A Home Child Care Business - Communicating With Parents
Your job as a family child care
provider comes with many
responsibilities. Not only the obvious
responsibility of providing quality
care for children, but for keeping the
door of communication open and
welcoming to the parents of those
children.
For many parents, leaving
their precious little ones with anyone
is often a difficult experience. With
that in mind, a thoughtful child care
provider will do what she can to make
the transition as easy for the parents
as it is for the children.
As you enter into a child care agreement with parents, remember that an important aspect of the agreement is how you will communicate with parents. Schedule appointment times and keep them. The first meeting you have with parents will help both of you get to know each other better and become comfortable communicating. Throughout your involvement with the family, you will realize that effective communication helps everyone. They will be confident in your ability to care for their child, you will have feedback that lets you know that you're doing your job, and as a result, the children will have an enjoyable place to stay while their parents are at work.
The following are just a few tips on how you can communicate well with child care parents:
- Make sure parents know how important they are in your child care program; offer them opportunities to be involved.
- Let parents know the best times for them to talk to you about their child and any concerns or ideas they may have.
- Always allow parents the right to drop in during regular child care hours.
- Be open to advice or ideas from parents on any new ideas you are proposing for your child care.
- Post a child care message board in your home where you and parents can both contribute information.
