If there is no one at home to care for them, many children who have aged out of daycare can be at loose ends until their parents get home. In some neighborhoods, being without a caregiver is a dangerous proposition. About 14% of children age 12 and younger are latchkey kids and lack the maturity to stay home alone.

Deciding to start a childcare center is the very tip of an iceberg that can sink your hopes and plans if you don’t have a solid plan in place. Whether you begin with childcare in your home or decide to create a free-standing facility, there is a generally defined pathway from making your decision to opening your doors.

Online registration is less perk and more expectation as the digital natives grow up and become parents. The kids who don’t know a time when technology was not part of everyday life have come of age and expect service providers to implement digital solutions over analog processes.

After school programs have increased in popularity over the past few decades as more parents enter the workforce and the number of single-parent homes continues to rise. Parents want after school programs for a variety of reasons for keeping children safe after the school day is over to improving their child's success in school.

Everyone wants to find their tribe, children included. A strong after school program can offer the opportunity to meet people outside the confines of the formal classroom. Also, it can be a safe space to practice skills, whether they are social, educational, or emotional, which is critical to the development of a successful adult.

There seems to be one thing kids share unstintingly, and that's germs. Every surface of your classrooms, play areas, lunchroom, and toys is assaulted on a daily basis. There's just no getting around it.

Aftercare or afterschool programs have proven to be of significant value to low-income and low-performing student populations, but they have several roadblocks to implementation, recruitment and continued operation.

The children and teenagers that attend your after school care facility must be kept safe at all times. Accidents are not always avoidable but most safety issues can be determined ahead of time and corrective and preventive action taken to ensure nobody gets hurt or becomes ill at your aftercare facility.

Student to teacher ratio is a metric you can use to optimize teacher scheduling without compromising educational outcomes. There have been several studies attempting to ascertain the best ratio of students to teachers for maximum achievement, but when you deal with class sizes that grow and shrink within your operating hours, you have the potential to have more teachers than you need.

Since one of the best marketing tools you have for your childcare center is the parent tour, a good first impression of your business is essential. If you have never given tours before, put some effort into planning according to the tips below. If you have been providing tours and are having difficulty persuading parents to close the deal, maybe you need to compare your tour practices with the steps below.