The advanced technology of our digital age is reshaping entire industries, and the childcare industry is no different. Apps and software programs built for daycare providers and early childhood educators have arrived on the scene. As a busy daycare owner, you may be wondering if it?s worth the time, effort, and investment required to implement some of these digital tools to connect with your students? busy, on-the-go parents. We affirm that, yes, it can definitely be a wise move on your part to take advantage of industry-leading technology to improve communication with parents. In this guide, we?ll explore the benefits of using digital parent communication tools and offer a brief overview of some of the most popular options.
Benefits of Digital Parent Communication Tools?
While there is nothing wrong with opting for traditional methods of communication to keep in touch with parents, more and more daycare providers are choosing to take advantage of the convenient and handy capabilities afforded by todays apps and software programs. Where once paper-heavy forms of communication were the only option, nowadays your community bulletin board, paper newsletters, flyers, and other hard-copy parent communications may benefit greatly from the latest technology advances. Consider the following benefits to using parent communication software and apps
- Reach out to busy, on-the-go parents who may not take the time to read a paper bulletin or newsletter, but who may be more likely to read updates sent directly to their phone as a text message, email, or in-app message.
- Share a variety of important information pertaining to a childs participation in your daycare program, including safety and medical updates, classroom policies, invoices and billing statements, updates about the child?s development, behavior, and accomplishments, and more. All of this can be accomplished without printing a single document or wondering if a parent ever read your latest flyer.
- Connect with parents in a way that is meaningful to them. Studies show that more and more parents (especially millennials) prefer to be updated about their childs daycare, preschool, or primary school activities via modern technology, as opposed to the more traditional face-to-face meeting or paper communications. A 2014 study conducted by Stanford University found that parents who received text message prompts with practical tips to engage in literacy activities with their children took an active participation in their childs learning and had a positive impact on literacy.
- Find new ways to break down language barriers and other cultural or socioeconomic challenges that parents of your daycare students may face. Many of the parent communication tools offered today have the capability to translate communications from you into the family’s native language, making it that much easier to engage parents from different cultural backgrounds.
- Save yourself a lot of time and frustration by taking advantage of the built-in conveniences afforded by parent communication apps and software programs. Save on printing costs, cut down on the time you spend sending out individual mailings or email messages to all the parents on your list, and reduce the time you spend on administrative tasks related to parent communication by a significant amount. Digital tools make it easy to send class-wide messages to all the parents on your contact list and provide real-time classroom updates that are consistent across the board.
