Blogging and Childcare Providers - How Can It Help Your Business?

Hey, Daycarematch has a blog.... Here are some thoughts about how childcare providers can use blogs to communicate with parents.

Several years ago, the word “blog” was barely even a commonly used word. Now it seems that everybody has a blog. For those that don’t know, a blog is an online journal where an individual can write about whatever they like, as often or as infrequently as they like. They can be used for many reasons, including as a helpful tool for childcare providers. Here are some guidelines for how to set up a blog, how it could help your business, and some safety precautions.

Blogs have become so popular that there are numerous sites that allow you to set one up for free. Search for the term ‘blog’ and you should discover many sites to choose from. You need minimal computer knowledge since the sites make the initial set-up and adding posts to your blog very easy. Even adding pictures is not that hard. You’ll need to come up with a name for your blog. Using your childcare business name will make it easy for parents to remember.

Once you have your blog set up, how you decided to use it is up to you. You may want to use it mainly to communicate with parents who currently have children in your care. Let them know what you are doing each day, what is coming up, and any announcements they should know about. A blog is a nice way for parents to know what their children do each day, and is a good way for childcare providers to communicate information to all the parents at once. You can remind parents about upcoming events, let them know what the children are working on in each day, and communicate any other information it's helpful for the parents to have. Some providers write an entry each day that summarizes what the kids did that day. That way, parents can read about their child's day.

If you do write about specific children in your care, for safety reasons do not use their full names. Consider using just their initials, or nicknames to identify them. Do not post pictures that show children’s faces. Again for safety, post only pictures that show the children from the back, or other poses in which they cannot be identified. Make sure the parents give permission to use their child's picture.

A blog can also be a powerful tool to let parents looking for childcare to know about the care you provide. They can get an idea of what average days are like at your childcare. The more information you have in your blog, the more likely it is to come up in searches, so parents looking for care may find you by finding your blog in a search.

No matter how you use your blog, remember that it is a representation of you and your business, so keep it professional. Whether you add a post once a day, or once a month, a blog can be a quick and easy way to communicate with both the parents who currently have children in your care, and those who are looking for childcare.

Show Off Your Baby... We Need Spokesbaby Pictures!

As you already may have noticed, each month Daycarematch chooses a different child to be featured on our website. Their picture is featured at the top of each page. We receive so many pictures that we can't possibly use them all, which makes choosing just one picture a hard job.

With Fall and the Holidays coming up sooner than we care to admit, we're looking for fall and Holiday pictures of your little ones. Some ideas of what we would love to see....

- Fall pictures with leaves, scarescrows, pumpkins, apple orchards, and anything else that makes you think fall.
- Pictures of your little ones in halloween costumes - no need to buy a costume early. Last year's picture is perfect.
- Pictures of your little ones from winter and the Holidays. Let's see those party dresses, snowmen, and sledding pictures!

To submit your pictures, go to www.daycarematch.com/photos.asp

Thanks!!
Scott & Melissa

Keep Children Safe Around Cars

Now that we're in the middle of summer, and they're forcasting temperatures near 90 for the Midwest, let's remind ourselves how to keep our children safe around cars. We've all heard how quickly the temperature in a parked car can rise to dangerous levels. Heat is not the only danger when it comes to children and cars. Children can pull vehicles out of park, release parking brakes, burn themselves with cigarette lighters, and more. Children should never be left in cars alone, and never be allowed to play in or around them.

For more information and safety ideas, check out www.kidsincars.org This site has excellent safety tips, and materials to help educate people on how to keep children safe.

Calling All Bloggers........

Are you a childcare provider who has a blog? If so, let us know. We'd love to link to your blog as a resource for other providers.

Are you a parent with your children in childcare? We'd love to hear from you too. Nobody understands trying to balance work and family better than those who do it every day.

We'll post links to blogs as we get them.

Thanks!
Scott & Melissa

Swingset Safety

Our son loves to climb and swing. We've been thinking about getting him a swingset for a while, but it took a summer-end clearance sale to push us over the edge. We now have what seems like an overwhelming number of pieces of wood piled all over our garage floor. According to the picture on the box, this pile of wood somehow fits together to make a swingset. That's a project for this weekend, and possibly several weekends to come, depending on how easily it goes together.

Here are some tips on swingset safety from the National Safety Council website - www.nsc.org.


- Buy sturdy equipment that will grow and change as your children become older.
Consider modular equipment that can be bought, installed, replaced or upgraded in
phases.
- Stability is very important. Install the swing set legs in concrete below ground
level to avoid a tripping hazard. However, if you use anchoring devices that
usually come with the equipment, all pegs should be well below ground level and
little or no slack should be in the chain or cable.
- Cap any exposed screws or bolts.
- Do not buy equipment with open-ended hooks, particularly "S" hooks. Avoid:
equipment with accessible moving parts which can pinch, scissor or crush fingers;
sharp edges or rough surfaces; or, rings with a diameter more than five inches but
less than 10 inches, since a child's head may become trapped.
- Slides should have a slope of no more than 30 degrees and sides at least 2 and 2
1/2 inches in height along both sides. They should also have an extended exit
surface parallel to the ground so children can regain their balance and be in an
upright posture at the bottom of the slide.
- Equipment choice should be based on each child's abilities, interests and physical
size. Infants who are unable to sit upright unassisted need to be constantly held
on slides. Preschoolers are susceptible to burns on metal equipment in hot
weather. Children should not play on equipment that is more than eight feet in
height. It doesn't add to their play, but offers a more dangerous fall.

Happy swinging!
Scott & Melissa