Having strong relationships with the families you serve puts more trust in your center, increases retention, and improves the overall value of your services. By showing your dedication to continuous improvement, you’re enhancing the experiences of your staff, children, and families. By focusing on building connections, you create a welcoming community and thriving center for years to come. Keep reading to learn more about five ways you can build stronger family connections at your childcare center.
1. Increase Communication
Meet families where they’re at and communicate often. Send updates about their child’s day, upcoming events, and important happenings at your center. Using technology like Kangarootime’s parent app makes this process easier, faster, and more convenient for both educators and families. Showing that you’re dedicated to their child and their school experience goes a long way and can help increase trust while improve your relationship.
2. Schedule Parent-Teacher Meetings
Connect with parents one-on-one in regularly scheduled meetings. Talk with them about their child’s development, staff or personnel changes, new programs, upcoming initiatives, etc. This is also a great time to ask for feedback and encourage them to write a review.
3. Start a Parent Board
Today’s parents want to be more involved than ever in their child’s care and development. Creating a parent board or committee get families involved while alleviating staff from extra tasks. These parents can work together to host staff appreciation events, head up fundraising efforts, work on advocacy projects, and more. Having engaged parents also results in more word-of-mouth marketing which helps increase enrollment at your center.
4. Host Events and Activities
Put together events and activities for families to encourage engagement at your center as well as connections between parents. This helps build a community around your center. These events can be picnics, trunk or treats, happy hours, child safety training classes, potlucks, raffles, etc.
5. Ask for Feedback
Feedback from families is crucial as they are the key drivers of your center’s success. Asking for ways to improve on a regular basis shows your families that you’re dedicated to making a quality center. Encourage feedback through regular surveys, a suggestion box, during parent-teacher meetings, and create an open-door policy.
Building stronger family connections at your childcare center benefits everyone involved but most importantly, the children. Creating open and honest communication and actively seeking feedback enhances families, staff, and children’s experiences. In doing so, you'll not only create a more enriching environment but also develop a sense of community where families feel valued and supported in their parenting journey.
