Inspections are an important part of running a licensed daycare center. What an inspection seeks to do is determine whether the facility is meeting all the requirements for licensure. The list of requirements for childcare is lengthy with much of the focus on safety.

After school programs provide a bridge between the school day and the time parents get off work. They can also give students a chance to experience new activities or be with friends in a safe space. However, maintaining attendance rates can be a challenge; by the time students reach middle school and high school, they are more independent and able to skip out on activities that are not part of the mandated school day.

When you care for children, a safe environment is critical. No childcare professional wants to tell a parent a little one has been injured or become ill because of something at the facility. Improving safety in your daycare is an ongoing activity that reassures parents you are taking your responsibility seriously and is high on a family’s list of “must-haves” for an appropriate care situation.

The key to a good relationship is good communication and the most important relationship you will have in your childcare center, outside of the one you have with the children, is the one you have with their parents.

According to a report by the Afterschool Alliance, there were 10.2 million attending after school programs. Such programs have shown to result in significantly higher test scores, improved day school attendance, and reduce criminal activity within the community.

Now that tax time is past you can start to focus on preparing for the next one. Isn’t that a cheery thought? Maybe not, but it is a necessary one if you want to maximize your tax deductions and make the next tax season a little less stressful.

Let’s take a look at how the IRS defines different types of daycares and ten potential deductions you might take advantage of the next time around and run the best daycare service possible.

Reducing costs for your after school program may be necessary to stay afloat. The business expenses and costs of operating an after school program continue to rise as prices for supplies, equipment, and other necessities go up while wages remain stagnant.

There are only so many hours in the day and managing your own day care business can take up every one of them if you cannot manage your time. Few things are as busy as a day care from morning until night, except, perhaps, for nap time.

However, the business end of a day care will not wait until the perfect time. You must take advantage of some time-saving tips and technology to streamline day care management and keep your sanity.

It takes more than a love of children to run a day care center. It is a business in which you will likely manage employees, maintain a facility, and watch over daily operations.

Here are six areas where problems commonly appear in day care management and how to fix them.

Quality improvement has been a watchword for most industries over the past 30 years. Today’s need to measure the success of and improve your after school program using data and evidenced-based improvements is an outgrowth of those programs, which have begun to mature.