More children attend daycare or other child care facilities globally. With the number of parents that are entrusting child care facilities with the safety of their children, it's more important now than ever to implement the use of child care attendance tracking.
If you're not sure why attendance tracking is important, we're here to provide you with the answers you need. Below you'll find several reasons that support the idea of child care software.
1. Government Requirements
The first reason you need to invest in child care management software is for government reasons. When you don't follow the guidelines put in place by the government, it can leave you unable to do business until these guidelines are met.
In any state where you create a child care business, you will need to meet licensing guidelines. One of the guidelines you must meet is keeping records of each child that attends child care in your facility.
The best way to do this is to have parents escort their children into the building and go through a check-in process. This means there's one central location where each child must stop each day, making it easier to keep track of child care attendance.
After you've ensured parents have completed the necessary information to check their children in, it should be placed in a file and kept for future auditing records. Another reason you need to employ the use of child attendance software is for transportation purposes.
To ensure children are kept safe when entering and leaving a building, you need to keep track of attendance if you supply transportation. Whether you decide to track this by phone, tablet, or paper, staff members on the mode of transportation need something to complete a record of attendance.
Lastly under the government requirement for attendance tracking is whether a child is receiving care through a government program or service. This is done to ensure that the time parents say their child is in daycare is correct and there is proof to back this up.
2. Day-to-Day and Business Planning
There are several things you need to do as you're creating your business plan for the year. It's vital to think about and forecast the number of children you expect for the year.
This includes the number of children you expect to attend your facility for the next few years. The reason you need to plan enrollment numbers is to ensure you've got the resources needed to care for each child.
If you don't plan for a higher number of children, it could leave you scrambling to make the necessary purchases needed to give them what they need. In the child care business, you need enough teachers to watch the children throughout the day.
The number of students to teachers varies based on the age of the child. You've got to follow these guidelines to remain within compliance to conduct business. Attendance tracking provides data about which sessions are the most efficient and well-received by children and their parents.
Equipped with this information, you can offer more of the programs that are in demand. At the same time, you can reduce programs that need to be reworked and conserve company resources in the process.
As someone in business, you understand marketing isn't cheap. The last thing you want to do is waste company time and money on sessions that aren't getting enrollment numbers the way you'd planned.
Don't forget, one thing you need to do is figure out how many hours people will work. There are going to be employees who prefer full-time hours instead of part-time.
You can use attendance data to give an accurate answer about what qualifies as full-time work within your child care facility.
3. Security
The cost of accidents that occur to children is estimated at $275 million each year. When children aren't being watched, it increases the likelihood that an accident leading to an injury will occur.
Parents must work to provide for their children and it's for this reason they are trusting you to keep them safe until they pick them up. Child care software is essential to keeping children safe because it keeps track of where children are and provides information about the child's safety.
If a child is being picked up from child care earlier than usual, you can use the attendance software to check if the person picking them up is authorized. In the child's file, there should be a list of verified pick-up people.
This ensures the child isn't going home with someone who means to do them harm at the end of the day. The software also keeps track of children as they enter and leave the building.
It should make it easy to work as the day changes and keeps accurate records of each child in your care. Parents want peace of mind when they leave their child in your facility.
Using child care attendance software is the perfect way to offer them this.
Child Care Attendance Tracking: Get the Software You Need
Child care attendance tracking should be a daily part of daycare facility operations. You need to use the software to provide safety for the children and meet all government guidelines set in place in your state.
Are you a business searching for a company that will provide you with the software you need to keep children safe? Stop the search and contact Early Learning Ventures.
We take child safety seriously and have the platform and software you need for your business.
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.
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