Making families feel welcomed in a childcare environment can be challenging, but it's important to create a warm and inviting space for them. Here are five tips to make families feel more at ease in your child care center.
- Host New Family Orientation- At the end of every month host an orientation for new parents. During orientation, parents can ask questions and express any concerns they may have. You can use canva or Google Slides to make the presentation and use zoom to host the orientation.
- New Family Swag bag or welcome box- Nothing screams "I'm Excited" more than a GIFT! You can create gift bags or boxes with your childcare merch inside.
- New Family shout-out on social media- Have a special wall that is decorated or a backdrop that is used to take pics of new parents at your school. This is where you take the first day of school pics for social media. You can tag the family in it so now all their friends and family can see the pics as well. You will need their permission for this. The goal is to make their first day a big deal. They need to feel good about this big decision.
- 1st week of school phone call- This is a welcome phone call to make sure the family is happy and see if they have any questions or concerns.
- Assign a parent buddy- If you have certain parents in your center that is looking for an opportunity to help or want to be involved in some way, you can assign a parent buddy. A parent buddy just helps new parents get adjusted to a new environment.
Bonus: Send out a survey. This will always improve on your welcome process.