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Archive for the ‘parent communication’ Category

How to Effectively Report Accidents/Injuries To Parents

Accidents & Injuries occur on a daily basis in Child Care programs. Moreover,  it is vital that you develop a system that defines who, how and when accidents &  injuries are to be reported to parents.

In fact, parents want to know when their children are injured; and when you communicate injuries to parents; they seem to appreciate the fact that you were open and honest with them.

However, if you fail to report injuries to parents; this could lead to parents being skeptical of you and your program. I would like to share Kim’s story with you.

A week before I wrote this post, one of my former high school classmates, called me about an injury that occurred at her child’s daycare. Kim was very upset that she was not notified until 2 days after the incident occurred and she also discovered that her child was questioned by state officials about the injury.

It was obvious to me that Kim knew the program did not handle the reporting of the injury professionally and she simply wanted some advice. As I consulted her, I considered the following two issues:

  1. The parent was not notified that her child had caused harm to another child 2-days after the incident
  2. This incident has affected how Kim feels about her child’s Child Care program.
  3. Kim was also concerned about staff to child ratio in the classroom at the time of the incident

After listening to Kim’s complaint about the Child Care Program; I was inspired to share Kim’s story with you, to inspire you to think about How you report injuries to parents.

Also I thought I would share helpful tips with you on How to Effectively Report Accidents/Injuries to parents:

  1. Assess all injuries and administer First Aid if needed
  2. Document all injuries right away
  3. Find out why the incident happened and what you can do to prevent the incident from occurring again
  4. Notify the parent right away; if a head injury, bleeding, bruising or fracture occurred. If the injury is minor, be sure to call the parent before pick-up time; so that you are not approaching parents with bad news at pick-up time.
  5. Require that the parent & staff member sign the incident report and be sure to give the parent a copy.

What do you think about Kim’s story? Also, feel free to share your procedures for reporting injuries to parents.

Shiketa

 

Category:

Health/Safety, parent communication

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Top 3 Things That Parents Want From Their Child Care Provider

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Over the years I have listened to parents tell me what they really want from a child care provider. In fact, if you listen closely; parents are telling you every day what they really want.

Moreover, when you know what parents want, you will soon find yourself getting more referrals from parents and the parents will not want to go anyplace else!

Today I am going to share with you; 3 things that parents want:

1. They want a safe place for their children. When you plan to provide a safe place for children, this will reduce your number of accident/incident reports and parents will also have a peace of mind when they leave their children with you. Be sure to notify parents of monthly safety checks and inform them when you receive compliance notices from recent license visits. They will brag on you if they know that your program is a safe place! Get more safety tips here, click here

2. Parents want their children to be in an educational environment. Implement a curriculum, post lesson plans, post photos of educational activities that take place in your program on your website or  social media pages and let parents know that you have an educational place for children! Get more tips here, click here

3. They want you to take good care of their children. This includes paying attention to very small details such as: shoes being tied, nose & face clean. Show the parents that you really care about their children. Communicate with parents on a daily basis about their child’s day, such as sharing the following; share something funny about the child’s day with the parent or even give the child a big hug upon arrival.

Whatever you do; show the parents that you really care for their children. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. ” John Maxwell

I look forward to reading your thoughts about this blog post. Be sure to leave your comments below and share this post with other Child Care Business Owners.

Shiketa

For tips on how to build an educational or safe place for kids, check out the following resources:

Family Home Child Care Empowerment eClub

Quality Child Care Center eClub

More tips in my weekly Child Care Business eNewsletter. Subscribe today!

Category:

parent communication, Program Planning, Quality Care

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