What to include in a home daycare handbook for parents
Creating a home daycare handbook for parents is an essential step to complete before opening your home daycare. A handbook helps your set expectations so that your home daycare runs smoothly. It should answer all the questions a potential client would have about policies, rules, and procedures.
In this blog post, I’m going to share with you what I have included in my own home daycare handbook.
A well-thought-out handbook attaches professionalism to your daycare and will boost your client’s confidence that you are committed to providing the best environment for children and families.
Sections of the Handbook
Introduction and Welcome
Start your home daycare handbook for parents with a welcome section. This is a great place to make new clients feel included in something special. Tell them how excited you are to meet them and their little one. Share a little about yourself, such as how long have you been in the early education field. Make this section brief and simple.
Mission Statement/ Philosophy
Why are you opening a home daycare? Why does early education matter to you? What do you think is important about teaching and learning? Don’t feel like you have to get all business here, just share your heart on what matters to you when caring for and teaching little ones.
Licenses
This section can vary from state to state but it’s a good idea to showcase any licenses you hold for your program. In my policies, I state that I am licensed through the state and comply with all applicable licensing regulations and standards. I also state that I hold CPR, First Aid, and Food Sanitation Certificates. I will also make clients aware that inspections can occur during daycare hours from the state, health, USDA, and/or fire officials.
Enrollment Process
What is your enrollment procedure? What will you require to have turned in before a child can attend? Will you have a trial period that parents can decide to unenroll without notice? Having a clear enrollment process will help you stay organized and make sure you have all the appropriate forms that the state requires so that your daycare isn’t out of compliance.
The best advice I can give you is to not allow a child to attend until ALL required forms are turned in.
Program Description
This is a great place to highlight what you offer in your program. What are your hours and days of operation? What ages do you offer care to? I also include my vacation and closing day schedule in this section. I like to be crystal clear about how my program is run so issues can be taken care of easily in the future.
Mandatory Elements
If you are licensed through your state, you will probably be required to include or share certain policies with potential clients. This can vary from state to state but could include insurance information, mandated reporting, pick-up policies, or non-discrimination. Check with your own licensing agencies to find what you need to include.
Parent Communication
Communication is so important in a daycare setting. How are you going to communicate information with your clients?
This is the section I use to go over all the different ways clients can get information about the day-to-day running of the daycare. For my program, this includes showing them how to find me on social media, monthly calendars that are sent home, I have a parent board that they can always check at drop-off and pick-up times. I also use surveys throughout the year to keep up on and evaluate how my program is going.
You do not need to do ALL THE THINGS! Just chose a couple of ways to communicate all the amazing things their children are learning and doing in your home daycare.
Tuition
I like to be open with my tuition from the very beginning. Before I even schedule an interview with potential clients, I let them know what my prices are. I’m not going to waste my time or theirs. Everyone has a budget and it’s not our job to try and convince someone to enroll in a program that is outside of their budget.
This is also a great spot to state if tuition is expected by attendance or spot. In my daycare clients pay for the spot, not the attendance, meaning if the child does not attend for whatever reason, payment is still expected. There is no right or wrong decision here, you just have to make a business choice that works best for you and your family.
I will also go over any state funding that I work with to help cover tuition costs if they qualify.
Safety and Illness
The state that you live in will provide a general illness policy that you must follow in your home daycare. If you have other policies that you want to add to it, this is the place. An example of this is I am a “shoe-free” daycare. Parents and children remove shoes at the front door.
This is also the section of your home daycare handbook for parents to go over any safety procedures that you have in place for picking up children, weather, intruder, or fire. Thinking through every situation that could occur during your daycare day helps you to be prepared and ready for an emergency situation.
Don’t forget to also include your medication policy. This would include where you want parents to place any medications that will need to be administered during the daycare day and the medication forms that will need to be filled out.
Meals and Snacks
Are you going to provide meals and snacks in your home daycare? Will parents provide packed meals and snacks for their children? In this section, you will go all over all the details that pertain to feeding the children in your care. Some things I include in this section are information about the food program I participate in and the time meals and snacks are eaten.
If you are serving Infants in your care, discuss your policies for breast milk or formula. Do you want prefilled bottles or will you prepare bottles?
Termination of Care
One of the final policies that you want to place in your home daycare handbook for parents is your termination of care policy. No one wants to think about things going sour, but in reality, when working with many different kinds of people, you will find some people that just can’t follow policies and procedures. This happens to all of us, having an exit strategy prepared will save you a lot of trouble. This can be tricky to write so I will give you exactly word for word how I state this in my handbook. You are more than welcome to use this as a guide while writing your own termination of care policy.
Termination of Care Policy Example
I reserve the right to terminate any child or family from the program who does not abide by the policies set forth in this handbook. If I can no longer watch your child for one reason or another, I will try and give at least a two-week written notice. If I find it necessary, I reserve the right to terminate all services for any reason without notice. Examples of reasons I may terminate care include (but are not limited to):
- Inappropriate parent behavior
- Failure of the parent to pay
- Failure to complete required forms
- Failure to pick up on time
- Failure of the child to adjust to childcare after a reasonable amount of time
- My inability to meet the child’s needs
- Breach of contractual agreements.
If you decide to stop bringing your child, a two-week written notice is required. This will allow time to fill your child’s spot. Payment is due for the two-week notice period whether or not the child is brought to daycare. Any outstanding fees must be paid on or before the child’s last day. If it becomes necessary for me to resort to legal action to collect fees, the parent(s) or guardian(s) will be responsible for the legal fees incurred on my part.
Miscellaneous Policies
Guess, what? This is your business so you get to set the rules. What makes your program unique? You will want to include policies for some areas of your daycare that just don’t fit into other policies. Here are some miscellaneous policies that I have for my own home daycare.
- Supplies (do clients provide items or pay a supply fee)
- Dress Code (do you allow pajamas?)
- Parking (where do you want clients to park for drop off and pickup)
- Religious Practices (prayers, holiday parties, worship music, etc..)
- Curriculum (what learning activities do you provide, here’s what I use)
Example of Parent Handbook For Daycare
I hope you found this example of the parent handbook for daycare helpful. Years ago when I opened up my home daycare, I really struggled writing one.
I promise you if you take the time to think through how your want to run your program at the beginning you will save yourself many headaches throughout those first couple of months. People will take advantage of every opportunity they can, and value your home and family first.
If you are wanting more childcare provider help and tips check out my main provider page full of posts just for you!
If you are looking for more policy help, check out these other amazing daycare providers and how they have set up their handbooks.
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