Diane has more than 20 years of experience in childcare facility administration. She starts her day by greeting parents and welcoming youngsters. But today a parent is ranting about how their bill arrived wrong again. Diane meets with the parent, reviews attendance sheets from the week and corrects the invoice. It’s 30 minutes of her day lost and fewer families she gets to greet.
Another parent inquiries about the book her son heard at story time yesterday. She wants to buy it for him to add to their family library. Diane realizes the child’s teacher is out sick today, so she can’t help the parent discover which book the child enjoyed until the teacher is back in the office. She apologizes, and says she’ll get back to the parent.
Now comes one of Diane’s favorite moments of the day. She gets to stop by the classrooms as the children eagerly start their day. It’s the time when they’re most alert and ready to learn. At her first classroom the teacher battles paper attendance sheets to ensure everyone is present before the start of class. The anxious children move about the room making attendance harder as she counts and re-counts.
The next classroom features art time. Diane smiles as Timmy runs up with his artwork to showcase his drawing of his hero. It’s his mom. Diane snaps a quick photo on her phone and makes a mental note to look up phone numbers for Timmy’s parents to text the photo.
Lunchtime hits and Diane is there to ensure children with allergies are far from any foods that might cause a problem. She bustles from classroom to classroom with sheets with medical information that for confidential purposes, she has to be careful she doesn’t just lay down on a counter somewhere.
It’s a busy life, but one Diane has committed herself to. What she doesn’t know is that so many of these hectic moments could be calmed with childcare management software, like iCare Software. Let’s take another look at Diane’s day, but with iCare.
Diane starts her day greeting parents, and when one approaches inquiring about their bill, Diane lifts the tablet in her hand, pulls up the attendance record for the child in question, and validates that the parent’s automated invoice is indeed correct, and that autopay is still in place through iCare.
A parent approaches and inquiries about the book read in story time the day prior. Once again, with a couple swipes Diane can retrieve the teacher’s journal entry for the day and confirm the name of the book, making the parent’s day.
Diane’s favorite part of the day in watching classes begin looks pretty different now. The teacher taps a few places to confirm attendance and quickly gets the attention of the excited children to do a science experiment to start the day. When Diane sees Timmy’s photo of his mom as his hero, she takes the photo and tags Timmy in iCare. Now his mom and dad see a great photo when they arrive at work and are reminded why Diane’s childcare is the best they’ve ever had.
Now lunchtime isn’t the same sort of hustle because allergy notes are in the HIPAA-compliant health records available on every teachers’ tablet in the classroom, so they can stay up to date on the students’ needs.
Childcare software can be transformational for your facility. Start your 30-day trial at iCare Software.