How to Build Trust at Your Child Care Center
While the most important ingredient in trust is time, there are some things you can do to speed the process along, including the ideas below.
Be Open and Honest
Become Licensed and Accredited
Becoming licensed and accredited shows your center upholds a certain level of standards and demonstrates your commitment to the job. With licensing, parents feel much more comfortable trusting you, especially knowing how common licensing violations can be.
Collect Reviews
Parents often seek out reviews before selecting a child care provider. Just like any other business, positive reviews can drive clients right to your door. Encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews of your services online, and prospective parents will see that you can be trusted.
Accept Parent Volunteers
One of the best ways to ensure parents of your skills is to let them see you in action firsthand. Accepting volunteers shows parents you have nothing to hide and reinforces trust in both new parents and those who have worked with you for a while.
Be Proactive
Last-minute messages or announcements can give parents the sense that you don't have a handle on the child care center you're running. Be sure to keep parents in the loop regarding upcoming closures, events, and staff changes. This gives them time to voice any concerns they may have and shows that you can run your business in an organized, proactive manner.
Provide Daily Reports
Parents like to know what their children are up to each day. Providing daily reports gives them this information while demonstrating your proactivity. Not only does this encourage open communication with parents, but also shows them exactly how well their child is cared for under your supervision.
Use Assessments to Show Progress
Assessments are a great way to show parents you're invested in their children's well-being in the long term. As your daily reports add up, provide a big-picture overview to measure how the children are developing across every important skill set.
What to Include in Your Daily Reports
- What activities their child participated in
- What and how much they ate
- When they napped, and for how long
- When they went to the bathroom
- How their moods changed throughout the day
- Any specific observations you may have noted
How to Write Notes in Your Daily Reports
There may come a time when you need to communicate specific notes to parents or caregivers. This can be a delicate process, so follow the tips below to leave your notes without breaking the trust you've built.
Communicate With Respect
Above all, it's important to be respectful when communicating with parents and caregivers. Invested as you are in the child's care, the parents are ultimately your main clients. Give them the chance to ask questions and voice their concerns, and you'll establish a healthy layer of trust that can be built upon further.
Ask for Parent Feedback
No matter how hard you work to provide the best child care, parents are likely to have some feedback for you. Asking for this feedback will not only build trust with parents, but may also give you some ideas for future improvements you'd like to make.
Organize a One-on-One Chat
Sometimes you may need to gather more information to provide a child with the best care. Organizing a one-on-one chat with parents or caregivers can make up for any gaps you need to close.
Raise Concerns as Needed
Parents want to be up to speed with their child's activity and behavior, and this includes things that might be concerning. Raise concerns with parents as you have them, and they'll be grateful for your openness and honesty.
Focus on the Children with Early Learning Venture's Help
You shouldn't have to devote more time to administrative work than you do to the children and your staff. Early Learning Ventures is committed to helping you run an efficient child care program. Schedule a demo and start simplifying your process today!
Are you looking for more child care management information? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Child Care Management.
Our child care management system makes running your child care program simple and efficient. Get back to what's most important. You shouldn't have to spend more time on the administrative tasks than you do with children and staff.
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Do you run an early childhood association made up of child care providers? If so, check out our Ultimate Guide to Shared Service Alliance.
Header image courtesy of Jumpstory.