The daily report is thirty seconds of reading that earns you a year of trust. At 5:30 a
parent does not want a curriculum summary; they want to know whether their child ate,
slept, and had a moment worth hearing about at dinner. Build a report you can fill in
under a minute per child, or by February you will stop, and parents notice the stopping
more than they noticed the reports.
What to track, by age band
Infants. The physical day, with times: feeds (what and how much),
diapers, sleep (down and up, not just totals), tummy time, and mood in one word. New
parents rebuild their whole evening around this data: a 4:00 bottle changes what bedtime
looks like.
Toddlers. Meals as ate well / ate some / tried it, diapers or potty
progress if you are partnering on training, nap length, the day's main activity, and one
line of story: what they built, said, or belly-laughed at.
Preschool. Drop the diaper grid, keep meals and rest, and add what
they worked on: the puzzle finished, letters practiced, the negotiation over the red
truck resolved with words. One social note beats five checkboxes.
School-age. Usually just snack, whether homework time happened, and
what they got into afterward. A weekly note often serves these families better than a
daily one; say which you do in your
handbook so it is a policy, not a
fade.
A filled sample
Sample infant report: an invented day showing the format, not any real child
[Child's name], [date]. Mood today: sunny with one cloudy patch.
Feeds: [7:45] bottle [5 oz] / [11:00] bottle [6 oz] / [2:30] oatmeal cereal, most of
it / [4:15] bottle [4 oz]
Tummy time: two rounds, pushed up high and held it.
Today's moment: discovered the crinkle book page and made sure we all heard about it.
Please bring: diapers by Thursday.
Blank skeleton to copy for your own half-sheet
Name: ______ Date: ______ Mood: ______
Meals and feeds (time, what, how much): ______
Diapers or potty (times): ______ Sleep (down and up): ______
Today we: ______
Please bring: ______ Note from me: ______
Paper, notebook, or app
Half-sheets, printed a week at a time, are the workhorse: fill them at nap, hand them
at pickup, done. A composition notebook per child that travels in the bag makes a
keepsake and carries notes both directions. Messaging apps time-stamp everything and
reach the parent at work, at the cost of you typing during care hours. Pick whichever you
will still be doing in February; print the blanks alongside the rest of your
starter paperwork.
What stays off the report
Other children's names. "A friend" bit, "a friend" shared. Every
report should be shareable with only that child's family.
Incident details. The report can say "bumped chin at the slide, note
attached"; the account itself belongs on your separate incident form, signed, with a copy
in the file. Check whether your state prescribes an incident form and when incidents must
be reported to it; that is licensing territory, not report-writing territory.
Anything you would not say at pickup. Concerns deserve a
conversation, not a checkbox ambush.
The report proves the value your rate charges for
A stack of honest daily reports is the clearest picture a family ever gets of what
tuition pays for. What that tuition adds up to across your spots, weeks, and expenses is
what the free income and capacity planner shows, from your own numbers,
in your own browser, sent nowhere.