How to improve parent teacher communication

Study after study has shown that regular parent-teacher communication positively impacts the well-being and success of young children.

At LifeCubby, we know a thing or two about improving parent-teacher communication. Before creating the top childcare management software, our founder spent 20+ years running centers of her own (something she still does today). She saw firsthand the challenges directors face when trying to connect parents and teachers — and then created a solution for those challenges.

Whether your center has five families or 105 families, these tips will help ensure they stay connected with your staff in a way that’s efficient and effective.

1. Implement daily sheets.

Whether it’s seeing what their child had for lunch or when their diaper was last changed, daily sheets are a great way to keep parents up-to-date. Our in-app daily sheets are completely digital (making it super easy for teachers to complete them) and are automatically sent to parents at check-out. Daily sheets are also a great conversation starter between parents and teachers as they can easily bring up a subject on the sheet for more information (such as an incident report or good behavior log from the day).

2. Schedule regular parent-teacher conferences.

Parent-teacher conferences are a wonderful way for your staff to get to know families and develop deeper relationships. Schedule time for teachers to meet with families in 15-minute increments to discuss how each child is doing in school (both academically and socially) and see what can be done to further help the student. To make sure the time is used as effectively as possible, send a brief survey to each family ahead of time asking about any topics they’d like to discuss during the meeting.

3. Establish a dependable line of communication.

We’ve all fallen victim to never-ending games of phone tag. To avoid that, implement a dependable line of communication between parents and teachers. Whether it’s establishing a 24-hour response rule on behalf of your staff or opting for a live messaging option (like we offer in the LifeCubby app), it’s important to ensure there’s always a way for parents to get in touch with teachers (and vice versa).

4. Don’t limit communication to negative incidents.

If your staff is only reaching out to parents about bad behavior, it’s hard for the two parties to form a meaningful relationship. Instead, encourage teachers to share updates about positive moments in the classroom, including the development of new skills and kind gestures toward others. With LifeCubby, you can easily send live photos and videos to family members, which makes sharing the little moments even easier.

Ready to take the next step toward creating a more connected center? See how the top childcare management app can help you with everything from communication to day-to-day management by clicking here.