How Often Did You Revise Handbook in First Year or 2

[lovemydaycare0912]

I have been open for a few days over a year and have found myself revising my handbook at least once every 3 or 4 months. Last time I revised and handed new handbooks out was December 1st but there are things I need to change. I know it may be annoying but I have to do what is best for my family. Am I wrong?

[MunchkinWrangler]

I haven't even been able to get mine in parent's hands yet because I'm still revising mine and I've been crazy busy lately.

[childcaremom]

I think it's normal and to be expected. My first year or two I had a lot of things to add. I tried to limit myself to every 4/5 months, though. Now I hardly add anything.

Whenever I had changes, I just stated that "As my business grows...." or "As situations arise, I find it necessary to make some changes...." blah blah blah. My policies are fair, to let the client know what to expect and to preserve my sanity, so I make changes as I need to.

[Blackcat31]

I revise mine yearly. I re-do ALL paperwork for ALL families yearly. That way even families that have been in care for years still have signed/dated documents no more than a year old.

I begin in the summer around June or July and give them to parents mid-August. ALL contracts and paperwork are due back NO LATER than August 31st.

If any changes occur that have to due with state changes or regulation changes or even changes I made myself, I just add an addendum to the current handbook and add it in as a permanent addition the following summer when I revise again for the next year.

[Second Home]

I will usually add a new policy as needed and have all parents sign off on it . I don't print out a whole new handbook for every family or i would be using tons of paper and ink . I do add the new policy to the handbook and all new clients will get the newest copy .

[sharlan]

I've only revised twice in 7 years. I never had handbooks or even contracts before then.

My last revision had a sentence in the middle of a sentence offering a $25 discount if they showed me the sentence. Only 1 out 6 found it. The others all signed that they read the packet.

[MarinaVanessa]

Because of a DCM that I had (the reason I created a handbook in the first place) I would add new polices by writing memos and giving my clients a 2 week notice. Then I'd add those immediately to my handbook Word copy and would print an updated copy for any new clients. At the end of the year I would give everyone the most current copy.

I still do the same thing now but I don't make changes nearly enough but still enough to have to hand out new copies every year.

[lovemydaycare0912]

Thanks so much. I think Im going to do one last revise and then do addendums until the new yearly one comes out. You guys always have such great ideas. Thanks

[thrivingchildcarecom]

Nope! You are not wrong. Just about all of my revisions where situational (not sure if that's a word), meaning they arose out of specific situations that I wanted to avoid in the future.

I do have a suggestion though; if you have a website why not save your handbook to a PDF and post it there. That way you don't run the risk of parents not having access to your current policies and you can simply upload the current edition whenever needed. Also, it makes you look more professional than constantly handing out newly revised handbooks.

Hope that helps.

[Laurel]

In 20 years of doing childcare (am retired now), I never had a handbook and my contract was 2 pages long or was it 1 1/2? Haha, can't remember now but it was short with a separate rate schedule.

To me, it was unnecessary to have a rule about every little thing. I feel like that gave me less leverage not more. I put the basics in the contract that were non negotiable and the rest I just addressed as it came up by talking to the parent. For example, "Sorry mom, I can't allow Susie to wear a necklace because she keeps putting it in her mouth and it is a safety hazard." Sorry dad, you need to come pick Timmy up as he has diarhrrea."

My provider friend had one sheet that she entitled Guidelines. It was not a contract and required no signature. If they didn't want to follow the guidelines, they could find other care.

It's easy enough to have sensible rules and just tell people when they aren't being reasonable. I would just hate to be stuck with rules I later felt I didn't need. Like you say, constant revision. That doesn't mean I just keep making up rules as I wanted to keep business and be professional. I just feel like the fewer written rules the more latitude I have.