience begins with the nuts and bolts of operations, so let this be the year that creating a registration strategy is prioritized.
From revamping class rosters to making sure parents have submitted all necessary registration forms, there’s a lot of information to track. If data collection isn’t already a part of your strategy, it should be.
With daycare recordkeeping software, everything is done digitally, from monitoring class registration, attendance records, immunization forms, and emergency contacts. Not only does this simplify the entire registration process, but it also significantly reduces clutter and keeps staff organized.
4. Communicate with Parents Before the New School Year
We live in a digital age where parents are more involved than ever. Go the extra mile by starting communication with parents before the year even begins and you are sure to earn some points in their eyes.
When you put in more effort towards your engagement with parents it benefits both children and parents equally. Start by communicating with parents on what is being taught in the classroom and they’ll be more likely to build upon your lessons at home. It also provides an opportunity for parents to share their thoughts on daily activities and the potential for new ideas and solutions.
As parent engagement improves, especially in the days leading up to the new school year, they’ll feel more comfortable about the idea of leaving their child for the day, and feel rest assured that they will be in good hands.
5. Automate Administrative Tasks Where Possible
Long gone are the days where administrative work has to be a long and tedious process. Staff and parents alike are busy people, and you can free up everyone’s time by automating your operational processes.
With capabilities like digital payment processing, parents can make payments at any time on any device, and it can drastically decrease the pressure that comes with managing the finances of a daycare center.
It’s also a solution that many busy millennial parents put value in when considering different daycare options. For parents on the go, this level flexibility can go a long way for proving the value that your daycare center will have for their family.
From your perspective as an administrator, it makes organization less time-consuming and eliminates the manual process of filling out multiple paper forms. Your cash flow will improve, and more time can be spent on the kids and developing exciting activities to fill their days.
6. Equip Your Staff with Tools to Succeed
A happy staff means a more productive daycare, and it’s essential for you to provide them with the tools needed to succeed. After all, staff can be the most valuable asset for your child care center.
Each new year raises a different set of challenges, and a staff that is properly prepped before the year begins is ready to face these obstacles head-on.
The child care industry is constantly undergoing major changes, but keeping up with software and hardware offerings that are dominating the market can keep you in-step with your competitors. With that said, there aren’t any child care software that can replace a well-trained, personable, and dedicated staff of child care providers. However, solutions will help manage daily operations and eliminate uncertainty.
With access to a number of solutions that help streamline time-consuming tasks, your staff can focus on the most important task there is – providing the best care for children under your roof.
Final Thoughts
It’s never too early to start prepping for the next school year ahead. Take a moment to consider what went right this year and take into account any constructive feedback you received from other staff members or parents.
There are several daycare solutions available, created with the parent and child experience in mind. Allow them to take some of the workload off of you, and bring your energy back to the kids.
