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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>For Those That Send Home a Daily Report...What's Included?
SunflowerMama 10:06 AM 06-29-2010
I do one but it's very simple.

# of diapers or potty visits
how they played with their friends
how they followed directions
favorite activity of the day



Because I don't post a menu I'm thinking of adding what we had for breakfast and lunch or maybe just lunch.

I just feel like I write the same things every day and was just wondering what other people have on their daily sheets.
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katie 10:10 AM 06-29-2010
I do one for each kid, but I only have 2 right now, soon 3. It just says my day today: Diapers/toileting, meals ( and I put what they ate or how much), activities, when they napped, and a misc section for anything else. I feel like i'm saying the same thing every day too. Thinking about a weekly sheet.
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momofboys 10:14 AM 06-29-2010
I know it can get repititious but I would imagine it's helpful for the parents to feel like they know how their child's day went. I also post information about payment (receipt for what they paid) & amount die next week if it differs from the normal. Mine has what they ate for breakfast, lunch & snack; what activities we did, info about naptime & diaper changes.
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Pammie 10:46 AM 06-29-2010
I send home daily reports only for infants. Once they have their one year birthday, I stop. But mine are "All About My Day" and have spots for:

This is when/what I ate...
This is when I slept...
My diaper changes were.....
This morning I was feeling....
By afternoon I was....
Please help me be ready for next time by sending....
Pam wants you to know.....
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Janet 10:54 AM 06-29-2010
I don't do written daily reports because I am constantly forgetting to fill them out anyway or I forget to give them to parents at the end of the day. I just fill them in verbally and then I don't have to worry about losing the daily reports or forgetting them. I remember having to do daily reports when I was a toddler lead teacher at a center and I HATED IT! I always gave the parents a verbal rundown of the day, complete with observations and any areas that needed to be talked about. I also told the parents about the cute stuff and the funny stuff and just basically, anything that we did for the day. I also remember seeing cubbies with tons of unread daily sheets, so I hated having to bother with them when I would be talking to them anyway. Now it's all verbal here, with the exception of my observation notebooks for each child and those I use to prepare for my progress reports that I do twice a year.
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momma2girls 11:00 AM 06-29-2010
[quote=Janet;34704]I don't do written daily reports because I am constantly forgetting to fill them out anyway or I forget to give them to parents at the end of the day. I just fill them in verbally and then I don't have to worry about losing the daily reports or forgetting them. I remember having to do daily reports when I was a toddler lead teacher at a center and I HATED IT! I always gave the parents a verbal rundown of the day, complete with observations and any areas that needed to be talked about. I also told the parents about the cute stuff and the funny stuff and just basically, anything that we did for the day. I also remember seeing cubbies with tons of unread daily sheets, so I hated having to bother with them when I would be talking to them anyway. Now it's all verbal here, with the exception of my observation notebooks for each child and those I use to prepare for my progress reports that I do twice a year.[/QUOTe


I agree, I don't do daily reports any longer as well. It just got way too much!! I had 3 infants/toddlers that I was making them out for daily, and I would forget to make them out til the end of the day, and I was rushed trying to remember everything. I tell them all verbally if something was different than normal for the child. I also have a monthly menu on the door.
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Janet 11:09 AM 06-29-2010
I change my mind way too much to even consider that! Sure, I make a menu, but I never end up preparing what I have initially planned to prepare, so I only do the food program menu and if the parents want to know what they had to eat, I just tell them. I'm entirely too indecisive to stick to a menu! For instance, today was supposed to be chicken taco day, but instead we packed lunches and walked to the playground at the school by my house and ate lunch! I change my mind way too much!
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misol 11:22 AM 06-29-2010
[quote=Iowa daycare;34705]
Originally Posted by Janet:
I don't do written daily reports because I am constantly forgetting to fill them out anyway or I forget to give them to parents at the end of the day. I just fill them in verbally and then I don't have to worry about losing the daily reports or forgetting them. I remember having to do daily reports when I was a toddler lead teacher at a center and I HATED IT! I always gave the parents a verbal rundown of the day, complete with observations and any areas that needed to be talked about. I also told the parents about the cute stuff and the funny stuff and just basically, anything that we did for the day. I also remember seeing cubbies with tons of unread daily sheets, so I hated having to bother with them when I would be talking to them anyway. Now it's all verbal here, with the exception of my observation notebooks for each child and those I use to prepare for my progress reports that I do twice a year.[/QUOTe


I agree, I don't do daily reports any longer as well. It just got way too much!! I had 3 infants/toddlers that I was making them out for daily, and I would forget to make them out til the end of the day, and I was rushed trying to remember everything. I tell them all verbally if something was different than normal for the child. I also have a monthly menu on the door.
I only do them for infants up to 1 year as well. However, since meals, naps, and diaper changes are pretty much the same time every day it seems like a waste of paper and time. I recently changed my handbook to say that I will do them for infants until a pattern/schedule has been established. Then I will just give them a verbal report if something outside the norm happened. My menu is posted weekly so I don't include what we ate but I do have a section that says "I ate all/some/ none of my lunch and then circle the appropriate description.
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DCMom 11:58 AM 06-29-2010
I used to, I don't any longer. Too time consuming.

For new infants I will send mom and dad an email or a text during quiet time letting them know mood, eating, diapers, etc. up to that point. Once they are in a routine, that drops off to a as need basis.

I have a whiteboard mounted next to the entrance door; at quiet time I write special things we did or place we went, menu for the day, notes for the next day, etc. The parent's are really good about checking it.

At the beginning of the month I usually send out an email to all my families that has special dates, hot news, upcoming events, any reminders, etc. This took the place of the monthly newsletter and I have to say that it has been a success.
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Greenshadow 12:08 PM 06-29-2010
Originally Posted by Janet:
I change my mind way too much to even consider that! Sure, I make a menu, but I never end up preparing what I have initially planned to prepare, so I only do the food program menu and if the parents want to know what they had to eat, I just tell them. I'm entirely too indecisive to stick to a menu! For instance, today was supposed to be chicken taco day, but instead we packed lunches and walked to the playground at the school by my house and ate lunch! I change my mind way too much!
That sounds like me! I used to do the daily sheets but the parents never asked for them and I got to where I kept forgetting to do them and then I'd fill them in at the last minute only to NOT have the parents take them home. I tell each parent what the child ate that day and how their day was, etc. I dont always stick to my menu either. Today was teriyaki chicken and I made pb&j sandwiches and mac and cheese and we took it outside and ate. LOL.
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WImom 12:38 PM 06-29-2010
I haven't opened yet but a few years ago when I did childcare I wrote them out everyday. This time I will only be emailing them if a parent requests (which is stated in my handbook). I'm opening as an eco friendly childcare now and I feel like handing out a daily sheet everyday is probably not very eco friendly. Also by emailing I can keep the sheet and just change what I need to so it should be faster. I might print out a weekly one. Haven't decided yet.
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Michael 01:39 PM 06-29-2010
More threads on Daily Reports: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...=daily+reports
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Former Teacher 02:34 PM 06-29-2010
Originally Posted by twinmama:
I do one but it's very simple.

# of diapers or potty visits
how they played with their friends
how they followed directions
favorite activity of the day



Because I don't post a menu I'm thinking of adding what we had for breakfast and lunch or maybe just lunch.

I just feel like I write the same things every day and was just wondering what other people have on their daily sheets.
twinmama...I remember you were in TX but I don't remember if you were licensed or not. Maybe home centers are different.

In a licensed center daily reports are required for all children 2 years and younger. It must include from the day: mood, diapers (what they were and the times), activities, naps, food, and whole bunch of other BS.

I am also surprised that you don't post a menu. In licensed centers you are required to post 2 of them. We had one in the office and the other in the kitchen. Heaven forbid you served apples when the fruit of the day were peaches!
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SunflowerMama 02:46 PM 06-29-2010
Originally Posted by Former Teacher:
twinmama...I remember you were in TX but I don't remember if you were licensed or not. Maybe home centers are different.

In a licensed center daily reports are required for all children 2 years and younger. It must include from the day: mood, diapers (what they were and the times), activities, naps, food, and whole bunch of other BS.

I am also surprised that you don't post a menu. In licensed centers you are required to post 2 of them. We had one in the office and the other in the kitchen. Heaven forbid you served apples when the fruit of the day were peaches!
I'm registered now but should be licensed in the next couple of weeks. According to the minimum standards we don't have to post menus but do have to have them available if licensing or parents wish to review. Because I'm on the Food Progam and those are kept daily online my last rep said that would suffice if licensing needed to review my menus.

I also include other things on their report I didn't mention in my original post (how much they ate, etc,).

I have been emailing the reports recently but still feel like it's just a copy and paste but I know one of my parents definitely likes to know what we do each day.
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jen 03:30 PM 06-29-2010
[quote=misol;34710]
Originally Posted by Iowa daycare:

I only do them for infants up to 1 year as well. However, since meals, naps, and diaper changes are pretty much the same time every day it seems like a waste of paper and time.
Me too!!!!!!!!!
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Lucy 08:47 PM 06-29-2010
I never used to do it, but had one mom ask when she started bringing her 6 mo old, and then again when she had a 2nd baby. I am willing to do it for babies up to about 14 months because it's good to know whether they pooped that day, how many bottles they had, how long they napped, and whether they were fussy. That's important info for the parents to know. So I did it for this family, then I would notice that they weren't looking at it. I know this because I would purposely put it at a particular angle in the diaper bag, or "dog-ear" one corner, fold it in half, and have that corner be at the top-right one day, bottom-left next day, etc. It kept coming back in EXACTLY the same position. Also, sometimes I know they'd leave the diaper bag in the car overnight because the wipes would be half frozen from being in the cold car. That tells me they didn't even look at my daily sheet. So.... I tapered off filling it out and eventually stopped. She never said one word. That being said, I WILL fill one out for future infants if the parent is interested. But if they don't read it, forget it.
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momma2girls 06:21 AM 06-30-2010
I started to do a monthly menu when I had one parent always ask everything what we had to eat that day. SOmetimes it was hard to even remember-lol!!! It is called age(I think) lol!! So I was getting quite annoyed with the whole thing, I am busy at pickups, I tell them all, the major things, and that is all from now on. It has worked wonderfully, by having a menu up on the door every month!! I don't always go meal by meal, every day, but most days I do. It's if I run out of something, or have leftovers.
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momma2girls 06:27 AM 06-30-2010
I do not make daily sheets out any longer!! It was way too time consuming, I would forget, etc. trying to remember everything at the last min. was not fun!!! I stopped it when I moved- so much better now. I tell the parents who want to know when their child pooped, or if they were fussy, didn't sleep good, etc. otherwise it's the same thing day after day!!
I had a parent leave, because she asked way too many questions at every pickup!! Her baby was 6 months old, always the same routine day after day. The baby was only here for 4 hrs. a day. "where did he sleep?" She was mad that he wasn't right out by me every second, that I placed him in a pack and play in my bedroom, I explained to her, there is no way the baby could beout here sleeping in the swing, etc. with the other daycare children, and actually get sleep!!! Hello?????? She quit when I said enough with the monitonous(spelling?) questions day after day!!
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Golden Rule 06:33 AM 06-30-2010
I did them daily for years, in great detail, some even with diagrams of exactly every bump and scrape and how they occurred .

I no longer do them since I re-stained my decks and had to remove the lattice around my front porch..... How is this relevant?

I found at least 80 decomposing daily forms, coloring sheets, art projects, etc. shoved through the decking. The following week I put little mesages like, text "good morning" by 11 am for a $10 discount or attributing why they did not finish their lunch to alien abduction as a joke ....Guess what?

Yep, not even one bite This is just my experience, yours may be different. The worst part was that not one parent even asked why I stopped......
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momma2girls 07:08 AM 06-30-2010
Originally Posted by Golden Rule:
I did them daily for years, in great detail, some even with diagrams of exactly every bump and scrape and how they occurred .

I no longer do them since I re-stained my decks and had to remove the lattice around my front porch..... How is this relevant?

I found at least 80 decomposing daily forms, coloring sheets, art projects, etc. shoved through the decking. The following week I put little mesages like, text "good morning" by 11 am for a $10 discount or attributing why they did not finish their lunch to alien abduction as a joke ....Guess what?

Yep, not even one bite This is just my experience, yours may be different. The worst part was that not one parent even asked why I stopped......
This is just too good!!! I felt that way as well- and why was I even doing this???
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Golden Rule 07:32 AM 06-30-2010
Originally Posted by Iowa daycare:
This is just too good!!! I felt that way as well- and why was I even doing this???
LOL! I know.... now, it was in good fun, and I don't believe they are horrible parents or uninterested in their chidren. They just take my word and really do not worry. The kids are happy, thriving and run through the front door at drop-off, some even cry when they are being picked up....that means more to parents than anything I can write on paper....

I wanted to mention that as when I re-read my post, it I felt people may take it the wrong way.
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