Have you considered offering Daily Notes for your childcare children? Well, years ago before I started my business when I interned at a daycare center, I was introduced to the practice of writing daily notes. We wrote notes for all of the children in our room. The notes detailed and summarized a child’s day and were provided to the parents at pickup. The notes also helped the care providers to keep up with many routine tasks. Like when diaper changes were needed or when the next scheduled feeding was for a baby. Now I will not lie, sometimes it did seem like a lot of work those notes. But the parents really seemed to appreciate knowing what their child’s day had been like at daycare. And, as I said, it did help us keep track of the needs of each individual child. Yeah, I know what you might be saying, “Why are notes important? I already do a lot at the childcare. Why is offering Daily Notes good for my childcare business?”
Well, I’m glad you asked!
By pickup time, you’ve answered a hundred questions, wiped a few faces, and somehow kept track of everyone’s shoes. Then a parent asks, “What time did she nap?” and your brain goes completely blank. 😅
I call it the pickup-time memory test, and childcare providers shouldn’t have to take it every afternoon. Daily notes give you a simple place to record the little details as they happen, so you can share a more useful update with parents at the end of the day. Let’s talk about why that small habit can make such a difference.
Here are some of the reasons why I think Daily Notes are a great thing for a childcare provider to offer.
What’s In Daily Notes?
So when I started my childcare I brought over a lot of what I had seen at the daycare. One of the first things I did was make the decision to offer daily notes too.
By then I was used to writing out the notes and felt it was one of those “best practices” I had seen at the daycare. I thought the notes showed credibility with new clients.
I took the format of the notes from what we had used at the daycare center and revamped it into my own template. After several revisions, I settled on key sections to include. I included:
- Name & Date
- Meals & Snacks
- Diaper Changes
- Naps
- Daily Health Check
- Areas of Development
- Daily Activities
- Notes
But you might be wondering why or if you should even offer daily childcare notes. Well, let’s see.
Why you should offer Daily Notes
Communication
Daily notes are a great tool for positive communication with parents. You know how parents will ask at the end of the day, “so what did he do today”? The notes basically summarize what a child’s day was like at the childcare.
Daily notes all but alleviate long conversations at the end of the day. It’s all pretty much laid out in the notes.
Especially helpful with infants
One of the things I mention during my tours, especially for infants, is that the notes are very helpful for tracking food intake, growth & development as well as well-baby checks.
Since parents receive detailed information about what happened with their child at childcare, they are able to refer back to that information if they need to.
CLICK HERE for an All-In-One Daycare Daily App
Shows expertise
Parents want to know that their child is receiving quality care. The fact that you take the time to write out daily notes can go far in demonstrating your level of ability and expertise as a provider.
It also shows a level of transparency that is comforting to parents of young children. A provider that offers daily notes can build credibility and trust with their clients.
It might just help you stand out to a prospective parent.
Connects with Parents
Finally, I believe offering daily childcare notes connects parents with your business. I can’t tell you how many referrals I have received that said they were told that I did daily notes. This is one of the main reasons I have kept up the practice of providing notes over the years.
Some parents have actually tried to keep all of the notes. Wow! That will be some memory book!
How to Make Daily Notes Manageable
Daily notes are helpful, but they can feel like one more task on an already full day. The trick is to stop treating them like something you have to write from memory at pickup.
Keep a form and pen where you’ll actually use them—near your daily supplies or wherever you record meals, naps, and diaper changes. Jot down each detail when it happens. A few seconds throughout the day is much easier than trying to reconstruct eight hours while parents are arriving.
You don’t need to write a long story about every child’s day, either. Start with the information parents most often ask you for. Then add a brief note when there’s something worth sharing: a new skill, a favorite activity, or a change you noticed.
At pickup, let the form support the conversation. You can point to the details, mention a highlight, and answer any questions the parent has. The note gives both of you something useful to refer to—and gives your brain a break from the pickup-time memory test. 😅
Report Options
What about a Weekly or Monthly Report?
Now like I said, writing out daily childcare notes can be tedious. Especially if you have more than a few children.
So if you think a Daily Note format might be a bit much to accomplish at your childcare, maybe think about preparing a weekly or monthly report.
You might not want to include all of the sections I have in my report, but you could definitely use quite a few that would give parents a good outlook on their child’s time in childcare.
Newsletter
If daily, weekly, or monthly reports just aren’t in the picture how about offering parents a newsletter? A newsletter is another great way of communicating about the goings-on at the childcare.
You can include pictures of the kids or their projects (parents will love that), events like upcoming holidays, sharing a recipe, requesting supply donations, etc.
The possibilities are endless!
By the way, a newsletter is great for sneaking in reminders about your childcare policies (I do that all the time! Wink, wink).
Related Reading:
- All-In-One Daycare Daily Notes
- How to create a childcare newsletter in minutes
- Effective Communication with Parents
