If you added childcare management software to your center but haven’t seen a huge change, you might not be using it to its full advantage. Getting through the initial implementation phase for childcare software can be exciting, but then you lose focus and go back to your old habits of managing your center on paper.
We have recommendations for how to reboot your digital efforts to make your childcare center great and raise amazing children. Here’s how to get the most out of your investment in childcare management software.
Train your teachers
Your teachers will use your childcare software every day. Having them be up to speed on how to best use it is important in the success of your implementation.
Set aside time to train your teachers. You can choose a classroom each day to sit in on and observe your teachers’ interactions and usage of the technology.
Are they doing attendance on paper or in the tool? If they aren’t using your software, your automatic billing could go wrong on the backend for part-time children. Additionally, your records may be incomplete in the case of an audit or lawsuit from a parent.
Encourage teachers to use every opportunity to make a journal entry about what the child learned or how they showed growth and improvement during that day’s lesson. This helps showcase the benefit of your childcare center to parents and record a child’s developmental trajectory to ensure they’re on track. This makes you a partner in the child’s growth.
Share with parents
One of the greatest benefits of childcare software is that it helps you connect with parents in a new way. While providing updates on a child’s development and growth at pick up and drop off is important because it’s face-to-face communication, little updates throughout the day and school year via text messages and photo sharing build relationships with your parents.
During art time, you can easily snap a photo using the web-based application and tag a child so that a parent gets a text message sent directly to them. Now the parent is a partner in the learning experience and can have meaningful discussions with their child about what they learned that day.
By building these relationships with parents, you ensure that they are pleased with the care their children receive and the service that you provide. This means they’ll stay at your center and you won’t have to constantly be finding new clients.
Consult with your childcare software company
If it’s been a few months since you implemented your childcare software, it may be time to contact your childcare software company to review your setup and ensure you’re using it to its fullest.
Discuss how you do your invoicing, what you share with parents, how teachers are using the application and whatever else you have questions about. If your software doesn’t have great customer service, it may be time to switch.
iCare Software looks to partner with childcare centers to ensure that you’re getting everything you hope to out of the system. Learn more about iCare Software and make the switch by contacting us today.