Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

5 Ways to Negotiate Differences with Parents

04 10 11

It is very common to have differences with parents. In fact, differences with parents may occur when there is a lack of understanding, misunderstandings, lack of knowledge, culture differences or simply a difference in belief systems.

I remember when my daughter was in preschool and I was a full-time Registered Medical Assistant. I asked my childcare provider to wake-up my daughter at 2pm, because I thought nap-time was too long.

My provider explained to me that children needed to take a  nap everyday. I thought she wanted the kids to sleep 2-to 3 hours  because she needed a break.

It was a lack of knowledge on my part about how childcare was structured and my provider was willing to help me to understand why young children really needed. After all, she was the expert and I was very understanding of why kids needed to take a nap after she educated me on the importance of nap time.

In the event that you have a situation with a parent and you want to take an approach that will not offend the parent, try these 5 negotiation steps:

Step1… Reflect on what happened (“I see how upset you are about the situation”)

Step2…Explain (“Here’s what I think”)

Step3…Reason (I will give you a reason for what I think)

Step4…Understanding (Try to see the conflict from both point of views)

Step5…Negotiate (Begin to look for a solution when both parties are clear about the issues and our differing perspectives (What can we do about this situation?)

I hope that you have been compelled to handle differences with parents in a manner that ends in a mutually working relationship. Feel free to share a recent situation with a parent that involved negotiating differences.

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Top 3 Ways to Communicate With Parents

04 04 11

Effective Parent Communication Tips That Works

 

Parents are so busy today and we must find effective ways of communicating with them. Have you ever reminded a parent that a child needed supplies such as: wipes, extra clothes or diapers and the next day the parent arrived without the supplies? I know….it drives you crazy!

Now remember, parents are very busy and they will forget those verbal reminders. This is why it is vital that we communicate with parents in a manner that will help them to remember supplies and remember important events.

There are many ways to communicate with parents including: daily notes, bulletin boards, phone calls, face-to-face conversations, emails, website, social media, newsletters and so many other ways. However, I have found that there are 3 ways to effectively communicate with parents and they are as follows:

Text Messages

Several months ago there were many snow days in St. Louis and I was forced to close the center several days. Many of the parents requested that I send them a text message in the event of an emergency closing. I thought this was a great idea.

Cell Phones are a great way to send parents very important reminders and I think  that parents will really appreciate you for it. I do not suggest that you remind parents to pay tuition, because they may get offended. Keep your text messages fun and friendly!

Parent Mailboxes

 

* Photo of my parent mailbox

Having a mailbox for each individual family is a great way to assure that important notes are sent home daily, along with school work. I borrowed this idea from the Creative Curriculum when I was operating as a home daycare  in 2002 and I still utilize mailboxes today to communicate with parents.

When the parents arrive and pick-up their children, the first thing that they do is check their child’s mailbox. I also find that parents will ask me or the teachers questions about the information that is placed in the mailbox. If you do not already have a parent mailbox, you can pick-up a mailbox from your local office supply store.

Door Signs

Your front Door is a great place to post very important reminders. My tuition is due on monday and every week I post a reminder on the door that reads: ” Welcome back….If you have not already paid your tuition for this week, please note that tuition is due upon the arrival of your child.”

When I check my payment mailbox, 95% of the parents drop their tuition in the box upon arrival. The week’s that I forget to post a reminder on the door, many of the parents forget to pay tuition and they accrue a late fee on Tuesday morning.

One week after sending home a newsletter about an upcoming event;  I will  post  a festive sign on the door that includes info about the upcoming event. Moreover, I find that many parents seem to remember the event when they see a sign for 7 days prior to the event.

Feel free to share your thoughts about the parent communication tips listed in this blog post.  Do you plan to implement any of the above tips?

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Administration, Family Connections, parent communication

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