Child Care Strategic Plan

KidCentric has developed a Child Care Strategic Plan to help child care providers develop a Strategic Plan for their child care program. A Strategic Plan can help you to become more proactive in your management.It will help you assess where your program is going over the next 3 to 5 years, how you will get there, and how you will know if you arrived.

This 2-document packet contains a Strategic Plan template (9 pages) that you can fill out with your own program's information. It also contains "Developing Your Strategic Plan"; an 8-page guide to help you understand what a Strategic Plan is, why you need one, and what it will take to do it. It takes you step-by-step through our template to ensure you understand exactly how to write your own Strategic Plan. You will be able to write your vision statement, mission statement, and core values. You will learn to conduct a SWOT Analysis and use your findings to develop your program goals, with objectives and strategies to meet those goals. Additionally, this document will fulfill the Pennsylvania Keystone Stars (Star 4) requirement for a Strategic Plan.

The KidCentric Child Care Strategic Plan is available for purchase and immediate download at www.DayCareTools.com for $35.00.

Child Care Risk Management Plan

KidCentric has developed a Child Care Risk Management Plan to help child care providers manage the risks that are inherent in any program that involves caring for children. This 77-page document will help you to identify the risks your program may encounter, describe how you will minimize these risks, and detail what steps you will take in the event of an accident or emergency.

Areas covered are:

• Staffing;
• Enrolling and Discharging Children;
• Food Service;
• Indoor and Outdoor Premises
• Indoor and Outdoor Equipment;
• Programs, Activities and Services; Transportation;
• Health and Medical;
• Emergency/Disaster Planning;
• Administration;
• Parent Communication;
• Pets.

This document can be easily tailored to your program’s specifications, by simply deleting parts that are not applicable to your program. For example, if you do not provide care for infants, simply delete the sections related to infant care. Additionally, this document meets the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) requirement for a risk management plan.

For providers who are new to the field and looking for detailed information on how to start a child care program, this document is a valuable resource.

The KidCentric Child Care Risk Management Plan is available for purchase and immediate download at www.DayCareTools.com for $35.00.

Child Care and Economic Development

KidCentric has long touted the benefits of employer-sponsored child care--employee recruiting and retention, reduced absenteeism and turnover, employee loyalty, etc. Bill Millett, founder of Scope View Strategic Advantage, is now making the case for the necessity of child care for businesses and the economy in general to thrive. It is a case that KidCentric has made as an aside for years, but new research makes it an issue that needs to be examined again if employers want to have a future employee base. With 72 percent of 17 to 24-year-olds not currently able to meet the basic minimum standards required for military service, it seems that the benefits, and absolute necessity, of high-quality early care and education can no longer be overlooked.

Wise Investment
Speaker says early childhood education essential for business, economy to thrive
By Dionna Harris
POSTED: May 15, 2010

ESCANABA - If America has any chance of regaining its advantage as a global leader, changes in education perceptions must be made.
That was the message delivered Friday by Bill Millett during a presentation held at the House of Ludington. Millett is the founder of the Charlotte, N.C.-based Scope View Strategic Advantage. Millett's firm deals primarily with business and economic development. However, Millett has an intense personal interest in children's issues dealing with quality early education.
Millett's presentation, "Early Childhood Education; A Competitive Necessity in a Global Economy" was sponsored by the Delta-Schoolcraft Great Start Collaborative.
"Currently one third of all college students are taking remedial classes," said Millett. "Among high school students, the dropout rate is 30 percent."
Millett said, during the past 25 years, Americans have become complacent about early childhood education. This complacency has led to other countries surpassing the U.S. in the global market.
"Children today are facing a much more competitive world than it was 25 years ago. There is a finite number of jobs and more and more people are chasing those job opportunities," said Millett.
He said children today are living in a global and cognitive age.
One problem, he explained, is too much of education today is dedicated to memorization. There is a lack of practical application and collaboration for problem solving.
The solution, said Millett, is to invest time and resources to improve kindergarten through 12th grade education in the United States.
Millett added the economic and social costs not only to individuals, but communities, are too great to ignore.
Research revealed the capacity for developmental skills begins within the first five years of life, said Millett. Creativity, communication, team working, problem solving and critical thinking skills are beginning.
"These studies reflect the need for children to enter kindergarten prepared to learn. Unfortunately, too few young children today are prepared with these tools when they enter kindergarten," said Millett.
"A study was conducted between 1962 and 1967, where preschool teachers worked extensively with children from low-income families," said Millett.
The results reflected that after 40-years, almost one-half of the preschool children performed at grade level by age 14, with 60-percent earning nearly $20,000 per year.
"When the higher number of school grades completed was factored in, along with lower rates of criminal activity, reduced time spent in prison and other factors, the benefit to cost ratio was approximately $17 for every $1 invested," said Millett.
He said early childhood education offers greater potential returns with less risk. Unfortunately, early childhood development programs are rarely portrayed as economic development initiatives, which is a mistake, according to Millett.
Millett said for companies to become more competitive, an educated workforce is necessary. Aggressive preschool training for children, especially those from troubled homes, can yield extraordinary results for families and society.
"If early childhood education programs appear at all, they are at the bottom of the economic development lists for state and local governments. They should be at the top," said Millett. "America's continuing efforts to improve education and develop a world-class workforce will be hampered without federal and state commitments to early childhood education."
The plight of education regarding early childhood education is not only being seen in the global market, but also in America's military strength.
Research indicates 72 percent of 17 to 24-year-olds do not meet the basic minimum standards required for military service.
"We must invest now in the next generation to preserve our nation's security, freedom and opportunity. This includes fully funding early childhood education programs," said Millett.

Employee Management……GROAN!

I read an article recently with a quote by Joe Pelayo, a recruiter with Joseph Michaels International Global Recruiting Solutions: “Average managers spend most of their time with their below average performers. Great managers spend most of their time with their best people.”

This got me to thinking. In child care, like in all other industries, our best performing staff and managers get little of our attention. We come to rely on their consistency and performance. The difficult employees, those who gossip with parents, have less than ideal work ethics, have shaky attendance records, and who don’t seem to grasp or care about lesson planning – these individuals get most of our attention as supervisors/managers. We begin to feel like all we do is bang our heads against the wall!

I think Mr. Pelayo is onto something here. What would your program look like if you spent 80% of your energy and time with your highest performers? What if you only spent 20% of your time on those who aren’t performing up to your standards?

I think your program would begin to make significant changes in the level of expectation you have for your employees, but almost more importantly the expectations employees have for themselves. It really does not take that much time to address the negative, if it is done succinctly and factually. We all spend too much time trying to get employees to “just follow the policies”. I would venture to guess that all of our policies are pretty straightforward and easy to understand. If an employee isn’t following them, it is because they are unwilling, NOT unable. If the issue really is an issue of training, then spend time with them for training – but don’t spend time over and over again – on performance issues.

If/when the performance does not improve, weed out the negative influence from your program and replace them with someone else. Then you are free to spend time building up the skills and abilities or your top performers. Pretty soon you have a loyal group of employees who know they will be noticed for great performance. Pride in self will soon follow.

I know it sounds a little Pollyanna, but I challenge you to try it. Let us know how it goes. By the way, our KidCentric programs are all shifting to this paradigm, so we’ll keep you posted!

Mindy

Unexpected Benefits of Daycare

"Ask Mr. Dad" recently wrote an article on the unexpected benefits of daycare.

Dear Mr. Dad: My wife and I are expecting our first and we’re on the fence about whether to hire a nanny or find a childcare center for our son. It would be great to have someone at home to take care of household chores, but our friends say that there are some great advantages—for us as parents—to having our child in daycare too. Is there any truth to this?

A: In a word, yes. While it’s every parent’s dream to come home to a sparkling clean house where the laundry and the toys have been put away and as healthy dinner’s on the table, having a child in daycare offers some definite benefits to parents as well as to kids. In fact, the same day as I got your email, I received a copy of a new book by Mario Small, a Professor in Sociology at the University of Chicago, who has extensively studied a number of these benefits.

For example, in a daycare setting, you’ll get to interact with more parents than if you had a nanny caring for your child. Daycare parents often become each other’s support, helping each other navigate child rearing issues, sharing their concerns for their children’s development and health issues, helping out with emergency babysitting, and providing different perspectives on schools and extra-curricular activities. In short, it’s a way to expand the proverbial village.

Parents who send their children to daycare also have access to professionals (usually the staff and administration) who have at their disposal resources and a wealth of experience that they can share with parents. They’ll also be better able than a nanny (who probably hasn’t taken courses in child development) to identify any developmental or behavioral red flags.

But there’s more to day care than community building. In his book, Unanticipated Gains: Origins of Network Inequality in Everyday Life, Mario Small writes that mothers who put their children in daycare tend to have more friends than mothers who don’t. They also have a lower incidence of depression. And, interestingly, low-income families with children who are in daycare are less likely to become homeless than families who keep their children at home. More proof that the benefits of daycare extend far beyond the childcare room.

As for the children, yes, there are some wonderful advantages to leaving children at home with a nanny. It’s their home. They feel safe and comfortable there and can maintain the same routines that they have always enjoyed. Children who stay at home get plenty of one-on-one attention and don’t pick up as many viruses as daycare kids.

At the same time, there’s no question that in a good daycare setting, your child can thrive and learn all sorts of important social skills. He’ll be exposed to other children who will eventually start to seem like siblings. He’ll learn to eat around other people and will discover the all important skill of sharing. And while he’ll bring home a germ or two (or two dozen), studies have shown that children exposed to germs early in life actually have stronger immune systems and are more resilient when they start school.

As you hunt around for the best childcare option for your son, keep in mind that not all daycare centers are created equal. According to Mario Small, only centers that have strict pick-up/drop-off hours are beneficial to parents. Centers that are flexible in their scheduling don’t give parents enough opportunity to interact and to form that helpful network of connections.

Misty

see original article at: http://www.mrdad.com/ask/2009/09/29/unexpected-benefits-of-daycare/

The Problem with Babysitting (also known as "Employee Moonlighting")

As an employer within the child development field, you probably have employees who arrange to babysit for families outside of their working hours. This of course seems logical and appropriate at first glance.

Here is the kicker – if the family met their “babysitter” while the sitter was/is working in your program, it has been determined (by courts) that you are legally liable for their conduct while babysitting--EVEN outside of their employment hours with you.

What this simply means is, if your employee meets a family while working in your program (they are not related or have a prior relationship with each other), the family asks that person to babysit (while your employee isn’t working for you, i.e. Friday night, after hours, while the parents are away, etc.) YOU can be held liable for anything that happens to that child(ren) while in your employee’s care.

There are court findings where the child care program was held legally liable because there is an “implied recommendation” to the parent that your employee is capable/appropriate to care for children – hence they hire them on the side. This seems ridiculous – and I have to agree that it is – but that is how the courts have viewed this situation.

To protect yourself and your program from this legal liability you may want to look into having a “no babysitting” policy in place in your program. All of our KidCentric programs have a very strict policy to address this issue. If our policy is broken, the employee will be terminated and the parent will lose their child care immediately. This is a very serious issue. We have also been legally advised that there are no waivers that will protect you from this liability.

Parents and your employees will hate this policy, but you might want to consider putting one in place if you want to protect yourself from yet another layer of legal liability. Food for thought…..and action!
Oh yes, and, of course, our babysitting policy is for sale at http://www.daycaretools.com/!

KidCentric Opens "Children's Waiting Room"

On Monday, April 6, 2009, KidCentric opened a "Children's Waiting Room" (CWR) at the new Civil and Family Law Courthouse in Santa Rosa, California. The CWR provides a safe, healthy place for children to wait while their parent is involved in court business. The CWR can accommodate up to 13 children at a time, ages 6 weeks to 12 years.
Read the story in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat here: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090407/NEWS/904071072/1350?Title=-All-under-one-roof-