The Child Care Business Podcast
The Child Care Business Podcast
Season 5, Episode 1: Creating a Vision for Your Child Care Center in 2025, with Mr. Ty, the Childcare Whisperer
"You cannot be a director if you don't have a vision," says Mr. Ty, the Childcare Whisperer who is the president of The Childcare Agency, a popular motivational/keynote speaker and an early childhood education teams coach.
In this podcast, Mr. Ty shares his tips from his years of experience working in ECE, including what he sees as problems that must be fixed. On that list: Putting a Band-Aid over a problem instead of looking at a long-term effect,
we put a bandaid over things instead of looking at the long term and thinking a goal can be achieved without a strategic plan.
"You have to plan to be excellent," Mr. Ty says. "So therefore, when it comes down to your goal, you have to sit down and write it out."
Check out his podcast for more tips on better communication with your staff, including paying attention to your body language when you speak with them.
To learn more about Mr. Ty and the work he does, email his company at admin@thechildcarewhisperer.com or visit his website: www.theempowerment.agency.
He is also active on social media, including on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram!
Welcome to the Childcare Business Podcast, brought to you by ProCare Solutions. This podcast is all about giving childcare , preschool, daycare, after school , and other early education professionals. A fun and upbeat way to learn about strategies and inspiration you can use to thrive. You'll hear from a variety of childcare thought leaders, including educators, owners, and industry experts on ways to innovate, to meet the needs of the children you serve. From practical tips for managing operations to uplifting stories of transformation and triumph, this podcast will be chock full of insights you can use to fully realize the potential of your childcare business. Let's jump in.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone, and welcome to the Childcare Business Podcast. My name is Leah Woodbury, and I am happy to have you join us today. Today we're thrilled to have Tahi Clark , perhaps better known as Mr. Ty. Um, he's the founder of the Childcare Whisperer. It's a consulting business that works with childcare center directors to help them meet their goals and take their centers to the next level. And his experience in early childhood educa early childhood education started when he was a child and he helped his mother at her childcare center. Since then, he has worked as a pre-kindergarten teacher, an assistant center director, a director of curriculum, and he's managed centers with enrollments ranging from 80 to 200 children. And people love following him on his social media accounts. For his knowledge, he shares his TikTok has over 334,000 followers, and I checked that number yesterday. I bet it's grown <laugh> . And in this podcast, he's gonna talk to us about what childcare center directors need to do in 2025 to be successful. Welcome, Mr. Ty.
Speaker 3:Hi, everybody. I hope you all are having a good day, a good night, whatever it is, wherever you are. I hope that it is been amazing to you. I'm so honored to be here. Great .
Speaker 2:Well, let's, we always like to start these podcasts, getting a little bit of background on our guests. Can, can you talk about how you got into ECE?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So, my birth mother, and you have to, you know, you have to dig a little deeper to understand why I say birth mother, but my birth mother , uh, she converted our two car garage into a childcare center. So I always grew up around children. My family is also, currently, my grandmother is still a foster parent. She's been doing it for over 20 years. So I always grew up around children. I grew up , I went to college, made it majored in early childhood education, got my first job in Atlanta in 2016 as a private pre-K teacher. And I, I loved it. Um , it became not only my career, but my form of therapy. So that's my how I started <laugh>.
Speaker 2:I love that. I love that story. So, let's shift to today. So what, what is your role as a consultant? What kinds of services are you offering to childcare clients?
Speaker 3:Yeah , so I work specifically with the team, right? Um, I know a lot of people say, oh, you should do this, you should do that. But I work specifically with the team. Um, I'm a coach that has worked in the field, as you stated. Um, I've been the private pre-K teacher, I've been the director. I've been the director curriculum. The list goes on. So my business is designed to empower them, empower them to be great again, also to give them the voice that they can't do. There are so many times that teachers are sitting back and they are miserable, right? They are suffering, but they don't feel that they can go to their boss and or owner and give that, that those feelings and voice. And I am the one that come in and create that safe space so that we all can get it out and we can move forward effectively.
Speaker 2:Do you see that a lot of teachers are, they're, they're not bringing up their concerns or they're keeping things pushed down too deep, or not sharing? Let ,
Speaker 3:Lemme tell you, I can get emotional. I have received so many dms of people saying, thank you. You are the voice that we need. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Even when I get finished presenting just this, just yesterday, I presented in, in Nebraska and the teachers literally said, I did not, I'm sorry, New Jersey. I did not wanna come here today, but you came and your presentation then that we had a chance to get it out, changed my whole , our whole life and perspective in childcare . Yes, they are holding it in and they're holding it in because of the responses that they get when they, when they give their feelings a voice.
Speaker 2:Well , I'd love to hear that you made that space for them. So let's talk about setting goals for 2025. Okay . So why, maybe a good place to start, and tell me if I'm wrong, and if you wanna start somewhere else, we Sure can. <laugh> why do childcare center directors need a clear vision for what they wanna accomplish in the new year?
Speaker 3:Oh, because that's how that's gonna be. How you do, how well that's gonna be what governs everything that you do. Right? I always believe that if you cannot be a director , if you don't have a vision, one of my favorite books says, where the vision , where there's no visions, the people perish. So if you don't have a vision as a leader, then you are just running a , you , you're not even running a team because you're not gonna have the right expectations. You're not gonna have the right rules in place. You're not gonna have the right all of these things because there is no vision. When I walked into my new, my new condo, when I moved to Houston before I even got here, I knew exactly how I wanted it to be decorated because I knew the vision . So therefore, once I started shopping, I was shopping to, to complete my vision. If they don't have a vision, they're gonna be doing the same thing they did last year.
Speaker 2:What's an example of a vision that you've seen at a, at a center that you say like, that you thought was really good, or maybe the opposite one you saw that you were like , uh, that is not a vision. <laugh> .
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I've seen the , the best vision that I saw was one owner , I'm sorry, one director said that she wanted to change how the teachers greeted in the morning. I did a presentation and I, I always reference Chick-fil-A, right? And I know people have their, their thing about Chick-fil-A, however, I'm talking about the customer service part of their business, which is something none of us can argue with. And I tell them that, you know, just some , just see how they're serving French fries. They do all of this, and it's my pleasure. It's how may I serve you? It's all of these things. So why is it that when we walk into a childcare center, we don't say, my pleasure, mom, it's my, it , it's a great day. Have a great day. I can't wait to serve with Johnny today. That shift is everything. And I tell them, I said , now, let's walk this all the way through. We get this type of service at Chick-fil-A from the time we order our food. Then when we get to the pay, our prices are, it's high at Chick-fil-A, but we don't care because of the experience and the service that we have received. It's the same thing in childcare. So your vision needs to be, let's create a Chick-fil-A experience. That was one. And then a negative about a , a bad one that I saw was that <laugh> , they had a vision where they, it was, it was dealing with schedule. She was like, I want my, I want my team to do. Um, I think it was like four tens or however it was basically they were building a , a schedule off of part-time people, a full part-time schedule. I , she was like, well, this vision, my vision is that it would make it easier for everybody. No. If you build a schedule of all part-time people, one, the , the , the children have no consistency because it's gonna be multiple people coming in and out, which means that they will never get into a consistent routine. And ultimately your payroll will be higher because you're gonna need more people to fill in a full-time position if you just went ahead and hired a full-time person.
Speaker 2:So they're not thinking it through, it's saying like, they're
Speaker 3:Not thinking it through. Yeah. One thing that we have a problem with in childcare as leaders is that we look , we put a bandaid over things instead of looking at the long term , okay, if I do this today, what is the long term effect of it?
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Yeah. I see it. All right . So let's move, let's, let's jump on. Um, so when you're goal setting, can we start with what not to do? And you, you just talked about that this bandaid approach. What else, what else do we not need to be doing? <laugh>,
Speaker 3:I don't believe in setting. Like I know everybody has this. What are your five year goals? I don't, I don't believe in that. I , I actually hate it to be honest with you. I want you to set realistic goals. Realistic goals. Lemme give you a prime example. The New Year's coming up. Everybody's going to have this thing of going to the gym and doing this , that, and the third. You know, that's not gonna happen. You tried that last year and the year before. You know that's not gonna happen. So why not set a realistic goal? Okay, I'm gonna get up in the morning and I'm at least going to do a one minute walk, maybe even around the house. That's something realistic. That's something that you can actually work towards and, and actually do it. You can walk around the house in one minute, just see me just fold and close . It's a realistic goal. We have to set things that we can realistic, do, do a 30 day goal, then a 90 day goal. That way you give yourself something to work. And then do me a favor. Celebrate yourself once you have accomplished that goal. Don't always look at the bigger picture. That's another thing we have in childcare, because we set this goal. We're not gonna celebrate the milestones that we have accomplished on the way to the goal. No, no, no, no, no. You gotta celebrate the goals . Leaders, as we going into 2025, celebrate every milestone on your way to the goal.
Speaker 2:So what would be the childcare equivalent of walking a minute around the house while you fold the clothes ? Is
Speaker 3:There a so , uh, yes , uh, uh, uh, that what could be, okay, we're gonna set a goal of, I'm gonna walk through the building at least one time a day to check on my, my team. I'm gonna set a goal where once a week, I'm gonna spend at least five minutes in each classroom to actually connect with my teachers and build a work relationship. We have to set realistic goals, even enrollment goals. Okay. I'm , I know my capacity may be 300, but if we can get 20 in the first 30 days, we'll be good. You need realistic goals,
Speaker 2:Or else you'll be disappointed because you fail , disappointed , and then just give up. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Okay. That makes sense. That makes sense. Um, when you're, so you're, you said we we're not talking about goal setting in 2025. Um, do you think that goal setting does get lost even that 30 day, the smaller ones, because there's just so busy, like putting out fires?
Speaker 3:I think that, but that's the thing. When it comes down to, to goals, you, even if you have to put out a fi fire , you have to be, you have to be focused, right? So you have to be able to put out that fire and get back on track with the goal , because there's always going to be the things that, that, that detour you. But you gotta get back on the path because the goal is important. So yes, there's gonna be fire. Yeah. You may be trying to get the budget done and a teacher call you and say, Hey, I need a bathroom break. Or you may be, it may be a boo boo report and you're trying to get this done. That may be so, but you still don't, you go back to where you were.
Speaker 2:How do you do that though? Like, so , I mean, do you ever, I mean, I bet you don't, but I sometimes if I get off track, it is hard to get my brain back where I need it to be.
Speaker 3:But then no , don't say I do it . 'cause I do it too. I am, I am <laugh> . I , I will get distracted easily. But that's, that's the beauty of knowing yourself, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative> . So I let my team know if I'm, if I'm traveling, don't text me. I don't care if we being sued or this , that third , you gonna know why? Because my focus is whatever that event is, I'm getting mentally prepared for it while I'm traveling, while I'm doing all of these things, right? So as leaders, you have to, so it may look like this. If a teacher walk up to you and say, can I talk to you for a minute? Unfortunately, you're gonna have to tell her no, because you know that that conversation is not gonna take a minute. And you also know that you need to focus on this. So maybe you need to tell that teacher, let's schedule a time.
Speaker 2:Okay? See
Speaker 3:Everything, every, every urgency. Everything is not an , not an , it is not an emergency. It may be urgent, but it's not an emergency.
Speaker 2:So does that have to do with just making better use of your time and your priorities and how that's gonna affect how you run your business long term ?
Speaker 3:You have a goal. You have to Goals. Goals require strategic planning. That's why I said, when you asked me that first question about if they don't have a vision, they don't have a vision, then they're just, what are they doing? Goals require strategic plan. You have to plan to be excellent. So therefore, when it comes down to your goal , you have to sit down and write it out. How am I gonna get to, how is this gonna work? How are we gonna do this so that everybody can execute it and get and accomplish the goal. Get back to it. Yes. Get back to it actually , even if you're on a weight loss journey. So what if you messed up one time? Get back on it.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm <affirmative> .
Speaker 2:How do you think childcare center directors should go about choosing their goals? You talked about, you know, not making big ones, but how do you, sometimes I think we look at things and we're like, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do this. How do you narrow it down to think about what's the best goal to pursue? Right now?
Speaker 3:I look at what were the, so I'm gonna look at, we're talking about the new year. I always tell them to look at what were your problems last year? What, what problems did you experience last year? Then work on goals for those problems.
Speaker 2:Okay . Can you give an example of problems you were seeing last year that people might be looking at?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I know they have a problem with teachers calling out. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Okay , that was a problem last year. So what is a goal you're going to set? How are you going to decrease the number of call outs at your center ? What is the goal? Am I going to offer more professional development days? Am I gonna offer more mental health days? And is the goal to offer at least one of those days? What is the goal in order for us to minimize the number of calling out ? Because that, oh, they just need to stop. Oh, you need to be here. They don't care about that. So what is the goal? How are you going to get this to come down? What is the goal? Okay . The misbehave, the children misbehaving, the goal is for children to come to school and behave. So what are we gonna do to get, to accomplish that goal? What are the policies gonna put in place? What are the trainings we're gonna have for the teachers? What are we gonna do to accomplish this goal? If it's enrollment, what are we gonna do? What are the community activities? What are the email marketing? What are the mailers we gonna send out? What are we gonna do to accomplish this goal?
Speaker 2:Do you get feedback then from, from staff, from teachers? Or is this something you think a director should make on their own? Mm-hmm .
Speaker 3:No. I believe in 2025 , uh, the directors, the leaders, owners , whoever they wanna call themselves, they have to invite their team to the table. That is extremely important in 2025, instead of sitting down, having staff meetings where they're fussing at them, really sitting down and let's have, they should have a 2025 planning meeting with everybody on the team. Why? Because yes, up top may be planning and may be coming up with the plans, but you , you know, who have to execute those plans that you're coming up with the teachers. So sit down and invite them to the table. Yes. It may sound crazy. Yes, they may some say some things that make you mad, but guess what? That's the part of being on the team.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And how do you make teachers feel comfortable with maybe saying something that is gonna make the director uncomfortable, but the director needs to hear,
Speaker 3:She has to adjust . He or she has to adjust their body language. Adjust your body language. Adjust how you respond to, because communication, because what they're gonna say is this . It's like, I teach this when I'm doing professional development. Everybody loves to say, oh, I have an open door policy. Well, evidently when they come in your door, you're not that welcoming because if so, they wouldn't quit all the time. So what, even though it's an open door policy, what is the atmosphere that I get when I come into your, your open door? What is it? Is it welcoming? Are you understanding or are you ready to listen to me? To defend your point, which is what most leaders do.
Speaker 2:How , what , um, what body language should you be exhibiting? Like being relaxed or
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Be relaxed, be relaxed, smile. And you know what I would do to even lighten the load ? When I was a director, if a teacher came to me, I said , sweetheart, if it's me, tell me. Tell me if it's me. I know I probably said something that made you mad. I know I was probably focused on , on an assignment and snapped on you. I , it tell me how I made you feel. And they would tell you. But see, the problem is leaders have a their own real right. Mentality.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So any other tips for staying on track? So directors, you know, you like go into the gym, you start strong and then you slip. Like can you, is there a way to build a community for something like that? Or who can you, who can you rely on or get some support?
Speaker 3:Yeah, you definitely need a community. But I also believe that it , it , it is something that, because what do you do in your community is not there, right? Yeah. I also believe that it's something that you have to, you have to make the decision that you want to be better, right? At the end of the day, even me, I have a trillion things going on. I do, but I make my to-do list. I sit down, I write things down. You have to be organized when you are a leader, you have to, like I said, you gotta have the vision, you gotta have the plan, you gotta write it down and then you gotta execute it. Your teachers will be on board with your vision if they see what you're doing. They get upset because they coming in this day and they gotta go here, they gotta go there. They gotta do that because nobody even sat down the night before to have a vision for the next day. What , what's the plan?
Speaker 2:Hmm . Okay. I get it. And what do you think are gonna be the biggest challenges for centers in 2025?
Speaker 3:Hmm . Even teachers. Can you
Speaker 2:Look in , what is it?
Speaker 3:The retaining teachers, the same thing. They have , the same problem they have now is gonna be, that's gonna be the number one problem. Because we never have a problem with people bringing their kids. People have kids all the time. That's not a problem. The problem is finding someone to educate, nurture, and love those children. And if we did , childcare is a , is a business where, and this is with all due respect, up top, we have people set in their ways. That is the number one thing. You have people set in their ways and they say, and they believe that because with the way they did it, that it should work in today's world. And that's not the case. That's not the case. I'm so sorry. It's just not the case . As a matter of fact, if you put most of those people in a classroom today, and they're not just visiting and get to go back to their desk, they couldn't do it.
Speaker 2:Is that because parents' expectations are different?
Speaker 3:Parents' expectations are different. Lemme tell you, there was a time in childcare where if a parent had to come get that child but misbehaving at school, that was a problem. Nowadays, they will flat out tell you they don't do it at home. Oh, well what was the teacher doing? Oh, well what was this? And you know what? The leaders do. What? Go back and ask that teacher. Or what would you doing ? Or what did you do this ? Well , mom said this. And what they failed to realize is you just minimized and discredit everything that that teacher did before that parent came to you. Because see, while you were at that desk and while the parent was at work, I was putting up with little Johnny Kick I was putting up with little Johnny flipping over chairs . I was putting over little Johnny telling me no, and it's , and exhausting the redirection. Exhausting the , oh no, please don't do that. Let's use gentle hands. So that 2025, they're going to experience even more teacher loss and business closing. Mark my words. If they don't sit down and be real about the real situation , if you don't sit down and get these teachers real support, no, it's not the money. 'cause they love shouting that it's not the money they need support. The same way we bend over backwards for the parents, the moment they say, oh, why did I , why do your teachers not have on uniform? You know what we have the next day a uniform policy. But the moment we say, Johnny has kicked and hit me today. Well, we gotta , let's , let's call him the intervention. Let's put him on a plan. Let's do all of this. Meanwhile, do you know who still has to put up with that child hitting and kicking
Speaker 2:The teacher?
Speaker 3:So that's gonna be their problem. Until they sit down and be real, they're gonna always have that problem. It's gonna, and what bothers me is it really saddens me because childcare is really something that I , I believe through my veins, is that I don't understand how we sit down and go through the same thing year after year, year after year. And now they have someone that are literally just telling you, just give us some support with the behaviors. That's all they ask . I travel the world. That's all they ask. And I literally have leaders that will sit in the room and say, well, we can't do that because the policy says, well, I , well this is this . Okay. But they act like policies can't be changed. Policies can't be changed. Yeah .
Speaker 2:Yeah. They
Speaker 3:Can't be changed. The problem is we don't want to change them. We want the teachers to put up with it not realizing that these behaviors are out of control since covid.
Speaker 2:It's bad.
Speaker 3:It's, studies will even show you that the number of children, even with on the spectrum has went up. That's study . Since we wanna be so study driven , but we don't sit back and make practical choices. Real, real live decisions in childcare . This is a realistic business. You're dealing with realistic situations. So we gotta create some realistic policies that we wanna see a realistic change next year.
Speaker 2:Is it , um, the stress, the burnout, is it happening across all age groups in ECE?
Speaker 3:It is. Okay.
Speaker 2:It's okay. And it
Speaker 3:It , it is like, and I'm not even just saying, people will say, how can he say I can, because literally beginning of next year, I'm going to Canada from, from, from Portland, Oregon to Canada. It is the , it is the same. It is it literally, it is the same.
Speaker 2:Did it used to be that way? Like back when you were a director or in in the other roles you were in?
Speaker 3:This is, this is, this is the, the thing that we have to get. So that's, that question is no, but you have to understand that we were different, right? We were raised, for an example, my family raised me where you go to work, you work hard, you retire , you live your life. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . <laugh> , nobody is , that's not anybody's dream right now. We want to be comfortable while we're living. We wanna , we don't wanna work 50 years before we can retire. So therefore that means that the mindset is different, right? Yes. They may love children, but they also love their personal life as well. See, we were willing to give up our personal life for the job. They're not willing to do that. And you can't, and I can't say that they're wrong. It's the different times. Everything has changed. Times have changed. The only thing is we haven't realized that we are in Rome and we gotta make some changes.
Speaker 2:So a work life , work life balance for for directors and teachers,
Speaker 3:Yes. For directors and teachers. They don't understand that they call out. Because if I put in a , I had literally had to break this down in New Jersey, they say the teacher said , we don't even have time off on the calendar. And they're right. Go look at a , a childcare center calendar and see how many days are actually off and see how many of those days are actually holidays. Lemme tell you what I mean. Christopher Columbus day. Okay. Everybody may not celebrate it , but that's a national holiday. So to close your center and say that, oh, we're gonna have professional development on this day. That's a slap in your teacher's face because they have families, they have children. Why didn't you close your center? Why didn't you close it Thursday, have professional development on Thursday and they would've had Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. You wanna know why you did it? Because you were worried about the parents and oh my God, where are the parents gonna take their children? Oh my God, what are they gonna do? Not realizing I want 'em to take inventory of how many parents do you have on your team? How many of your teachers are parents?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that
Speaker 3:Same community that you're trying to look out for is in your building too. It's on your team too.
Speaker 2:Yeah. What else? For , um, challenges. So staff retention. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Anything else big on the horizon in your
Speaker 3:Retention and the challenging behaviors? Those are the number two things that are hurting us in childcare , staff retention and the challenging behaviors.
Speaker 2:Do you think as we get further from Covid, we're gonna see less of those behaviors? Or are they just intensifying? I know you've been ,
Speaker 3:It's not , it's not. It started during covid, but it's also the mindset of the parents. I literally had a teacher one time tell me, she said, I spoke with the parent and I told the parents that this child did X, y, and Z in my classroom. And he said, well , why are you telling me that he did that when he was with you? This is the mindset of the people. This is the mindset.
Speaker 2:Huh ? Wow.
Speaker 3:And teachers will say this out in a professional development, and this is why I love my trainers , because it makes the , the owners and the people that sit back at their desks and really never visit the centers to see the real day to day sit back and be like, oh, they were, I literally have had teachers tell me they've had to go out on workman's comp because of a child running so hard into their, their private area and headbutting them. And what gets me is if a teacher did that to a child, you know where she would be. Or there's a policy for that. There's immediately a policy for that. Why doesn't the teacher have that same support?
Speaker 2:Is there anything like professional development wise that can be done to help with that? Or is that just beyond the scope of what professional development can do?
Speaker 3:What they need to start doing? One teacher, one center did it. They , I had a professional development with that center and they're invited. They invited the parents of that center to come to . Because in as much as I'm saying that , yes, they came Uhhuh . <affirmative> because this is the truth. And I break this down to the teachers too . Parents don't know how to handle their children. What they did was they tried to correct what their parents did, neglecting the fact that respect is something that I don't care who you are, it would carry you so far. And while you thought your parents were hurting your feelings, they were teaching you respect, they were teaching you how to respect adults, how to carry yourself in public. And today's children don't do that. They would disrespect you and don't even know your name when we were raised. You respect adults because they're older than you. Period.
Speaker 2:Yeah . Period. That was in my house. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Period. You , because they're older than you, you respect them. And when you get older, you'll see why you want older people to respect you too. Because they, they , they got a little bit more wisdom than you. They done went through a little bit more things than you. But they don't have that nowadays. Every level from, from, from, from EC, e to high school. My pops works at high school. There are person in front of teachers disrespecting the teachers. And I'm talking about little children will curse at you. They will the same little children that they feel that, oh no , just sit 'em down and do redirecting. They will use bad words at you. You wanna know why? 'cause mom and dad are saying at home ,
Speaker 2:This sounds like a really big problem to fix. Like, where do you even start <laugh> ,
Speaker 3:You start with, and that's, and that's how, and that's how the , that's how the leaders look at it. But you start with enrollment. At enrollment, these children need to be at the tour. If you see while they are touring that they are misbehaving. I don't care if you have an enrollment quote to me , you'll get ready to enroll a problem. So therefore you , you , you gonna be right back in that position soon because who's going , you either gonna lose a teacher mm-hmm <affirmative> . Or eventually this mom gonna quit because you gonna call her to come pick him up because he's a major disruption. She gonna withdraw. So from the enrollment process, evaluate what is being, what's coming into your building. Evaluat it . Watch how he's acting with mom. Watch his mom gotta pull his hand a little bit to stop him from doing it. Watch if he's hitting, waving at mom, then you immediately have a waiting list.
Speaker 2:Okay?
Speaker 3:You gotta get strategic.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Big, big, big picture.
Speaker 3:Big. Exactly. Big picture. Send him down. Go through an enrollment process. Just because they, they can come and pay tuition on me. That should be at your building. That's not what that means.
Speaker 2:We're getting, we're getting close to time. What did I not ask you that I should have about I believe
Speaker 3:You , I believe you were enjoying the conversation and questions just started coming as we were talking <laugh>.
Speaker 2:They did like for everything you said, I was like, ooh , I wanna know. I wanna know <laugh> .
Speaker 3:Yeah, but you know what the whole , and that's what I want people to know. I don't say these things to be mean. I say these things to provoke thought. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Because if we just stop and think and put our stuff in the other person's shoes, yes, I get it. I wanna save the children too. I want children to have a good education background too. But you know, who is the first person that has to want that? Their parents. Not the teacher. Their parent. So if you are expressing to this parent that your child is doing something in the educational setting and they're going back and forth with you, then you are starting a battle that you're gonna lose because you need them in the ring with you. It's not the teacher gotta be in the ring with the school. The teacher and the school and the parent have to be in the ring together. And if that's not happening, yes, you have to start your process because if not, you're fighting a battle that's gonna go on and on and on and on because that parent is on board with you. Because that's their number one influence.
Speaker 2:And do most parents want to be in the ring with you, do you think? Or are they just, I mean, this sounds bad, but looking for like, you just take care of it. I'm gonna drop my kid off. I'll pay my tuitions.
Speaker 3:That's exactly what they're looking for. Okay. That's exactly what they're looking for . Think about it. We feed them, we clothe them. Yeah . We teach them to walk, we teach them to talk. We teach them all of these things. Mm-hmm <affirmative> . And you'd be happy to see a video of it. They're happy to get the picture from ProCare that their child took a picture, took a video. Oh, you are upset because you didn't get a picture that your child took their first meal or fed themselves for the first time. But you know who taught that child to do that?
Speaker 2:The teachers.
Speaker 3:The teachers. Yeah . So that's why people say you don't even have children. You know how many children I've raised?
Speaker 2:I bet it's a lot. A lot.
Speaker 3:That's why I don't care about no book . I don't care about none . Any book, any, any therapist, children is something you gotta learn how to work with that child. What ? What ? All right . So she like this. Got it. Okay. He like this. Got it. They gotta have a carte experience
Speaker 2:Because they're all so different.
Speaker 3:They're all so different.
Speaker 2:Yeah .
Speaker 3:They have so different.
Speaker 2:Oh , well. Anything else? What else? What else did you wanna , what else? I want
Speaker 3:Everybody to have an amazing 2025. I want the leaders to have an amazing 2025. I want the owners. I want the teachers. I, I , I would like to end with this. Okay . I know that it's hard to hear some of the conversations, especially if I'm saying it. 'cause I, I try to be honest, right? I know that it's hard, but I leave you with this, with this, with this challenge. Evaluate what your current processes, policies, whatever the situation may be, has produced in 2024. Were you stressed out? Were you short staffed? Were you thinking about closing because you were just over it? Mm-hmm <affirmative> . Teachers. Were you ready to quit all that ? Everybody think about it and then sit down and come up with a plan to fix that. That's the thing. And be honest, be honest, be willing to hear the other person and listen to understand and not defend. Because at this point, leaders don't even have a ground to stand on . You can be mad all you want , but here's the proof. Everybody is short staffed. And while the children are steady coming, you don't have anybody to teach 'em , which causes you as the leader to be stressed out. So sit down, eat the meat, and spit out the bone and they'll then go create a plan to be better.
Speaker 2:No sugarcoating it.
Speaker 3:No sugarcoating it.
Speaker 2:Okay. Well, Mr. Ty , this has been wonderful. Could you please share how our listeners could get in touch with you if they wanna take advantage of your services?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. If they're looking for someone to come observe their classroom and give them tips, even if they're looking for someone to take, to do the ma uh , bar marketing and do some video footage for their centers so they can put it on social media, they can email admin@thechildcarewhisperer.com. They may also visit my website, the Empowerment Agency , um, to look at our services and stuff so that I can come to their center and empower them to be better.
Speaker 2:And check out on TikTok too, because it is wonderful. Like you're one of my favorite accounts to follow you really stuff .
Speaker 3:Yes . Thank you so much for that. Thank you. So , and for everybody out there who's already following me, thank you so much. I love you. Sugar. I love you, love you, love
Speaker 2:You, love you, love
Speaker 3:You , love you so much.
Speaker 2:You are never boring. Never <laugh> boring . Well, thank you everybody who is out there listening , um, from those of us at ProCare Solutions, we wanna say thank you for the work that you are doing every single day. And I'm a mom who childcare without it, I'd be lost. I couldn't do this job. Say
Speaker 3:That again. Say that again. They need to hear that.
Speaker 2:Without childcare , I would be lost and I would've been for years. Yeah. Yes. So we, we love you and we are here to support you with our, with our software and with bringing you guests like Mr. Tai. Um, you all have a wonderful rest of your day and we hope that you will join us again for our future episodes.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Childcare Business Podcast. To get more insights on ways to succeed in your childcare business, make sure to hit subscribe in your podcast app so you never miss an episode. And if you want even more childcare , business tips, tricks, and strategies, head over to our resource center@procaresoftware.com. Until next time.