Build Trust at Your Child Care With Daily Reporting Communication

When it comes to child care, a big concern for parents is where they will be sending their child day after day. After all, their children are the most important things in the world to them, and entrusting someone with their well-being each day is a big commitment.

As a child care professional, the last thing you want is for parents to be unsure if their child will be safe with you. Unfortunately, building trust with parents is an ongoing process and not one that has an easy fix. Trust is the sum of many small parts, and the only way to build it is to show parents how capable you are over time.

While it may seem unfair, you’re always just one mistake away from losing the trust that you’ve built with each parent. For this reason, it’s important to actively work to earn—and keep—the trust you need. Read on to find out exactly how you can start building trust at your child care center today.

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

Parents don't want any secrets kept when it comes to the safety of their children. If they suspect you're keeping things from them, they'll start to draw their own conclusions, which could damage the trust you've built with them.

Prioritize openness and honesty to maintain trust. Even if the day's updates aren't overwhelmingly positive, parents will appreciate your dedication to keeping them in the loop.

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

Child care daily reports are great tools for building trust with parents and caregivers. Here are a few things your communication reports should include that will make them the most effective.

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

By including this information in your daily communication reports, you can showcase just how thorough you are with the child care you provide, and further strengthen the trust between parents and you.

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.