Early Childhood | Growing Children

Marketing 101: Boosting Enrollment in Your Child Care Program

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Karen Middendorf

“All the marketing in the world is not going to help if you do not offer a quality program.”

I often get asked, “What are the best ways to build enrollment in my early childhood program?” There’s no easy answer. As a matter of fact, a good marketing program coupled with a mediocre early childhood program will actually lead to declining enrollment. Why? Because a good marketing program means that people will learn sooner rather than later of the program’s poor quality. Parents are smart consumers. You can bring them in with smooth talking and glitzy marketing, but if the program is not high quality, parents will not stay. Parents will also not refer their friends, family, co-workers or neighbors unless you offer a top quality program that meets their needs and their children’s needs.

There are many good evaluation tools and checklists you can use to assess your program’s quality. My favorites include the booklets published by NAEYC’s National Academy of Early Childhood Programs and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scales. I encourage all directors to take a look at your program and make any necessary changes before beginning a full scale marketing program.

You already know that it is important to know how many young children and families live in your area. However, you also need to know something about the families you want to attract to your program. What benefits and features of an early childhood program appeal to them? What is the average size of these families? How old are the children? Where do the parents live and work? Why would they want to come to your center? When you know some of these answers, you will know what types of written materials to develop for them, how to reach them when you promote your program and what to talk about when they call and visit.

Once you know your parents a little better, plan how you’ll appeal to them. Do you have a brochure? How about a logo? Are you advertising in places that reach your potential parents? I was once taught the 5 P’s that may help: PRICE, PROGRAM, PLACE, PROMOTION and PARENTS. All 5 should be working together. For example, the price should be one the parents you are trying to attract can afford, and your program should be consistent with the needs in your neighborhood. And remember: what you’re marketing should be reflected in the quality of care the children in your center are receiving.

Know what makes your program special. What makes your program different from, and better than, all the other early childhood programs in your area? Why do parents come to your center rather than the one down the street? However you answer this – your staff/child ratios, extracurricular programs, price or teacher qualifications – becomes your competitive advantage. It should become the foundation of your marketing efforts.

Know your competition. Visit them, not just once, but periodically during the year. Find out tuition prices, their services, the kinds of families they attract and what makes them special. When you know your competition, you know what you are doing better. This becomes the focus for everything you do to build enrollment. Be careful how you define your competition. Don’t limit yourself to other programs just like yours. For example, if you are an all day child care center, are family child care homes competing with you for children? How about public school programs? It is important to look at all programs that offer services to children in your area.

The last step is to develop a strategy for action. Make no mistake about it: a center without an action plan will not succeed in building enrollment. There are too many distractions in your job as director to keep you from building enrollment. So when you’re ready to get started, be realistic, be patient, remain committed, do some delegating and have fun. Action plans and knowing your target audience will get you enrollment and happy customers.

Filed under: Best Practice, Directors & Administrators, Early Childhood, Family Child Care, Uncategorized | Tagged: child care, early childhood, marketing | Leave a Comment »

Life can be a lesson plan

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Janine Rigg

At a meeting last month with other school-age specialists from around the state, we were discussing curriculum and its use within child care programs—school-age classrooms specifically. Another specialist said something that stopped me in my tracks. He said, “Life can be a lesson plan.” Wow, what a simple notion, yet it has so many possibilities for learning opportunities! Now, don’t take him literally; I don’t expect to walk into your classroom, look on your lesson plan sheet and just see ‘Life’ written on every line. But, life experiences can provide a wealth of activity options, and the best part is that the concepts will be familiar and relevant to the children.

Life can be a lesson plan in many different classrooms. When my colleague made that statement, I was reminded of a time recently when I was in the grocery store and the customer in front of me had a toddler with her. The toddler helped the customer put the groceries on the conveyor belt, handling boxes of crackers, packets of cheese and bags of baby carrots. When all the items were successfully taken from the cart, the child looked at the customer and said, “All done!” My early-education brain immediately thought of all the skills the child was demonstrating, as well as ways that they could be reinforced in a toddler classroom, such as having empty food boxes in the dramatic play area, demonstrating the concepts of all/none with different items or picking things up using one hand or two.

In an infant classroom, you can include aspects of the babies’ lives by placing photographs of the children’s families where they can see the photos, identifying the family members in the pictures for them or creating sensory bottles with new or familiar objects like fake flowers, birdseed, foil, dice, water/oil, (remember to always, always, always glue the top on). In a preschool classroom, you can incorporate everyday life by encouraging the children to picture-read through a book, celebrating their cultural differences or constructing a discovery board with various household devices like latches, knockers, locks, spigots and switches. In a school-age classroom, life practices can be used by sending letters or e-mails to pen pals, utilizing extension activities in connection with field trips or creating a currency to represent the classroom that they can earn or spend.

You can find the expectations for each age group’s knowledge and skills in the new Early Learning and Development Standards for birth through Kindergarten entry, and Ohio’s New Learning Standards for school-agers. They can help give you a basis for activity ideas to do with the children in your care. As always, please feel free to share how you use life as a lesson plan in your own classroom.

Filed under: Step Up To Quality, Infants and Toddlers, School Age, Early Childhood, Preschool | Tagged: curriculum, early childhood | 1 Comment »

Children get overwhelmed, too!

Posted on May 6, 2013 by Josh Craig

Have you ever sat down at the end of the day and thought, “Wow, I need a break!” I am sure that young children feel the same way, and maybe for many of the same reasons. Our classrooms are a nonstop assembly of activities. Dynamics change as we move throughout the day with children arriving and departing and teachers rotating in and out. Even during nap times there are papers to fill out, planning to do and other preparations.

There is so much going on that sometimes I feel we forget what’s on the other side of door for the children; we forget to ask how what is going on at home. Reminding ourselves that children can feel overwhelmed with all of the events filling their days, both in child care and at home, can help us better understand their emotions and behavior.

The most important thing you can do to better understand the children in your care is to talk with parents about what is going on in their lives. Go further than the usual, “Hello, how are you?” It will help you to build stronger, trusting relationships with parents. It shows that you care about them as a family and for their well-being.

When you notice a child saying a particular phrase or acting a certain way, don’t feel afraid to ask the parents or family members about it. Phrases such as, “I noticed Fara talking a lot about concrete this week,” or “Tom has been watching the infants with a lot of curiosity lately” can be great icebreakers in starting a conversation with parents.

When a child’s emotions and behaviors change dramatically it could be a clue that something is happening in their lives. Children respond to stress and feelings of being overwhelmed the same as adults. Checking in with the other adults in their lives can help alleviate stress on you.

So at the end of the day when you just need to take a load off, consider reflecting on those young people in your care. How might you be able to understand them better?

Filed under: Advocating for Children, Early Childhood, Parents | Leave a Comment »

Overcoming the ‘I don’t get it’ blues

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Karen Middendorf

Most of us can recall a time in school when we just didn’t “get” something. In the third grade, I witnessed a classmate hiding the fact that he couldn’t tell time. The teacher had expected him to do an errand for her and told him to leave his desk at “exactly 1:45.” He had to confess that he hadn’t a clue what that meant. And his past November, I attended an open house event for my niece, Lauren. She stood in the hallway very upset because her construction paper turkey didn’t look at all like her first grade peers or the teacher’s model. I recall her saying, “mine looks like a duck with funny feathers.”

Small matters, right? But not to a child. I am guessing that if I would have asked my third grade classmate how he was feeling when he didn’t know how to tell time or if I would have asked my niece why she was so upset about her turkey the answer would have been the same: “Less than brilliant” or “I am ashamed.”

“Not getting it” happens to every child. What we want is for them to bounce back, to not lose confidence in themselves as capable learners. Our faith in them helps, of course. So does having their teacher’s support. But there’s something else that can restore a child’s sense of competence, and this old-fashioned remedy is always effective, even when a child does not let you in on a discouraging experience.

Simply give the children in your care the chance to play every day. It has to be real play, though, where a child decides what to do and how to do it! In play, children set their own challenges and find out they can succeed. Children usually choose tasks that challenge them, but aren’t overwhelming.

When children are playing, they don’t worry about failing. Play, after all, is supposed to be fun. And you don’t get evaluated on fun. What’s more, because play is a no-risk situation, children often find themselves attempting more and more. In play, children try out new skills and discover they can perform at a higher level.

When they’re playing, children can pretend that they’re the ones in charge. Instead of being told when to get on the school bus, a child can be the driver. Instead of having to finish their vegetables at a meal time, a child can become the cook. Instead of taking a test, an older child may play school and be the teacher. Play builds self confidence. In play, children put aside feelings of being powerless and experience being capable.

Give a child in your care the time to play and you will be giving them time to re-charge. A child at play is someone who solves problems, generates new ideas, is curious and creative. A child at play is someone who sets and meets challenges, risks trying out new skills and experiences what it’s like to feel capable and in charge. And sometimes, a child who plays is someone who’s bouncing back from a temporary bout of “not getting it.”

Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood | Tagged: children, early childhood education, play, preschool, teachers | Leave a Comment »

Random Acts of Experimentation

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Josh Craig

Recently when we were sitting at the table finishing lunch, my wife and I were relishing an extended conversation while our son, Eli, switched between spreading peanut butter on crackers and licking his fingers.

With lunch I had a glass of water and Eli had an apple juice box. As my wife and I continued talking, I saw something out of the corner of my eye: Eli’s hand reaching for my glass of water. I looked over and he smiled and said, “Can I have this?” “Sure,” I replied. Boy, was he excited. But why? Did he finish his juice box? Was he still thirsty?

Turns out he needed to experiment. He spread out a cloth napkin on the table, dunked his juice box upside down into my half-full glass of water, gave it a squeeze, set the box on the table and squeezed again. Much to his delight, watery apple juice squirted out! Over and over he did this until he was out of water.

Not wanting to miss this awesome moment I said, “Wow! How did you do that?”

He replied, “Like this,” dunking his juice box in the water glass again and squeezing it.

“Oh, you squeeze it and air bubbles come out. Where does the water go?” I asked.

“Yah, it goes here,” he said, giving the box a good squeeze, making the water spray onto the napkin.

“I like how you spread the napkin out. It seems to catch the water,” I said.

“We don’t want too messy. It would be a big mess!” he said. “This is just a little bit.”

Why didn’t my wife and I stop this? Water could go everywhere; he’s playing with a glass and making a mess! But we didn’t stop him. We never stepped in and re-directed him. Why not? What were we thinking?

We were thinking , “Why NOT let him experiment?” He was gaining so much from this harmless activity that to stop him would keep him from learning and making connections with other activities. It only lasted about eight minutes and he was thoroughly satisfied when finished.

Allowing young children the freedom to experiment with materials in their own way encourages them to be scientists, hypothesize about problems and discover for themselves how and why things work. They also are developing fine motor and persistence skills needed to navigate a complex world. When we take this window of opportunity to ask probing questions, add new vocabulary and allow for time to process we turn this impromptu moment into an intentional one.

After Eli had exhausted his supply of water he let out a very satisfying sigh looking at the now empty glass, the juice box and the soaked napkin. Then he looked at us, smiling, and said, “Want to go play trucks? You can have the concrete mixer, daddy, and mommy can use the water.”

Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood, Preschool | Tagged: children, early childhood, kids, parents, preschool, teachers, toddlers | 4 Comments »

Science with infants and toddlers? You’re doing it already!

Posted on March 20, 2013 by 4cforchildren

We often encourage children to be scientists. We ask open-ended questions to encourage the children to hypothesize. We ask children to predict outcomes and graph responses. But some teachers struggle with science, thinking of their own experiences dissecting worms or experimenting with magnets. But science is everywhere! And it’s appropriate for every age group, even infants and toddlers.

I get super excited when thinking about science in early childhood. Physics and chemistry aren’t just topics for high school. With infants and toddlers, physics is all about the basics: how can I make the ball move? Can I roll it with my hands? If I put this block at an angle, will the car roll down? I want to get on the slide. How do I move the other child to make room for me?

And we’re doing chemistry with infants and toddlers every day. If physics is how to make something move, chemistry is about how to make something change. When working with play dough, how can I make it flat? When feeding myself food, what happens when I mix the mashed potatoes with the applesauce?

Science is more than dissection and magnets. It can be as simple as rolling a ball or as complex as a cooking experiment. It can also be about exploring what is unfamiliar. Once when I was observing in a classroom, a child came over to me and started touching my arms, face and hair. Soon, more children came over. The teachers looked a little nervous but I assured them it was okay for the children to explore. Because I looked different than the teachers the children saw every day, they were curious. This is science. Even though the children were not verbalizing their thoughts, I can imagine they were hypothesizing what my hair felt like. They may have been comparing the feeling to past experiences. They may have been thinking this does not feel like my teacher’s hair.

By allowing children to explore we are encouraging children to think beyond their current knowledge. Simply by rolling a ball, exploring new foods (or new people!), we are inspiring scientific thinking that will help them their whole life.

- Christine

Filed under: Early Childhood, Infants and Toddlers | Tagged: child care, child development, children, early childhood, education, infants, science, STEM, teachers, toddlers | 4 Comments »

Stickers for good behavior?

Posted on March 6, 2013 by Patty Taylor

In a recent meeting, the topic of rewarding children for good behavior came up. This can be a touchy subject. Although I have my own opinions on the subject I chose to sit back and listen as the discussion unfolded. The conversation became quite spirited: raised voices, red faces. As my colleagues argued, I reflected upon my own knowledge and experience with reward systems and young children.

Rewarding children for good behavior is giving a child something tangible (for example, stickers or small toys) for successfully completing a required task or successfully exhibiting the expected behavior in a situation. Teachers often implement a reward system in their classroom to ensure children follow the classroom rules. The reward system is often in the form of a chart. Children can collect stickers or tokens for the chart each time they behave the way the teacher wants. Children can later swap the stickers for a reward.

A classroom reward system can help a new or struggling teacher focus on children’s positive behavior instead of the negative. Working for prizes can be motivating and that motivation can help a teacher and her students feel less stressed throughout the day. In fact, as a young and inexperienced teacher I often used a reward system to make it through the day. I simply didn’t have any other tools to get the desired behavior from my 4-year-old students. The reward system worked. I began to feel as if I had some control in my classroom, the system was easy and the children seemed happy.

However, I soon found out that a reward system is only good as a short-term fix. My students became wise to my ways and they upped the ante. I soon noticed I needed to provide more and larger items to reach my desired results. Also, some children simply no longer cared about the reward. I needed to do something different and I needed to do it quickly. I needed to allow the children to feel the pleasure of a job well done. They needed an opportunity to experience choices. They needed permission to grow based upon the choices they made, not on the reward I had to offer that day.

I began by weaning them off a reward system that was based upon tangible prizes and I began to really communicate with my children. I became more intentional and consistent with my expectations. We reviewed the rules and expectations daily. We discussed what may happen if we leave puzzles on the floor. We talked about how it feels to be hit. We talked about what will happen if someone chooses to hurt a friend. We became problem-solving partners in the classroom. Instead of adding stickers to a chart I added specific praise and encouragement. I often told my children how proud their faces look when they remembered to put their work away. I told them they were being good friends by offering to work together with someone instead of keeping the blocks to themselves and I coached them through arguments. We made classroom books that included pictures of them following the rules. We showed respect for others by saying “please” and “thank you.” The children began to own their behavior and they began to experience how good it feels to do a good job, to be a good friend and make a good choice for the sake of doing it, not for the prize at the end of the day.

Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood, Family Child Care, Preschool | Tagged: children, early childhood, preschool, school, teachers | 2 Comments »

Right and Wrong

Posted on February 21, 2013 by 4cforchildren

A recent argument with my 16-year-old son ended with him stomping away and shouting, “You don’t think I do anything right!”

That comment really hurt my feelings, because I know that he does so many things right. He is one of the coolest young men that I know. He’s a responsible student that works hard. He’s a great friend to those around him. He is generous with his time and gives what he can back to the community. He asks really thought provoking questions that make people think. He can participate in very high levels of conversation about topics that are relevant to current events and life in general. I just didn’t understand how he could believe that I think he does everything wrong.

Photo courtesy of AngryJulieMonday.

And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t remember the last time I said something positive to him. Even though I share so many amazing things that he does with so many people in my life, it didn’t even occur to me to compliment him on all of the things I noticed him doing well.

Hiam Ginott, a school teacher and child psychologist, once said, “If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others.” Although I am using this quote to help me in parenting my son, I think this very much applies to the work we do in classrooms every single day. It’s important to let the children we work with know how valued they are and how much they are cared for and respected. There are times that adults struggle with positive things to say about the behaviors that happen every day in our classrooms or even in our homes with our own children. However, we don’t want to get into a situation where all the children hear is a report about the negative behaviors that are seen.

Children are miraculous human beings that are capable of so much good. Let’s tell them about all the good things that they are doing and can do going forward. So, the first thing on my agenda when I get home today will be to let my son Sam know how grateful I am to be his mom and compliment him on something he’s done well today. What nice thing will you share with a child to let them know just how wonderful they can be?

- Angie

Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood | Tagged: children, early childhood, families, kids, parents, teachers | 2 Comments »

Listen With Your Eyes

Posted on February 13, 2013 by 4cforchildren

Everyone knows that listening is a big part of communicating with children. But have you ever thought about listening with your eyes as well as your ears? Observing a child’s non-verbal communication is one way to find out what’s really on their mind.

Even as adults we sometimes have a hard time putting our true feelings into words. Children find it even harder. By reading a child’s expressions and subtle ways of moving you can get a fuller picture. And once you see what’s on your child’s mind, tuning in and responding becomes much easier.

Reading a child's body language is just as important as listening to what they are saying.

Photo courtesy of Lee LeFever.

Listening with your eyes isn’t difficult. In fact, most teachers learn it from the experts: babies. A baby who silently turns down the corners of his mouth has effectively delivered their message. A baby who turns his head away while playing an exciting game of peek-a-boo may be saying, “Whew, this sure is fun, but I need a minute to calm down.” In the same way, a wide-eyed look of wonder or a wrinkled brow tells a teacher whether to keep on playing or call a momentary halt. By listening with your eyes, you can figure out when a baby has had enough, when she wants more, what she’s afraid of, and what she’s fascinated by. All without her saying a word.

It works with older children, too. A child in your class tells you he has had a great day at school, but bites his lip and looks out the window as he says it. His expression makes you decide to sit down and talk for awhile. You notice that one of the girls in your class will raise her eyebrows when you tell her it is time to clean up the dramatic play area. Seeing her expression makes you think that maybe she really was not ready to clean up and you have interrupted her work. You give her the benefit of the doubt. You witness two children playing a new board game in your classroom. You notice one child lift his hand to their mouth in hesitation when it’s his turn. You help out with a subtle hint instead of telling him that everyone’s waiting on him and we need to move the game along.

Listening with your eyes as well as with your ears can help you figure out and respond to what your children are feeling as well as to what they’re saying. It may mean glancing away from a clean-up routine, picking up the block area, cleaning out the paint jars, supervising the bathroom line or any one of a thousand things a busy teacher has to get done. But what you “hear” with that glance may well be worth a thousand words.

- Karen

Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood, Infants and Toddlers, Parents, Preschool | Tagged: child care, children, early childhood, early childhood development, feelings, kids, parents, preschool, teachers | Leave a Comment »

Shouldn’t every month be National Reading Month?

Posted on February 4, 2013 by 4cforchildren

There is so much energy and time invested in promoting reading as the single most important activity one can do (and it is!), and yet so little time is actually spent reading! Many states and organizations promote a single month or day for reading, but these months and days are random and do not correlate to anything specific.

Reading shouldn’t happen in planned out Hallmark-holiday style. Reading is something that happens all day every day. Reading month, like many other randomized celebrations (Black History Month, Valentine’s day, Father’s Day or Movember, for example) is not something that you should be made aware of for just one day or one month. Reading, like heritage and disease, is something that should be done, discussed and acted upon every day of every month!

There is a ton of research into how and why. Not only is reading good fun, the language and literacy skills needed to do it well are important skills to acquire for future success in school and life. Reading also helps soothe the mind, takes you to faraway places or back in time to witness great moments, and ordinary ones, too.

I wonder why we think that giving reading such short thrift will provide us with the results we desire. If we want to see a higher percentage of early language comprehension and a higher percentage of reading at level in third grade, we should read every day (these and more outcomes are in the Strive Report Card). Reading also contributes to higher scores on the SAT, ACT and the NAEP, and with children in the United States trailing our global neighbors, it’s never been more important.

With the onslaught of technology and how rapidly our youth have taken to it we might be at a crossroads. But somewhere between winning texting awards and writing fluent essays we must hold on to what we know leads one to a life of success. So read to your children and provide them opportunities to talk about their world.

- Josh

Filed under: Best Practice, Early Childhood | Tagged: books, child care, children, early childhood education, early literacy, preschool, reading, teachers | 1 Comment »

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