My Letter to My Daycare Parents

[awestbrook713]

So I have been having issues with losing my daycare children since school has started but not being able to take on more kids because of the uncertain schedules of so many of the children so I have written up this letter and plan on giving it out friday on pay day. Please give me any advice that you see fit or tell me if I have missed anything or should word something differently. Thanks

September 14th, 2011





Dear Parents,


First off I would like to tell you all how much I enjoy watching your children. I look forward to watching them learn and grow for as long as you will need me. My daycare is new and with every new venture there are learning experiences and changes that need to be made.

Over the summer I was able to keep a good flow of children in care each day and not worry about open slots while being quite flexible on when you needed me. Now that school is here I am finding I have a lot of open time slots. I have been trying to find a way to keep myself available to all of you, but fill some of the open time slots. As it is now I have a lot of set schedules with quite a few “maybe” days.

After giving this much thought this is what I have come up with: the days you will definitely need me I will need a list of for each child and I will make sure your slot for that child is saved. If you have days you are not sure about you can pay for and reserve that spot with a full days rate Of $20 for one child and an additional $10 for each additional child. If you choose not to pay for and reserve that day it will be filled in a first come first serve manner. I will not be able to guarantee your spot for that day since I am only allowed to watch 8 children at a time.

As for the children I will not be watching during the school year due to school, afterschool program, and parent schedule changes, your child’s spot will here come summer time, I will only be filling it for the school season. Once I have schedules set in stone I will be looking for 2-3 kids for daycare during the school season. Holidays and school vacation days are reserved for my current children primarily.

In the coming months I may be making more changes as I have said in the beginning of this letter that this is a learning experience. I hope you all understand that I am not just running a daycare but a business and I have to make business decisions at times. I promise to keep all of you informed with any changes that may take place, and with each change there will be 2 weeks notice before it goes into effect. I will be updating the contracts and will need them signed again if you agree with the decision I have made.


Sincerely,

[Happiness]

It sounds pretty good I guess I just have one question... how many of them are just part-timers? I know it is always so hard to say goodbye to the kids and to the money... but if I was in this spot I think I would just put up ads for full-time.. full week spaces and once I got in a couple of them to fill the spots you just lost from school then tell the part weekers that unless they are able to share a space with another part weeker or go full time they will need to find care else where...

Personally I do not do drop in care... even if they are a regular dck.... of course unless it was a here or there thing...

I am not sure what it is like in your area.. and if it is harder to get the full time kids... but that is usually the GOAL is to get mostly full timers... just keep looking for them..

[awestbrook713]

At this point I have one full time child that comes 5 days a week, the next closest full time child is a 3 yr old how is starting headstart next week she will only be here from 1 to 2:30 once dad's schedule changes for the season, hes a town worker so they have weird hours due to plowing during winter months. I have stopped getting her sister except for 1 hr after school until the local after school program starts and then I won't get her at all. These two sisters went from 4 10 hour days a week to nothing. They are a definate in the summer months but not so much during school. See my dilema is I have 3 kids of my own so if I have a free hour or two in the morning for appointments or school functions that wouldn't be such a bad thing but I can't stand only having one child for a whole day. I went from 7 kids a day to 2-3 kids for partial days. If this letter doesn't improve things I'm thinking infant and toddler care is gonna be the way to go. I thought about it and I have the kids I just have to make my schedule work for me, I have been getting calls but because I had such a relaxed policy during the summer its making it tough to fill the open slots I have now with out the fear of going over my limit.

[laundrymom]

I know that you want to be as up front and fuly explain yourself and that is great. I think your letter sounds fine for a conversation friendly correspondence, but may be a little wordy for a professional letter. I changed the color of what I would say if it was my clients reading. I do think yours is good though, but maybe a little too friendly for my personal clients.... also, really think about if you want to hold a full time slot open for a maybe child next summer. You never know what the future holds as far as job situations, moving, and just personal issues. You dont want to lose out on a potential great full time family because you have Hannah and josh during the summer,.. you know?

So I have been having issues with losing my daycare children since school has started but not being able to take on more kids because of the uncertain schedules of so many of the children so I have written up this letter and plan on giving it out friday on pay day. Please give me any advice that you see fit or tell me if I have missed anything or should word something differently. Thanks

September 14th, 2011





Dear Parents,

I want to start this letter telling you how much I enjoy watching your child(ren). Every day I learn new things and have noticed how much the childrens joy and excitement impacts my life. I am so happy to be a child care provider.
First off I would like to tell you all how much I enjoy watching your children. I look forward to watching them learn and grow for as long as you will need me. My daycare is new and with every new venture there are learning experiences and changes that need to be made.

I am new to daycare and with every new opportunity there is a learning curve. Because of this I will be changing things slightly here to ensure the sucess of my new business and the happines of the families I work with. My licensed capscity is for 8 children at any given time, and over the summer I filled those positions with the children who are now in school. However, since school has started I find myself with a few openings that I would like to fill with fulll time children. I will begin interviewing for these slots next week but as a curtesy I am extending an open invitation to any current family should they want one of the full time slots. **( This is where I would add about pricing, or if you do strict open to close or contracted hours))** I plan to take on 3-4 full time children so I am able to meet both the needs of my current families and the needs of my current budget. I would appreciate notice as soon as possible if you would like to switch to full time care as I have already set up a few interviews and need to know how many positions I will have open. I will then spread the remaining slots available to the part time clients on a first to contract, first to have basis.
Over the summer I was able to keep a good flow of children in care each day and not worry about open slots while being quite flexible on when you needed me. Now that school is here I am finding I have a lot of open time slots. I have been trying to find a way to keep myself available to all of you, but fill some of the open time slots. As it is now I have a lot of set schedules with quite a few “maybe” days.

After giving this much thought this is what I have come up with: the days you will definitely need me I will need a list of for each child and I will make sure your slot for that child is saved. If you have days you are not sure about you can pay for and reserve that spot with a full days rate Of $20 for one child and an additional $10 for each additional child. If you choose not to pay for and reserve that day it will be filled in a first come first serve manner. I will not be able to guarantee your spot for that day since I am only allowed to watch 8 children at a time.

As for the children I will not be watching during the school year due to school, afterschool program, and parent schedule changes, your child’s spot will here come summer time, I will only be filling it for the school season. Once I have schedules set in stone I will be looking for 2-3 kids for daycare during the school season. Holidays and school vacation days are reserved for my current children primarily.

In the coming months I may be making more changes as I have said in the beginning of this letter that this is a learning experience. I hope you all understand that I am not just running a daycare but a business and I have to make business decisions at times. I promise to keep all of you informed with any changes that may take place, and with each change there will be 2 weeks notice before it goes into effect. I will be updating the contracts and will need them signed again if you agree with the decision I have made.
In the coming months I hope to get all the small issues worked out to make my daycare the best place for both me and the children I care for. I know it is going to be a fantastic place for children to explore their world and make lasting friends and I look forward to seeing them grow up.

Sincerely,

[awestbrook713]

I do like what you have done with my letter, when I wrote that it sounded even more friendly and I had toned it down. I am trying to learn how to be a business woman more then a friend but old habits die hard. I think I will print off the change you made and re-work both letters into one and hopefully come up with something that will work for my business and me. Sometimes I try so hard to please everyone else I forget to please myself.

[laundrymom]

If you aretrying to please everyone,.. why are you working for yourself? take care of yourself first, noone else will. If you are happy my friend,.. everything else will fall into place. =-) Good Luck!@!

I do like what you have done with my letter, when I wrote that it sounded even more friendly and I had toned it down. I am trying to learn how to be a business woman more then a friend but old habits die hard. I think I will print off the change you made and re-work both letters into one and hopefully come up with something that will work for my business and me. Sometimes I try so hard to please everyone else I forget to please myself.