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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W hen speaking to parents on the phone, it is of the utmost importance that you make a good first impression. The impression that they get on the phone will weigh heavily as they make decisions about where to tour, and later, where to enroll their little one.

You may not be in a great mood. You’ve been up since 5 am. You may be hungry or tired. BUT, you must be perky, chipper and eager to talk. This is not negotiable. Parents want to send their child to a “happy place.” They want to imagine their child being loved and cuddled. A cranky lady who hasn’t had her coffee doesn’t convey that image.

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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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That’s right. We are giving away a brand new Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition to the kiddo with the most votes in our Cutest Kids Photo Contest!

Upload your favorite picture of your child 0-6 years old and include #LuLuKids in the description for a chance to win.  You can enter once per week through April 30th, 2015.

If you have pictures that will warm hearts or make people laugh from the belly up, follow these simple steps and you could be our lucky winner!

• Like us on Facebook.
• Upload the cutest photo of your kids and use #LuLuKids in the description.
• Share your photo with friends & family and ask them to vote.
• Vote for your favorites by liking the picture and commenting.

Visit our gallery page regularly to see new photos and who is in the lead!

Click here to upload your adorable photos and enter for a chance to win an Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition!

There are lots of fun experiments and projects you can do with children in the classroom that are informative, creative, fun, or all three!

Dance, Raisins, Dance!

Want to demonstrate the principles of density to children? All you need is clear soda, a clear container, and some raisins!

Fill the container halfway with a clear soda of your choosing, and drop in a few raisins (just make sure they have room to move).

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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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In honor of the Week of the Young Child, we are thrilled to announce our partnership with the DC Public Library in support of the Sing, Talk, and Read early literacy campaign! It’s never too early to set children on the path to success. As a professional early childhood educator, you understand the importance of imparting early literacy practices starting at birth to better prepare babies and children for success later down the road.

The Sing, Talk & Read DC initiative, led by the DC Public Library, shows parents and caregivers how to make singing, talking and reading to their very young children a part of their day, every day.

You can watch us discuss the campaign on Let’s Talk Live (NewsChannel8) and offer examples of how you can turn your everyday routine into a fun learning opportunity.

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In our last blog post, we covered the basics of social media marketing, which typically involves creating (or sharing) content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. To put it shortly, it’s word-of-mouth in the digital age. In this post, I’ll share 3 reasons why you should use social media marketing for your child care and preschool program.

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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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