Category Archives: From Rhonda’s Desk

From Rhonda’s Desk

May 16, 2013

Summer Enrollment – Boom or a Bust?

By Rhonda Anderson

One of the big issues looming as we hurl towards summer are the changes in summer enrollment and how that affects providers.  Many providers are concerned about the “summer decline” and the effect on their budget and yet, some say that their enrollment actually increases in the summer.

When I was running a childcare business, I was often affected by a summer decline because I cared for a lot of teacher’s children.  One of the things I did to supplement and help fill my openings was to create an hourly drop-in plan for those same families, as well as others in the community who didn’t necessarily need regular childcare.  By making it easy and convenient for families to drop their children off with me for a couple of hours while they went to lunch with a friend or to the grocery store, I not only supplemented my gaps during the summer, but ended up with a waiting list from these same families in the fall!

If you usually experience a decline in your summer enrollment, I’d love to hear from you about what the reasons are and what you do to either boost enrollment or make up for the lost income.

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September 8, 2011

Avoid Common Provider mistakes

Well, it’s hard to believe that Labor Day’s past and summer is over already, but hopefully that means that enrollment is climbing again.  With that in mind, I wanted to share some information that might help you reduce some of the stress in running the ‘business’ of your business. We’ve just posted a blog article titled “Tips to Avoid the Top 5 Childcare Business Mistakes”.  A couple of these tips might seem like “no brainers”, but I know from my own experience that sometimes it’s the simple things that trip me up. 

I also want to take a moment to congratulate and welcome the newest subscribers to our Childcare Bridge Website Family!  Staying ahead of the curve with communications, professionalism and enrollments is the name of the game and these providers are playing it beautifully!  Please remember that our customer care staff is always available to assist you with any questions you may have about your site.

As always, whether you are Website subscribers or simply friends, I welcome your comments and feedback!

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August 23, 2011

Real Provider Support – No Longer Just a Dream…

Since I first began running my own childcare business, I longed for an easy, simple way to organize the ‘business’ of my business; a way, not only to efficiently communicate daily happenings to parents of the children already in my care, but also, to have a way to market to prospective parents so that they could quickly ‘see’ the benefits of having their children placed with me.  I wanted to let parents know that I was a professional and that their children would be well placed with me. I also wanted to be able to spend more quality time with the children and more of my after-hours time with my own family. Continue reading →

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July 28, 2011

It’s been a fantastic week!

We just got back from the NAFCC Conference in Las Vegas and are busily contacting all of the people who came to our booth to sign up for a quick 10 minute demo of our exciting, simple, fun professional childcare website for providers.  I wish we would have been able to give an “on the spot” demo to everyone who asked!  It was such a joy to see” live and in person” the smiles on their faces when they saw how much having their own business website with tools designed specifically for providers would save precious time and enhance the quality of their parent communications.

By the way, if you are one of those providers we haven’t been able to connect with, the special conference pricing ends July 31st, 2011. Please feel free to call us at 800 634-0513 to schedule your demo before the special offer runs out.  You can also let us know the best time to contact you by simply clicking on comments.

Its experiences like these conferences that remind me of why I founded Childcare Bridge.  It is so rewarding for me to know that we can make a positive difference in the lives of the people who make such a positive difference in the lives of our children!

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July 9, 2011

Good Kids….Problem Parents?

Did you ever notice how when a child doesn’t listen to you, you don’t take it personally?  You know it’s just part of children being children and you simply go about finding a way to help them focus their attention and get on board with what you need them to do.  But when a parent doesn’t seem to get the message, it can turn into a feeling of personal insult! You think to yourself, “How inconsiderate! They have no respect for my time or my feelings!”
 
It’s weird almost.  Why are our reactions to adults so much different than our reactions to their children under similar circumstances?  I was thinking, when little Johnny takes an extra 15 minutes at nap time to finally settle down (cutting into “my quiet time”), it’s just a routine situation to deal with and then it’s forgotten.  But when his parent shows up 15 minutes late to pick him up, it’s a major issue that I don’t soon forget!  I have all kinds of thoughts about what it means about them, me, and the relationship going forward…

I’ve been asking myself – “what’s the difference here?”, “what’s really going on?”.  What I noticed was that in one situation, I feel calm and empowered and in the other I feel powerless and frustrated. What is making that difference in MY experience over the same “lost” 15 minutes?
 
I have some thoughts about it, but was wondering what yours might be?

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June 16, 2011

A Sincere Thank You…

Wow, what a difference it makes to know that there are people out there supporting and encouraging me in all that I am trying to do. I appreciate so much the many providers who reached out to support me after last week’s E-letter. It makes me even more determined to build a solid community to support all early childhood professionals.

I’ve been thinking a lot about appreciation and gratitude this week. I have been noticing how magical life becomes when I’m in that frame of mind. I’m not really doing anything different in my daily routine, but somehow, doors are opening that I didn’t even know were there. I’m having so many great conversations with providers and discovering more and more ways that we can be there to support you in making a difference in your communities.

One of the things that came out of these conversations is that we are now partnering with mentors and leaders all over California and in many other states to support them in making the most of our powerful tools and services to help the providers in their areas leverage time, money and resources to their advantage. And this is only the beginning!

Between your feedback and the assistance from my wonderful Childcare Bridge support team, I am confident that we can all build that bridge into a more positive and supportive environment in our childcare industry. It’s so exciting to see what can happen when people come together in a spirit of service to form a community!

Thank you again for helping us to support you.

As always, your comments, suggestions and/or questions are welcome!

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June 9, 2011

I got lost last week.

I got lost last week.  I discovered that I had unknowingly wandered into a very unpleasant place.  Everyone and everything I encountered was either intentionally trying to block my progress or just too dense to understand what I was trying to do.  There was no one who appreciated my efforts.  After a while, I couldn’t even remember, myself, why I was here trying to pursue this goal of building a childcare community.  I felt like I was trying to climb a mountain in iron boots.  I kept asking myself, “How did I get to this place?”  I kept struggling with it until I finally hit a wall and could go no further and just gave up even trying to find my way out.  That’s when it hit me! Continue reading →

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May 26, 2011

How Many Times Should You Graduate?

It’s that time of year, Memorial Day weekend is upon us.  I was really hoping for a long rest (I want to just sleep for the whole weekend), but I know that’s not going to happen.  Between picnics, barbecues and graduation parties, I’ll be lucky to get a couple of power naps!

I’ve been thinking about graduations – I remember when graduations were confined to junior high, high school and college, but these days even preschoolers have graduation ceremonies.  I never had graduation ceremonies in my childcare businesses, but then it never occurred to me to do that.  I tried to find statistics on how many childcare centers hold graduation ceremonies and how often (graduation from infant to toddler class, toddler to pre-K, pre-K to Kindergarten?), but apparently nobody’s keeping track.

I’ve talked to people with strong opinions on both sides of the “graduation” question and I’m sure there are experts out there with opinions about it.  But I’m one of those people who believe that there’s no substitute for experience.  I’d love to know your experience with this subject and if you feel that a graduation ceremony for preschoolers takes away from the meaning of later more significant graduations.  Let me know your thoughts!

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May 19, 2011

Summer Enrollment – a Boom or a Bust?

One of the big issues looming as we hurl towards summer are the changes in summer enrollment and how that affects providers.  Many providers are concerned about the “summer decline” and the effect on their budget and yet, some say that their enrollment actually increases in the summer.

 When I was running a childcare business, I was often affected by a summer decline because I cared for a lot of teacher’s children.  One of the things I did to supplement and help fill my openings was to create an hourly drop-in plan for those same families, as well as others in the community who didn’t necessarily need regular childcare.  By making it easy and convenient for families to drop their children off with me for a couple of hours while they went to lunch with a friend or to the grocery store, I not only supplemented my gaps during the summer, but ended up with a waiting list from these same families in the fall!

If you usually experience a decline in your summer enrollment, I’d love to hear from you about what the reasons are and what you do to either boost enrollment or make up for the lost income.

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May 12, 2011

Applying Sunscreen Can Be Fun!

It’s hard to believe that summer is almost here….I loved summer when I was running my childcare center because it meant I could spend more time outside with the children.  Fresh air and sunshine are two of my favorite things.  I sort of miss those days, but one thing I don’t miss is the dreaded “sunscreen time”.   Applying sunscreen wasn’t so bad with the older kids, but trying to make sure all the places were covered on the squirming toddlers was a real challenge.
 
 I was talking about this with a group of providers the other day, and one of them gave me a great suggestion for managing the squirmers.  I liked the idea so much, I wanted to share it with you. Continue reading →

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