A new year means new Families settling into care and LOTS of transitions across all age groups.
Whilst this is often a period of excitement and enjoyment as new relationships are created, it can also bring with it heightened emotions, additional pressure on the team and sometimes some tough moments.
Whilst it’s important that parents help Educators to settle their children into care properly (as it can often take a while to get comfortable in a new environment), it’s also important that this transition process is a smooth one – for the child, the Family and the team.
Why? It sets up the foundation of the Family relationship moving forward.
In order to support you, our team have developed some ideas to assist Families to settle their children into care, as well as what you can do to help Families feel comfortable, established and ultimately loyal to your Centre.
What can Families do to help prepare children for that first day of care?
- Talk to your children about your work, where you go during the day and why children can’t really go to work with you. This will start to help children to understand the reasons behind why are going to Childcare.
- Whether it’s a tour or orientation, children should always accompany the Family when they visit the Centre, and these visits can begin well before they start care. It’s also important that the orientation visit is prioritised.
- Reading and sharing stories is a great way to ease any fears about starting Childcare and start to build excitement about the process. Here are 9 books Families can enjoy together that explore the transition to care process and making friends.
- Make sure Families pack a transition object on their first day. A transition object, such as a cuddly toy, can provide children with a tool to utilise if they are feeling uneasy throughout the day. Children cling to objects if they feel anxious, so a toy or blanket can be a massive help to them.
- Give children some control over their day, either by choosing what they are going to bring or wear (within reason of course!). It will help them to feel in control of this new situation.
- Give yourself plenty of time to prepare for the first day of care, including gathering everything your child will need throughout the day. Get organised ahead of time so that the first day of care is less stressful.
- Arrive early on your first day and stay in the room for a while to help ease the transition of care from parent to Childcare Educator. Make sure to give a loving, but short, goodbye and walk away. It can be very hard for Families to do this, however, dragging out the process can make the separation more painful.
- Communicate with your Educators. Get to know them and let them get to know you. Children imitate what they see, so they will model their relationship with their Primary Educator on how you interact with each other.
- Don’t be afraid to call the Centre at any time to check-in. It will help to alleviate any anxiety you may have.
- Be kind to yourself and give yourself a break! Remember, transitioning a child to Childcare is a transition for the Family as well.
Overall, its important children feel reassured that they are going to have a lot of fun, play, engage in a range of new activities and make lots of new friends!
Once a child has successfully settled into care and their new routine, it’s important for Educators to look ahead at how they can assist the Family with this transition.
Why?
From this point onwards, it’s important to cultivate Family loyalty in your Centre – ensuring that Families not only stay enrolled in your Centre throughout their learning journey, but also become community advocates for your Centre.
Advocacy and word of mouth is one of the most trusted sources of advertising and also one of the hardest to develop.
Cultivating Family loyalty takes time and is built over hundreds of small instances and interactions. Families must be able to trust you and know that you will always tell the truth, they must know that you will always be honest even if you don’t agree with them and know that you are dependable – that you will deliver on your promises when you say you’re going to do something.
Loyalty is what grows when Families like you, trust you and recognise that you deliver superior value to them and to their child.
So how can you ensure your Families settle in with the Centre?
Take your time during orientation
The orientation process is the first step to building those essential Family relationships so take your time and dig in. It’s important that Families feel comfortable and know exactly what to expect over the first 6 weeks of care. By setting the expectations early, you minimise the possibilities of Families becoming disheartened or dismayed throughout the settling process.
Tell them what they need to do on their first day, where they will go, show them how to sign in and explain what your team will be doing to assist with the settling in process.
First day contact is a must
Calling the Family a few hours after they have left their child at the Centre is a MUST! Write a note, set yourself an alarm – just don’t forget! Reassure them that their child is settling into care. If they aren’t, explain the steps you are taking to help them settle. Make sure to update your app with photos and/or videos throughout the day. This will go a long way to reassuring the Family and easing their anxiety.
Organise a surprise!
Whether it is something their child has made, or a gift for the entire Family, it’s a nice gesture to congratulate the Family on successfully completing their first week of Childcare – and who doesn’t love a surprise right?
There are a range of great ideas out there, so think outside the box and get creative. You might even find an item that can be branded and double as advertising for the Centre.
Keep up the communication
Whether it’s a first month check in meeting, weekly call, email or quick conversation at drop off and pick up, make sure to keep up that contact with the Family over the first few months of care to help them to become embedded in the Centre and develop strong relationships with your Centre team.
It’s important that they feel comfortable in the care provider decision they have made – so open those lines of communication and be transparent and supportive.
Remind Families about fees
Disputes over fees is a sure-fire way to erode Family relationships. So, send each Family a quick reminder of when their fees are due in advance of them being debited from their account. Explain what they can expect and provide as much information as you can on the Child Care Subsidy and how it works. This will help to mitigate any questions that might occur and sets up the fee payment process ongoing.
A relationship focused on children’s care – not administration
With Centre Directors under more and more administration pressure, it can be hard to find the time to really focus on developing new relationships with each individual Family and spend the necessary time cultivating that Centre and brand loyalty.
An Enrolments Team can help to not only lighten your workload, but also create a buffer between you and the Family when it comes to the administration side of an enrolment (including fee collection and dishonours!)
It might be time to look at creating an Enrolments Team (like Enrolment Hub) to help lighten your workload, remove that administration burden, and give you more time to focus on what you do best.
Why not get in touch with the team here and let’s see how we can work together.
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