Daily Progress Reports?

[JENNL49]

I am new to home daycare. Im thinking about sending home progress reports everyday to the parents. I hate to discuss a problem childs day with a parent when there are other parents standing around. I figure this way I can let them know through a daily report. We did it in a daycare I used to work at. Tells parent what activities we did, what we ate, how long we napped....

What are everyones thoughts on this?

[Missani]

I do this. I have different sheets for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. I don't have SAs, but if I did, I would have them write or draw a picture about their day and I would add to it if necessary. I find it easy to do and it takes only about 15 extra minutes each day. I find myself using it as a resource, too. (What time did the baby eat, again? etc.)

[VanessaEO]

I used to do daily reports, but honestly I found more often than not they were being thrown away and were never read.

So I stopped wasting the paper they were printed on.

If I could easily email my parents, I might consider doing a weekly report about their child, some of our fun weekly activities and anything coming up next week. But I haven't gotten around to that.

[JENNL49]

thanks guys!! Im still working on it!

[Little People]

Welcome to daycare.com !!

[MARSTELAC]

Daily reports

I used to do them for all ages (on pre-printed, fill-in-the-blank forms) then found out that the parents of the older kids couldn't care less. Now I do for infant, toddler and pre-school but am seriously considering stopping those as well.

I, too, don't want to discuss the children in front of other parents/kids so that's why I decided to do the notes. BUT, I still have parents that will sit and read every word before they go home then question all of it. It is SO FREAKING ANNOYING!!!! Then, some notes I find in the yard, behind my furniture that is near front door, even see some on the floors of their vehicles trampled on and crumpled....

So torn as to whether or not I should stop....I like them to track meals, diaper changes, etc. so I do have some benefit...

Still undecided as to how to proceed though....sorry not much help...:confused:

[nannyde]

No reports.

Too time consuming and rarely do the parents look at them.

[littlemissmuffet]

No reports, I tell the parents anything they need to know at pick-up. If another parent is present or I don't want to discuss an issue in front of the child, I will call or email.

[Sunny Day]

I used to do daily reports, but honestly I found more often than not they were being thrown away and were never read.

So I stopped wasting the paper they were printed on.

If I could easily email my parents, I might consider doing a weekly report about their child, some of our fun weekly activities and anything coming up next week. But I haven't gotten around to that.

I found the same thing! I keep a daily journal right by the door which said what they ate, when they slept, etc. The parents never read them, I stopped wasting my time.

[SandeeAR]

I do daily reports on each child. My parents appreciate them and usually are reading them before going out the door.

I find they also help me in remembering when so and so needs a bottle, or when did I do diaper changes?

[Stacy214]

I just do a daily report for the infants, when they turn a year old they are pretty much doing , eating, pooping the same time each day and nobody looked at them anymore ...wasteful. But the babies parents I think need to know when the last time they ate, poop, etc was plus it's helpful for me throughout the day.

[Greenshadow]

I used to do the daily reports too but found that parents werent reading them. I know this because alot of times the next day the parent would say something about if the child had pooped yesterday or what did he have for lunch. So I knew they werent reading the reports I wrote out. So I quit doing them. They were so time consuming anyway!

Now, I have a dry erase board by the front door. I write on it what the children ate that day. If they take bottles, how many ozs and at what time. I dont write down diaper changes or whether they pooped or peed because its too much information. If a child poops, and the parents asks, I'll tell her. Otherwise, who cares? I also put down naptimes. Theres also a big square where I'll write down if they need something (diapers, change of clothes, etc). It works out great! The parents actually read it and its eco-friendly!

[Sunny Day]

I used to do daily reports, but honestly I found more often than not they were being thrown away and were never read.

So I stopped wasting the paper they were printed on.

If I could easily email my parents, I might consider doing a weekly report about their child, some of our fun weekly activities and anything coming up next week. But I haven't gotten around to that.

I found the same thing! I keep a daily journal right by the door which said what they ate, when they slept, etc. The parents never read them, I stopped wasting my time.

[DBug]

I use the Funshine Express Parent Notes for each age group. I have a couple of parents that don't really care, but the majority of them really appreciate it. And honestly, my memory is like Swiss cheese and I need to write down diapers, potty trips and bottles because there's no way I'd remember otherwise! And it only takes me about 5 minutes to fill in the blanks for 5 kids.

I think it just depends on your group of parents. You may want to do a trial run first -- try it for a couple of weeks and see how much time you're spending on it and whether the parents really do appreciate it.

[lvt77]

I dound lots of wasted time, effort, ink, and paper went in to it.
I only send information home if there was an issue so that I have record. I usually talk about it at pick up but if I cant do to privacy issues, I will email them later.