What do you say to parents at pick up and drop off?

Good morning everyone! I have been running my daycare since January 2013. Initially with my first families, I was writing up a daily log of diapers, naptimes, meals, anything out of the ordinary, etc. I began finding my sheets crumpled in the diaper bags or even left on the floor in my mudroom entrance. So, I just mentioned to these parents that I was going to stop doing them up and tell them how their childs day was. Also with the new families that have begun with me, they have said the same, they are fine with me telling them at the door about their childs day.
What does everyone else do?
As well, what do YOU say in the mornings? I feel like its the same every morning... "Good morning, how was your evening? Anything new to report? Have a good day. Wave bye bye to Mom/Dad"
What do you do in the evenings at pick up? I usually have dckiddos ready with shoes on and say "Good day, ate well, slept well, no poops/x amount of poops Have a good night see you in the morning"
Not that I am interested in chatting at the end of the day as some days you are just DONE. Just wondering what everyone says to parents.
Thanks! I look forward to hearing all the responses.

I do write up the daily reports with personal comment. If I stopped I think the parents would throw a fit. Seriously! They love the reports. One dcd said this week he waits to read the report with his evening coffee, another files hers in a binder. I find the dads are the ones who anticipate the read the most. I hate doing them as they are time consuming, but I think this is one of the reasons the parents referr me to their friends.
Morning greetings I like to keep short and sweet. I am interested in the childs well being like if they slept well and had breakfast. If a parent is a talker, I politely let them know I have to pay attention to the kiddies. Evening greetings are kept short with a comment on how good their child was today and any pertainent info, otherwise it's have a good night and see you tomorrow. I find alot of parents just want to pick up and go and are not interested in chat either.

I know what you mean. I have one parent that there is just a ton of awkward silence as the shoes go on.

I don't do reports. I'm always afraid if I commit to them I will fall short of expectations eventually. Or it will just be repetitive.

I ask the parent how their day was at pick up. In the morning I don't talk so much to the parent as I do to the child. How was your sleep? Did you have a good breakfast this morning?

What else is there to say? They want to go to work and I want them out of my house. LOL

I will write up daily reports for infants up to 6 months of age. At that age everything we do becomes a daily routine and unless something is out of the ordinary, I don't do daily reports after that.

I don't think parents need a daily report. I think that is coddling the parents and really has nothing to do with the child. If a child is old enough to speak, I wouldn't even consider a daily report. The parent can simply ask the child what their day was like.

As far as meal and nap times go, those things are done on a daily basis at a regular time so I don't need to "update" parents about those things.

If there is something serious that happened during the day that warranted notifying a parent, I would do that face to face and not include in a daily report.

Ha ha, I'm the same as you! Good morning, say bye to daddy etc. That's just the way it goes. I don't do reports. I only mention things that are out of the ordinary, like x didn't eat much today. I'll chat to a couple of parents about 'life' but mostly it's just hi, bye, have a great weekend etc.!!!!

I just write those details on an erase board by the door and tell the parents when they come in. I think if they're just tossing them, then you made the right decision by not wasting time writing them up

I have a white board that covers their day. Its on the wall behind my front door. From nap times to meals to diaper chsnges and additional notes. I fill it in throughout the day. When parents pick up they can look at it. I even made it easier since when I would write on it if I was holding a child they would sometimes erase what I wrote. So I draw the lines in permanent marker and then attached Velcro. I printed out the words/letters I used to write. I laminated them and attached Velcro to them so all I do is stick on the info under the child's name. At the top I still fill in what we had for meals.

Thats excellent! So we all are basically on the same page. I do have a white board posted on my mudroom wall where I list the daily menu on one side and on the other list our schedule and hours so they SHOULD know by now which is why I don't say much. I don't say much as all of my kiddos are aged 12-15 months so I am still prying them out of their parents arm and the longer the parent lingers the worse it is so we don't say much.
At pick up I hate that awkward silence. Some parents like to chat and its usually about personal stuff. Guess I am the first person they see so want to vent a little. I usually just smile and nod hehe. I may say something like, if there was hitting or time outs, or no poop or lots of poop or things with the eating, trying something new etc.

I don't say much in the mornings as I want drop-offs to be brief for the child's sake, but in the afternoon I chat a bit more if their child is not the last one here. I tell them about eating, poops, any behaviour issues etc and also often tell them somethign cute or funny their child did etc.

When kids arrive in the morning I let the parent do most of the talking telling me about the child's night/morning and how it might effect the day and then let parent and child have their moment to bond and say bye and then child is passed over to me and parent leaves. Child and I have our good morning chat such as one can with little ones and a hug to start the day and then send them off to play.

At pickup I have some parents I chat with and some that are always rushing and it is brief for them. I let them know if there is anything that is different about the day - slept longer or didn't eat or drink as much or poop issues and often have something to say about whatever we are working on good or bad - didn't mix up green and blue in our game today or we had more/less issues with being bossy.

I used to do written forms but found they were useless really because in the grand scheme of things it didn't matter and I also found too many arguments with new moms over the forms such as mom complaining the next morning that she told me nap time for baby was 9 - 10:30 but given the needs of the group including baby I had put baby down at 8:45 or let him sleep till 10:45 cause he was still sound asleep when I went to get him the first time. To me I did right by the child but not by mom so I stopped writing down the truth and just wrote 9-10:30 so I didn't get yelled out so win-win for baby, me and a happy mom. One of the biggest reasons I stopped doing the forms. I also find them repetitive and it is great when things are going good and you can tick off slept well, ate well, happy temperament but not so much fun when you have to tick off kid was annoying all day again or words to that effect - too hard for parent to read better to casually drop in conversation at the door if at all.

I ask for a brief update of their evening, how they slept (if they are still 2x a day nappers what time they woke up), how their night was. Simple, polite and quick to move on with our day to ease the transition for the wee ones.

As for log sheets, I do them nightly electronically and email them out to the parents, makes things faster, and no paper waste.

I just started sending out daily reports electronically! The parents get it no later than 5:30pm! I send little reminders as well! I do a general report of our activities and menu to streamline it for all the kids!

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Originally Posted by Skysue

I just started sending out daily reports electronically! The parents get it no later than 5:30pm! I send little reminders as well! I do a general report of our activities and menu to streamline it for all the kids!

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I had actually thought of doing something like that and then I keep telling myself don't start something you might regret. If parents were asking for written reports for sure I would be going to something electronic and leaving it up to them to print out if they wanted to.

I do what Skysue said. Every evening I write an email "blog" about our day. All of my families love these emails and I have been thanked many times for them. I don't do it individually for each child as it would take me an hour, but rather it is one email addressed to all families with nothing personal in it. This way parents also get to know the other kids a bit through hearing about them in the emails. I think it makes everyone feel more connected.

I keep daily logbooks but they are for my reference, what children like or don't like to eat, naptimes and diaper times so that when we get to toilet training I can see if there is a pattern for poops and I can get them ready for the potty at that time. But I have always given the parents a verbal update at the end of the day.

I have one picky eater so her Mom asks me to send her an email every day at naptime with my daily menu (nobody else has every really cared about the menu) but this little girl won't eat any food in the evening if she's had it during the day. The Dad isn't great with messages, hehe and does dropoff/pickup so it gives me a good chance to keep an open communication with the Mom.

I wouldn't want to have to write out elaborate paperwork for parents, they wouldn't read it anyway, just a nuisance to them. And I have clients who don't check their email regularly so that wouldn't work for all. Find the system that works best for you and your clients.