Four Things to Add to Your Child Care Director Checklist

Being a center director is an enriching job, but it also requires wearing multiple hats and balancing a number of tasks throughout the day. Not only are you responsible for supporting teachers at your center, but you’re also tasked with ensuring student success and making sure families’ needs are being met.

Thankfully, the team behind LifeCubby’s award-winning management software is full of former child care directors who have first-hand experience successfully navigating the needs of staff, parents and kiddos.

And, because LifeCubby’s team is dedicated to making center life a breeze for educators like you, they’ve taken that experience and created this definitive guide with four things every provider should add to their child care director checklist:

Build meaningful connections with parents at your center.

Families are at the core of what keeps your center running, so keeping them happy and informed should always be a top priority.

Make it a point to share daily activities and lesson plans with parents so they’re in the know about what their child is learning each day. Be sure to also keep parents informed about any milestone their kid hits (including photos if possible).

Finally, make sure families know they can speak with you about any concerns they have regarding their child or the center.

Open communication is crucial for developing strong relationships — and a necessary part of your role as a director. Once you’ve developed a strong relationship with families, they’ll be more likely to trust you have their best interests at heart. Not to mention, they’re more likely to spread the word about your center to other parents.

LifeCubby Director Checklist hack No. 1: Try using our classroom eblast templates to keep parents up-to-date on classroom curriculum, center events and more.

Create a supportive environment for staff.

As a director, you’re also responsible for the success and wellbeing of your staff.

One great way to do that is by providing a mentorship program for those who are interested. Set aside time each month to meet with your staff one-on-one so they can address any concerns and openly discuss their needs. It’s also a great opportunity to ask them what areas they would like to gain more knowledge in and how you can support them in their pursuit. Letting them know you’re available whenever they have questions or need guidance is also key.

Finally, don’t forget to celebrate the little moments with your staff (like birthdays, anniversaries and achievements) so they always feel recognized and appreciated.

LifeCubby Director Checklist hack No. 2: Use in-app messaging between admin and teachers to get availability for monthly meetings.

Utilize reports for planning.

To be a successful child care director, it’s important to always be at least one step ahead of everything that happens in your center. That’s why it’s essential to build out thorough short-term and long-term plans for your program.

Reports are best for mapping out the year and optimizing those plans. Directors can use that information to measure the progress of operations and financial responsibilities while comparing it to previous years.

Continuously planning around reports makes navigating center life much easier. As a director, you’ll want to use them throughout the year to stay on track with your center goals and identify new ones.

LifeCubby Director Checklist hack No. 3: Head to your Director’s Dashboard to easily access and download 50+ reports for efficient planning, including ones for staffing, income and forecasting.

Provide your staff with the tools they need to succeed in the classroom.

If you only add one of these tips to your child care director checklist, we recommend giving your staff the tools they need to succeed.

By offering teachers at your center access to a childcare management software like LifeCubby, you can help them eliminate tedious tasks like manually checking students in and out or handwriting daily sheets. By doing this, they can use their free time to focus on their students and keep parents engaged all year-long.

Using LifeCubby will not only allow your staff to succeed in their roles, but it’ll also help them complete tasks sooner to allow for a better work-life balance.

LifeCubby Director Checklist hack No. 4: Complete digital daily sheets throughout the day, where the data is live as the teachers post activities and is automatically sent to the parents at check-out via our Family App.

Want to learn more about how LifeCubby can help you be the best possible child care director? Click here to schedule a free demo and learn more today!