Daily Sheets App - Recommendations?

[Missjaime]

Hi everyone! I am looking to streamline my daily sheet process and have seen a number of apps available so it can be done as an email or text message. Anyone using one of these? Any recommendations? Ideas to make it a little easier? I end up spending a bunch of time every day rewriting the same food information for each kid and it seems like there should be an easier way!
Thanks

[NightOwl]

Daily Connect is my fav. I can type in the lunch meal info, select all of the kids, and post. So one entry shows up on everyone's individual report. You can also do this with just about everything else. Activities, diaper changes, sippy cups, etc.

[Miss A]

I use bright wheel, and it is free. I love it!

[thrivingchildcarecom]

OMGoodness! Let me just tell you! I have been using the Tadpoles app for about 2 years. Not only do my parents love it, but it makes life so much easier for me and my staff.

We are able to input meals once, show pictures of projects and milestones and even add videos to our daily automated notes. No more do I get "what did they do today" at pick-up.

Anyway, I could go on and on and I would because I love it! Tadpoles is not a free app, but when I calculated how much I was spending on paper let alone time to write out the notes, it was actually a savings.

Originally Posted by NightOwl

Daily Connect is my fav. I can type in the lunch meal info, select all of the kids, and post. So one entry shows up on everyone's individual report. You can also do this with just about everything else. Activities, diaper changes, sippy cups, etc.

Don't laugh at me...lol. I have been using daily connect for almost two years now and didn't know you could do this. How do you get it to post to all children?

[AmyKidsCo]

Daily Connect!!

To post to all children, choose an icon in any child's home page. The photo of the child should have a grey + in the lower right corner. Touch the photo and a list of all active children pops up. You can choose to add children individually or at the bottom you can choose Checked in Children or Select All.

It's super-handy!

[bubblegum]

Originally Posted by NightOwl

Daily Connect is my fav. I can type in the lunch meal info, select all of the kids, and post. So one entry shows up on everyone's individual report. You can also do this with just about everything else. Activities, diaper changes, sippy cups, etc.

Do the parents have to purchase the app?

[Crazy8]

I'd like to know more about these apps too! I would like to cut down on the amount of paper I go thru - and not sure if parents even give a darn about their daily sheets sometimes. I'd like something I can also tell them if they need supplies, etc. on.

[Crazy8]

Originally Posted by thrivingchildcarecom

OMGoodness! Let me just tell you! I have been using the Tadpoles app for about 2 years. Not only do my parents love it, but it makes life so much easier for me and my staff.

We are able to input meals once, show pictures of projects and milestones and even add videos to our daily automated notes. No more do I get "what did they do today" at pick-up.

Anyway, I could go on and on and I would because I love it! Tadpoles is not a free app, but when I calculated how much I was spending on paper let alone time to write out the notes, it was actually a savings.

Is it Childcare by Tadpoles? That comes up as free in the app store so not sure its the right one??

Daily Connect is $5 for toddlers and $5 for infants - I don't want to spend that much unless I am positive I am going to use it!

[AmyKidsCo]

Originally Posted by Crazy8

Is it Childcare by Tadpoles? That comes up as free in the app store so not sure its the right one??

Daily Connect is $5 for toddlers and $5 for infants - I don't want to spend that much unless I am positive I am going to use it!

I'm not sure what you mean by $5 for toddlers and $5 for infants. I use Daily Connect for all my children, infants to school-agers. It's a one-time charge of $5 to buy the app, then free to use. Or you could use it online totally for free.

[NightOwl]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Don't laugh at me...lol. I have been using daily connect for almost two years now and didn't know you could do this. How do you get it to post to all children?

BA! For example, click on diapers. The menu pops up where you can choose if they had a wet, dry, or poopy diaper. BEFORE you hit save, click on the child's picture in the upper left corner (that's how it's laid out in my phone). Another menu will pop up where you can choose multiple children for that diaper change time.

When I discovered this, I did a happy dance.

[NightOwl]

The android or iPhone app for mobile devices is $5. It's a one time charge. If you log on from a desktop/laptop, you can use it through their website for free.

[Crazy8]

Originally Posted by AmyKidsCo

I'm not sure what you mean by $5 for toddlers and $5 for infants. I use Daily Connect for all my children, infants to school-agers. It's a one-time charge of $5 to buy the app, then free to use. Or you could use it online totally for free.

Looking again I guess the Baby connect one is a different app. When I searched for it it came up with 2 - one was daily connect, other was baby connect so I thought I'd need the baby connect for infants.

I tried out tadpoles a little last night and this morning and it confuses me, lol, so maybe I will try the daily connect on the computer first to see if I should spend the $5 on it. But then do parents all have to spend the $5 to have it too?? And do you pay the $8.99/month or just have the basic free one??

[NightOwl]

If the parents want the app, they pay the $5. Mine were all excited to have it. If they don't want it, they can use the website on their computer to check it for free.
You can use the basic version for free, but you can't customize it. The $8.99 monthly fee allows you to customize each category and prevents the parents from making any changes to your entries.

NannyNotes on the app store is another good option. Its cheaper than DailyConnect or BabyConnect I think $2.99. My family and I use it and what I like about it is just that its really simple to use. Doesn't have all the complicated options like some other apps.

Here is the link from google: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nann...954154411?mt=8

I think there is an Android version as well but we use iphones in our family.

[AmyKidsCo]

Originally Posted by NightOwl

If the parents want the app, they pay the $5. Mine were all excited to have it. If they don't want it, they can use the website on their computer to check it for free.
You can use the basic version for free, but you can't customize it. The $8.99 monthly fee allows you to customize each category and prevents the parents from making any changes to your entries.

Yes, this. I've used the free version since October 2012 and haven't ever felt the need to upgrade. (I didn't know parents could change my entries - I'm not sure they know either!)

[Crazy8]

Thanks, I am giving Tadpoles a try since it was a free app but I am not great at figuring out how to use it.
Has anyone tried both Tadpoles and DailyConnect and can tell me if they found one to be easier to navigate?? I definitely don't want the $8.99/month expense so would only go with the free version on dailyconnect.

[Crazy8]

ugh, so I've been using tadpoles and really like it - figured it out for the most part. Now today it says my free trial is over. Never before did I see any mention that it was just a trial and that I'd have to start paying $2.25 a kid afterwards. Boo!!! I can not afford to pay monthly for one of these apps and I don't like that dailyconnect's free version can be altered by parents. Are there any other apps like these out there that are truly free (I don't mind the one time payment for getting the app, but do not want the forever monthly payments!!).

[Blackcat31]

Originally Posted by Crazy8

ugh, so I've been using tadpoles and really like it - figured it out for the most part. Now today it says my free trial is over. Never before did I see any mention that it was just a trial and that I'd have to start paying $2.25 a kid afterwards. Boo!!! I can not afford to pay monthly for one of these apps and I don't like that dailyconnect's free version can be altered by parents. Are there any other apps like these out there that are truly free (I don't mind the one time payment for getting the app, but do not want the forever monthly payments!!).

Would the parents that want the daily communication be willing to pay the monthly fee?

For us, as providers the "per child" cost seems not so worth it but for parents, it seems a small fee for the added comfort of getting that info...kwim?

As a parent, I'd have paid that amount monthly without a second thought.