Child Care Providers & Preschools

A s a child care owner or preschool director, you are in the business of enrolling new students. Yes, this might sound crude, but the only way you will stay in business is if you indeed enroll children at your facility. So you must be ready every day (every minute, really) to follow-up on “leads.” Parent leads, or “referrals”, are prospective parents who show interest in your child care program, either by calling you, emailing you, or stopping by your center for a tour.

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J ust when you think you’re all set to welcome the newest addition to your child care program, little Susie’s mom chimes in, “I forgot to mention. Susie is deathly allergic to nuts. Can you accommodate her?”

Before you start madly examining the floor of your child care center or home for peanut shell remnants, or begin throwing everything in your snack cupboard out, know you aren’t alone in addressing nut allergies. With 1 in every 13 children under the age of 18 having a life threatening allergy to nuts in the US today, it’s inevitable that at some point you are going to have a Susie walk through your door.

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Facebook is the world’s most popular social networking website with over a billion users worldwide. If you’re not using it to reach prospective parents and engage with currently enrolled families, you’re missing out. The benefits of using Facebook are countless for all businesses, but as discussed in our earlier blog post, it’s especially true for child care and preschool programs because of your target audience: mothers with children under 5 are the most active users of social media.

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Last Friday was the National Preschool Fitness Day and in light of that, I’d like to encourage you to explore the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative.

Let’s Move offers free training and resources for child care providers. Learn more about simple steps you can take to help children in your program learn habits that prevent childhood obesity and can keep them healthy for life. You can even become a recognized child care and early education provider by successfully meeting the five Let’s Move! Child Care goals – physical activity, screen time, food, beverages, and infant feeding.

To become a recognized provider get started here.

Did you know that more than half of obese children become overweight by the time they’re 2? Did you also know that roughly one in five children is overweight by their 6^th birthday? Given such high statistics, as the director of an early education program, it’s critical that you support physical fitness for preschoolers and instill healthy lifestyle habits early on so that children may continue these habits as they grow.

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Going “green” and becoming more sustainable has grown to become an attractive and popular trend for many companies and organizations. Not only is it great for the environment, but those things that are harmful to the environment can also be unsafe for children. When preparing your center for child care, going “green” is likely the last thing to cross your mind.  However, making sure that you are conscious of things like wall paints, pest control practices and cleaning supplies is important.

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As much as we try to protect our children, studies show that more than half will experience bullying at some point in their lives. Bullying can take place as early as preschool and as a teacher or director, it is important that you take actions early on in order to prevent bullying. In this post, we’ll discuss bullying: how to recognize it, prevent it, and what to do if bullying does occur at your preschool.

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Some of the kids in your care may be transitioning to kindergarten in the near future, what should you do? Kindergarten can be a big transition for little ones, especially if they are going from a private center or an even smaller family home to a public school. They are leaving everyone that has become familiar to them behind and have to learn how to cope with the higher demands that come along with being a kindergartener. Here are some ways to assist you as a provider in guiding them along the way:

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