Hello!

I am also new here. I run a home daycare in Alberta.

I think the level of communication should vary according to the age of the child - an older child can share information themselves, whereas a baby needs parents and caregivers to be in closer communication. I also believe that it is important for language development for parents to be able to talk with children about their days and to do that, they have to know what the children are doing in a regular and timely way.

I post my menu and activity plans in advance by the door, and I try to always share/ask about how the child slept or ate at dropoff or pickup.

I also have a private facebook group for my dayhome parents and grandparents. I am not fb friends with them, and all parents gave me written consent to take the photos and a promise not to share photos of other children off the group, so professionalism is preserved. I can post pictures and short videos from my camera or iPhone very easily as I take them, and at naptime, I go back and add comments. Sometimes I post links to books we read or youtubes of songs we are listening to or the words to songs we are singing, etc. I find it very easy to maintain this - much more so than the old notebooks I kept. I love the feedback from parents and sometimes grandparents in comments, too. They watch the videos especially over and over with their children.