The Child Care Business Podcast
The Child Care Business Podcast
Season 5, Episode 5: Mr. Ty Answers Your Child Care Business Questions
Mr. Ty, the Childcare Whisperer, has the answers to your child care questions! Among the questions he answers in this podcast:
How can you encourage middle management to not be friends or overly friendly, causing a divide between teachers?
How can I encourage staff to take initiative and feel empowered in their roles while maintaining consistency in classroom practices?
As a new owner taking over a center that has a tarnished reputation and frustrated staff, how can I get community and staff buy-in?
What kind of incentives can I give staff that might be low cost, like a jeans day or an extra planning block? (Mr. Ty says don't do either and send staff home early when they need it!)
Listen in as Mr. Ty answers more questions that you need to know to run a successful child care business!
Welcome to the Child Care Business Podcast, brought to you by ProCare Solutions. This podcast is all about giving childcare, preschool, daycare, afterschool, 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_01:Hello, everyone, and welcome to our newest episode of the Child Care Business Podcast. My name is Leah Woodbury. I'm the head of content here at ProCare Solutions. This podcast is going to sound a little bit different than some that you might be used to. We recently hosted an Instagram Live with Mr. Tai, the Child Care Whisperer, and he's the president of the Child Care Agency. He's a popular motivational keynote speaker. He's an early childhood education teams coach. And he has worked in ECE for many, many years. So what we did was we took questions that we had left from webinars that we've done with Mr. Tai. And we, of course, opened it up to people who joined us on the live to post their own questions to get his insight. So what you're about to hear is a recording of that Instagram live. And we hope you enjoy it and find things in it that are very useful. All right, our first question of the day. How can you encourage middle management to not be friends or overly friendly, causing a divide between teachers?
SPEAKER_02:Well, and first, I think you have to ease them of the fear that in order for them to be able to lead the way they want to lead, that they have to befriend them. A lot of times leaders go into it, it's sort of kind of like how teachers go into the beginning of the year, right? In order for them to sort of kind of have some type of classroom management. They think they have to start out with, oh, this is my baby. This is my daughter. This is my classroom. But instead, you should start out with structure. And like I said yesterday, being firm but fair, right? Still starting out with your rules, your expectations, but still being firm but fair. And the beginning part of that is very serious as a leader. I'm going to stick to the rules that you signed to, even if that means you're going to get upset because at the end of the day, it sets us up for success. So the answer to that is, is to start out the way you plan to hold out. And the beginning is the most important time. It's just like we tell people about ECE. These early years are the most important. When you start out in any role, the beginning is the most important.
SPEAKER_01:So we've got
SPEAKER_03:another.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. It was a question from a new building director. So We had just a transition I couldn't give up. The last director let a lot slide. How do I best shift the culture without too much turnaround? I
SPEAKER_02:think I said this yesterday. The first way that you want to do it is you want to have a town hall meeting. You want to have a town hall meeting where you bring them in and you discuss how things are going to be moving forward. You also want to take the blame. The first part of this, well, the second thing it says, last director let lot slide. That means that they are doing what they are allowed to do. So while it may be wrong, they were allowed to do it. And it takes time to correct wrong. So you have to go in there with a strategic plan. And that starts off with going in, you accepting it. Hey, I know this. the company, whomever, allowed you all to do X, Y, Z. You're not wrong. You were simply doing what you were allowed to do. However, in order for us to go to another level as a team, as a company, as individuals, these are the new guidelines in place. And if you have questions about these, see me after the meeting. And that sets the tone for how it's going to be moving forward. And you must stay consistent. You must hold yourself accountable to those new expectations that you're putting out.
SPEAKER_01:So how often should you do those meetings?
SPEAKER_02:Every quarter.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Let's go to some of them that we got, some questions that we got from the webinar that we couldn't get to. Okay. How can I encourage staff to take initiative and feel empowered in their roles while maintaining consistency in classroom practices? And I should tell you all that Mr. Ty is just doing this off the cuff.
SPEAKER_02:To keep them empowered, I want to say this. Warren, I want us to shift our mindset about consistency. how we manage people. I think that the biggest thing that we've come into a problem with as leaders is that we grew up, and myself included, no, I'm not as old, but, or however you want to say it, because I'm not being disrespectful, but I still grew up in South Carolina with Very, very. I was around my grandparents all the time. If you put a group of young professionals around me and a group of seasoned professionals around me, I'm going to the seasoned professionals, right? Because I just love that information. And I said that to say this. Back in the day, we had people that told us, hey, go to work. Retire, do your best, so forth and so on. That was our end goal. Our end goal was to retire and relax for the rest of our life. However, nowadays, people want to feel good. Everything that they do, Everything that they want to do. This is good to me. And I really blame it on the parents because we raise children where we don't want them to hurt. We don't want them to hear no. But we are now seeing how those little children turn into big adults who don't want to hear no, who don't want to work hard, who don't want to do anything. So in order for you to get them to do so, you're going to have to go back to getting them to do it as if they were the child. You're going to have to brag on them. You're going to have to give them praises. You're going to have to do all these things because that's the generation that we have fostered now. Everybody wants to be caught up. Everybody wants something simple. Even leaders, even business owners. You don't want to sit under me when I'm telling you that you're wrong. Before you do that, you'll go to somebody else that says, well, no, your team just needs... You just have C and D players and you need A... No, no, no, no, no, no. The culture... would not invite C and D players if it was the right culture. So now you have to address the fact that you have the wrong culture. So everything starts with, with you and adjusting your mindset and empower them the moment they come in the door. And I'm talking about the simple thing. I had a teacher. She was great at bulletin boards. Oh my God. Every time I got ready to brag on her, I bragged to her about that bulletin board. When parents would come in to do a tour, I teach, when I do my, I haven't done it in a while, but when I do my director mentorship program, I teach them. When you are giving a tour to a prospective parent, you stop at that classroom. Each classroom, you say something good about that teacher. I don't care if you have to pull it out of the cat's ass. You pull it out. This is my teacher that, oh my God, whenever I need someone to stay over, I can always depend on her. You're empowering her right then to be even better at whatever because she knows that when you get the chance to, you're going to brag on her. You have to empower your team every step of the way because we're not dealing with the same people go to work, retire, and I'll be happy at the end of the day. They want to be happy every day that they have to enter into that center. Every single day. And that doesn't mean something monetary because we love to say that too. You don't have to buy people if the environment is right. You don't have to buy people if the culture is right.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Ready for the next one?
SPEAKER_03:Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. I am a brand new owner taking over a center that has a tarnished reputation and frustrated staff. How can I get community and staff buy-in?
SPEAKER_02:Fair enough. First, what I would do is, I don't know if they had an email list. Everybody that is listening to this, new owner, old owner, doesn't matter. You need to start you an email list. So everything that they do should lead them to your email list. Pause. See, this is the stuff we're going to be talking about at the Mastermind, so I can break down to you. So you need to meet me and ProCare at the Mastermind so that you can really, really learn how to do this. But you need an email list. That way, you can start sending out things that invite the community in. What are you saying, Mr. Ty? Okay, every month, they have special holidays. Sometimes it's National Crayon Day. It's National Cookie Day. You can send out stuff about that, but then at the bottom of that email, also send out different things about your center that Grab their attention first. Have the rest of it in the bottom. You can send out that email at least once a week that, A, gets them in the habit of checking their emails. B, also invites them into what you have going on at your center. Start having more center, more community at your center. There are several times when people, content creators now are all around the world. So there are several times when people are hosting, they're looking for places to host workshops. Why can't your center be one of the places that they host this workshop? And now that brings in more traffic to your center. While they're hosting that event at your center, you have a table that's set up there. The table that's set up It's saying that you're not rolling, that you're not hiring. But guess what? You put your best eight players at that table. The one that is smiling all the time. The one that is happy all the time. Then you get the one that loves content on social media and they record it. Now you just empower the community and your team members to do just what you need them to do. Take your business to the next level. One thing I tell people all the time is don't get angry, get effective. The problem with today's childcare people is that we get so angry because they are doing what we did. I'm going to say that again. Because they aren't doing what we did or what we would do. So instead of getting angry, get effective. Speak the language that they want to hear so they can give you the results that you want to see. And that goes for the community and your team. You know what's in your community. And if you don't, that means you're not as involved as you should be. Because you should be at the town hall meeting. You should be visiting the school to see what the schools are having going on. That should be you.
SPEAKER_01:Want to go to the next one? Do you have any more to say?
SPEAKER_02:No, you can go ahead to the next one.
UNKNOWN:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:What kind of incentives can I give staff that might be low cost, like a jeans day or an extra planning block? What ideas can you provide?
SPEAKER_02:You don't even have to do that. Send them home early. Let me help you out. One, send them home early. Think about this. If this teacher, today is Thursday, right? I was notorious for this. I always know Mr. Ty is not telling you anything that he did not do himself. I believe that book, that experience is the best teacher. I hate any book that's telling me what to do in child care. Okay? So what I'm telling you, I said that to say, when I was a director, let's just say today is Thursday. And midday, I see that, okay, kids are starting to go home a little early. I'm going to go look at that building to see who can I move around and who can I send home early with pay. I said this at my conference for my VIP guest. With pay. Now, I know you're probably looking like, no, you would have paid them for the entire day anyway. See, at some point in time, you got to learn where to cut your losses at. You would have paid them anyway. So instead of you trying to cut your payroll, Send them home and say, baby, you can go home and I'm going to put your time in for the remainder of the day. That speaks a whole nother language. You didn't spend not one extra dime on anything, but you're still so busy trying to cut payroll instead of trying to empower. Now, with that same teacher that you sent me home early with pay, if you need me to stay over one day, I'm going to remember that. She sent me home early last week with pay. So yeah, I saved a little while for you. And guess what? That's going to be the language that starts going around your center. Literally, they're going to start saying, nah, when he can, he sends me home early. Or when she can, she sends me home early. So just stick with it. That becomes the language. The problem is in child care, to be honest with you, Ms. Leah, and to everybody that's watching, it's a, I said it yesterday, it's a vacuum. We are draining the teachers. Literally, we're draining them. They're mobbed. They're sweeping. They're serving lunch. They're teaching. They're doing lesson plans. They're doing everything. For what?$15 an hour? Come on. Let's be real. No. You have to look at your center. Start investing in the things that matter. Stop making them clean up. Stop saying, oh, well, you signed up for it. I'm going to give a darn what I signed up for. No, what I signed up to be was a teacher. Now you're adding extra things. And now, yes, I want to get paid more. So instead of you making me clean up, go look for a janitorial company. You can go get you a lady that walks around the building all day long simply cleaning up. It may cost you, what,$10,$11,$12 an hour, but think about what it does for your team.
SPEAKER_01:And this came up too yesterday. Somebody was talking about how do I get my staff to pick up the playground, to pick up their toys in the room. And you were saying, do you want to repeat? Miss Leah, let me tell
SPEAKER_02:you. Let me tell you. And I'm being honest with people. When I worked at CRIM, I told this story around the world. I was only making, as the director of curriculum, I was only making$35,500 a year. That is$15 and something an hour. Hear me, as the director of curriculum. For CRIM, you have the executive director, the director of curriculum, the director of administration, which means I was the second in charge making$15 and something an hour. Right now, if I decided to stop being the child care whisperer and go back to work for a company, I would go to crimp. What's that? I would go to crimp. I would go to crimp. And I would be okay with taking the$35,500 a year. You want to know why? Yeah. It's a well-oiled machine. They, like I said... You have the executive director. The executive director's only job is to make sure that the books are together, the money is coming in, everything is right, everything is ordered. All this at a third. The director of curriculum's job is to make sure that the teachers have their lesson plan, make sure they have everything that they need in their classroom. If they need to be ordered, give it to the executive director. The director of administration, her job is to process the payments, sit at the desk all day long. You cannot... If they look on the camera and there's nobody at the desk, you get in trouble. The director of administration job is to sit at the desk, open the door, answer the phones, everything. Then we had day porters. Day porters walked around the building taking the teacher's trash out. If they needed help with anything, helping. And that was in addition to the floaters. Now, I know some people are going to say, I can't afford that. You can't afford that because of the business that you have built. See, your problem. is that you're so focused on the children and the families instead of being focused on building a business or a center that they need, that they can't live without. That no matter what you do, they want their child at your center. That's the problem. You have to save everybody mentality instead of having a business mentality. I'm going to start a business that is so in demand that no matter what, no matter the cost, they're going to come. We don't have business sense in childcare. We have emotional sense. Everything is emotional. Trying to run a business. They don't go together.
SPEAKER_01:We always hear that too from customers that I didn't get into childcare to be an accountant or to be an administrator, but...
SPEAKER_02:But that comes... with the business. And if you sit back and listen to what you're saying, and actually, in all honesty, because Mr. Ty don't lie, this is a part of the podcast, in all honesty, it doesn't make sense. Anything that you do, you need money to do it. Anything. There's nothing that you can do that you want to see grow and really have an impact that you don't need money to do it. So while you're trying to make an impact, you also have to build a reputable business that brings in the right revenue that enables you to make that impact. People want to get paid. People want to weld all your machines. So you have to create a business that people pay for that service so you can produce. You want to be at home. You want to be able to let your business run on its own. Well, I'm teaching you what to do. So instead of saying that you can't, sign away to...
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Find a way to. All right. How can you help teachers and staff find a way to feel confident redirecting or correcting children, especially those with challenging behaviors?
SPEAKER_02:One, they need a policy that supports their correction. Right now, what's happening is when they correct, nobody is there to support them. First of all, they should never... You know, I sit and I listen to several teachers who feel like their hands are tied when it comes to students. All the time. All the time. And it's because so much is going on because, once again, the centers are so children-heavy. And I want to say this. I'm not saying that the children are not the center of what we do. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is this. They may be the center of what we do, but who's doing the work? That's the thing. That's the disconnect. Yes, they are the center of what we do, but who's doing the work? Mom can say what she wants. Who's doing the work? Director, you can say what you want. Who's in the classroom doing the work? Owner, you can say what you want. Who's in the classroom doing the work? That's the teacher. So if they're telling you that they need support with behaviors, stop saying you just need to do X, Y, Z. Well, when I was a teacher, okay, sweetheart, my love, I said this yesterday, my love, you didn't teach prior to post-COVID. Come try your, come try your, I'm going to be honest, your dusty technique because it got a little dust on it. Try them in post-COVID classrooms. Try them. Because just like I said about the mindset about employees, we also have a different mindset with parents. See, but before COVID, before the shift, even back a little bit more, if you had to call a parent to come get their child or because their child was misbehaving, that was a problem. Yeah. That was a problem. I know you... A big problem. I know you're not disrespecting the teacher. I know they didn't just call me off my job. I know you didn't just do X, Y, Z. It was correction immediately. Nowadays, parents take two hours and 36 minutes to even come get them after answering the phone on the eighth ring, on the eighth call of you trying to reach them. And you want to know why they're doing that? Because they understand that the behaviors are horrible. What we failed to realize was during COVID, when they had to sit down and keep their children themselves, even they started to admit, I don't know how teachers do this. I can't do it. But then we came back after COVID acting like everything was perfectly fine. I'm over the passiveness for the children and the families, but then you want the teachers to walk on their straight line with no support. That makes no sense.
SPEAKER_01:So how can directors and owners give them that support that they need?
SPEAKER_02:They're going to have to come up with a policy. Like I said yesterday, I said this one time before when I was live, I don't understand what happened to when a child becomes a danger to himself or others, they are no longer allowed in the building. I don't understand what happened to that. Ms. Leah, I go around the world. There are teachers that are telling me that I just got on medical leave because I had a cracked pelvis bone. I had a stab in my leg from a child. I have... Meanwhile, the leaders were saying, well, we can't
SPEAKER_03:put him
SPEAKER_01:out.
SPEAKER_03:Wow.
SPEAKER_02:And my immediate response to that was, okay... If the teacher did what to the child, what the child did to her, what would you do? Oh, I'd fire her. Oh. Oh. Would you? But it's okay because while he's little, you know little problems turn into big problems. So while he's stabbing now, he may be shooting later. See, we don't want to face the reality. But our job is to nip the problem in the bud now. Because I've never Ever seen a tree that stays little? You see those trees back there? They were once a seed, but now they're a tree big and tall. It's harder for you to cut that tree down now than when it was little to the ground. What are you saying? We got to learn to cut the problems off now while they're little. Because once they grow up, it's too late. So put the policy in place. I said it yesterday. Put the policy in place to fix the behavior. One, you get a warning. Two, I'm calling your mom. Three, mom, he can't come back until you sit down with us and we go over the plan that you have to implement at home because we're doing this at the center. Four, mom, if he does it again, you're going to have to miss work and come observe him outside of the classroom on how he behaves in the classroom. Five, if one, two, three, four doesn't work, it's time for dismissal. Because like I said yesterday, it's not to get him dismissed. It's to fix the behavior. However, if the policy is not fixing the behavior, you got to release them to the universe. Or you're going to find yourself constantly with a revolving door.
SPEAKER_01:Of staff.
SPEAKER_02:Of staff. Because nobody's going to put up with that. Nobody's going to put up with that. You don't pay them enough to put up with that. You can send them... And let me say this. Just because you send somebody to the computer to watch a training on social and emotional learning does not make them equipped to go in a classroom and do what a certified person would do. Somebody that went to school for that. I just want to go ahead and put that out because we live by that. And that's not how that works. Once again, it goes back. We know these behaviors. We know what's going on. I probably can count on one hand how many centers have started implementing behavioral specialists at their centers. All of this. I can count on one hand. Because they think that because I sent this teacher to this workshop, he or she should be able to do it now. That's insane. That's insanity.
SPEAKER_01:I do want to put it out there that we have pro-care professional development now, which offers a CDA pathway. And that CDA, that elevated step, for hiring people who have had the training on that, who want to take that step to be better leaders, please go to ProCareSolutions.com, search ProCare Professional Development and see if we can help with that because it's a big thing. Also, everybody, keep asking questions right now in the comments. You have Mr. Ty here. Take advantage of it.
SPEAKER_02:Don't be shy. Please don't. Please don't. And know that everything that I'm saying, I know oftentimes when I speak, it sounds like I'm fussing. I'm not fussing. I'm very passionate about childcare. And I'm very passionate about seeing the industry change. I meet people all the time. that really, really love this industry. Like, honestly, they love the industry. And I tell people all the time that when people sign up to work, they know what they agree to make. When I signed up, I knew I agreed to make$35,500. What I did not know, or if speaking of a person that signed up for that, what they did not know is what all was included that was not explained. That's the thing. I've sat in an interview. No one ever asks, are you okay with sweeping the floor? You okay with mopping the floor? You okay with this, that, and the third? You don't say that. You're a teacher. Can you perform the duties? Can you do lesson plan? Tell me about the time you had with a difficult child. Tell me about it. Those are the things. But then when I get into the classroom, there's a lot. And not only is there a lot, I don't have support. And what gets me, Ms. Leah... is that year after year, day after day, month after month, we see these problems, but we don't change. We point fingers. Like, no, they just need to do this. No, they just need to do that. We never sit back and say, you know what? Maybe it is time for me to change how my sensor runs, what my sensor stands for. Maybe it is time for me to put some new policies in place so that they do feel supported. Because I've never heard them say anything about money. Never. Honestly, that's what ticks me off. Because I never hear them say anything about money. If I had an aggregation of ECE teachers here right now, the majority of them would say support. That's what they would say. They would say support. Because I know what I mean.
SPEAKER_01:Has that changed since COVID or has it always been that way?
SPEAKER_02:It's always been that way. Always been that way. I remember when I was a teacher and I've always been the vocal one. So the teacher would come to me and we get in the staff meeting. We get in the staff meeting and I'm like, well, they said... It was never money. It was never money. It's about, I don't want to get up every day and this child is bad. We don't even like to use that word, but it's the truth. This child is bad and you keep putting it all on me. Meanwhile, mom just dropped them off willy-nilly. We're feeding them. We're changing them. We're doing X, Y, Z. And you don't even want to put something in place to make mom. Make mom come in and help us with this problem. It's his or her child.
UNKNOWN:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02:That's my only thing. We want so much change. We want all of these things. We want people to stay in the industry, but we don't want to do what it takes for them to stay.
SPEAKER_01:We got a question about that. How can I best support new teachers in transitioning into our school's culture and expectations?
SPEAKER_02:That starts with your onboarding process. Your onboarding process have to be, and I'm talking about this at the mastermind too, your onboarding process have to be like, when you go to college, you have multiple days that you have to go for onboarding. Or you have to go for a long, you go in the morning, you don't leave until about 12 or 1 o'clock that day for new student orientations. Your onboarding has to be the same way. You have to get out of onboarding teachers while they're in the classroom, while they're doing the work. No. Day one, you're coming, and we're just going to talk about X, Y, Z. Day two, you're coming, and we're going to talk about X, Y, Z. Day three, you're coming, and we're going to talk about X, Y, Z. I know you're probably saying, Mr. Ty, I don't have that type of time. That goes back to your culture, my love, because if your culture was correct, you You would have time to have them go through these modules. If you cannot, if you don't have time to do it, then you need to sit down with a professional, key word, professional videographer and record your onboarding process. Stop depending on everybody else's onboarding system for your business. You need to sit down as the leader and come up with multiple videos. Video one, welcome to the Early Learning Institute. That's my center. We believe in video two. We're going to video three. And that's your onboarding for your company. And they don't touch the floor. I don't care how short staff they are. They don't touch the floor until they have watched every module. They come into work, go straight to a computer. Once they're finished... At the end of those three days, you quiz them on what was on those modules. Then you send them to the floor with a mentor, a strong teacher that can help them out in those rooms.
SPEAKER_01:So what are a lot of students doing instead of that? What are the bad onboarding processes or lack of processes that you're seeing?
SPEAKER_02:One, they're all in survival mode. They're all in survival mode. survivor mode. So as soon as they get a teacher, first time they get a teacher that does a good interview and say they have X amount of years of experience, I can skip over a lot of stuff and go ahead and put him or her in the classroom. And then I'll do a working interview or I'll do working with them and train them while I'm on the job. That's the notorious way. You come in for an interview. You do a good interview. The next thing is you're going to come in for a working interview. You're going to do a working interview. I think you can handle the classroom. So then you come back. I'm going to put you in the classroom. It is very rare to find an actual child care center that has an onboarding process. And I'm not talking about a checklist where they do da-da-da-da-da-da. No, I'm talking about an onboarding process where when they get finished, I hate when people book me and ask me for credits. Oh, do you get credits? No, I do that with ProCare. And I do it with ProCare almost every month, and it's free. So why is it that when it's time for someone to come in to empower your team, you only want to do it if they get credit? It doesn't make sense. It goes to the mindset that they have for their team. Now, let's talk about an owner or a leader. An owner or a leader can go to a conference all day long and spend X amount of dollars and only leave with a good experience. Well, when it comes down to their team, It has to be all of this when they can get it for free. The credits that you want, they can get it for free. Why is that important? Because it goes to everything that we do for them. It's tied to how hard they have to work for us. And we love to say, oh, we can't afford it. That's a lie. That's a lie. Because we spend money. money on everything else. It's just that the teachers aren't that important because we feel like they aren't going to value. Oh, I did that for that teacher and she quit. Let the marketplace trauma go, please. Let the marketplace trauma go. If they left, they did you a favor. Let it go.
SPEAKER_01:Find somebody better.
SPEAKER_02:Find somebody better. It's just like your husband and wife. If they left you and you know you're the best thing walking, you better help them pass it back. So you can make room for the thing that's supposed to come. No. Stop being angry when they leave. And sit down and figure out, you know what? I could have done this better. We could have done this better as a company. We could have done this better. And go to work and fix it. I did this for her. I did that for her. Grow up. It's business. Grow up. People come, people go.
SPEAKER_01:Don't let the bitterness linger.
SPEAKER_02:Don't let it. But what they should be able to say is, you know what? That was a good center. When they leave or when they think the grass is greener on the other side, they should be able to look back and say, you know what? I messed up. That's your job. That's your job. Same thing I tell the teachers about when they get ready to quit. I don't care about how you feel. I don't care about how unhappy you are. When you get ready to leave, they should feel it. They should say, you know what? I missed that one-year-old teacher. She was, ooh, she was a good one-year-old teacher. We should have worked something out with her. Ooh, that was a good two-year-old teacher. That's how it should be. Never let your emotions dictate how you show up or how you perform. No. Build a system. Make sure that everybody is, once again, I'll say it again, firm but fair. I can sum it up. Firm but fair for everybody. For the teachers, for the students, for the parents. Firm,
SPEAKER_03:but fair.
SPEAKER_01:We got a question. Opinion on phones in classrooms. They have a no phone. Yep. Has been addressed in meetings, but only lasts a couple of weeks. Then I see phones all over again. So
SPEAKER_02:then when they come in the door, have them put them in a basket. or get them lockers, then let them put them in a locker. Firm but fair. They may not like it, but once again, that goes back to your onboarding. This needs to be discussed in onboarding. This is what happens with phones. How do I know you can do it? Because I go back to CREM again. CREM, when you enter the building, you put your phone in the locker. Yes, you know they're going to the bathroom to check on their phone, but what you ain't got to worry about is being in the classroom. And see, if you're a good leader, I always knew when they was calling just to go check their phone. So that means when you call and say, hey, Mr. Ty, I need to go to the restroom. Maybe that first phone call, I'm going to sit there about five minutes, see how long it takes you to call me back. Because I need to see if you really need to go to the bathroom or if you need to go check your phone. That's what I got to see. Now, if you call me back, like, I called to go to the bathroom. Okay, then I'll come expedition.
SPEAKER_01:So then what about using tablets in the classroom? Like, to send pictures, to use curriculum. Make sure it's just for work. It's just for work.
SPEAKER_02:It's just for work. Just for communicating with the parents. You can put blocks on them. You can put blocks where they can't look at certain things on YouTube. You can put blocks where they can't look at certain things on the internet. They're just for work. And this is the thing, you all. You have to start this out in the beginning. Teachers don't have a problem with it if they know it in the beginning. No, we got to stop being passive. And help them understand, hey, you ever seen the commercial that they say, if you one glance at your phone, you already went down a football field? How about one glance in a classroom full of little, 10 little Johnnies? Something is bound to happen. And what I don't want is for you to not be in the know. It's not that I want you to have your phone, because I know, I get it. I want mine on me too. What I don't want is for a parent to come back and blame anything on you. So we keep them safe. You see how the whole verbiage is different. Very different. Even though I don't want to do it, I understand that you're looking out for me. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:So do you have any apps that you use to communicate with parents?
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely, ProCare Connect. Absolutely, ProCare Connect. And I'm not just saying that because ProCare is our visionary sponsor. No, I've actually worked, to be honest with you, even when we decided to partner, I said, I love this because this is a software that I've actually worked for and I've used. I am a person that I am not going to market anything if I have not used it myself. I've used ProCare Connect. I've used ProCare for several years. They're the OG in the game. So if you're looking for an app to connect with your families, definitely ProCare Connect and make sure that you make it mandatory for them to send out one picture of each child per day. I want to see my child. Ms. Leah want to see her child. You want to see your child. One picture of each child per day. You know what that does? That keeps them busy.
SPEAKER_01:It's the ProCare Child Care mobile app and it's got crazy high ratings in the app store and it is really easy to use. And I will say too that when my kids were in daycare, our center used it, and I loved getting those little updates of what they were making and what they were doing.
SPEAKER_02:Sorry. ProCare Connect, it comes as a text message, too. I'm almost certain I used to send out text messages, too, when I used it.
UNKNOWN:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:All right. Oh, we've got some. Ms.
SPEAKER_02:Aaliyah, am I correct? Can't they send out text messages as well?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. And you can send newsletters. Yes.
SPEAKER_02:You can do a lot. And it goes right to their phone.
SPEAKER_01:And the apps you can use to, parents can use to make payments, tuition. It's good. See, this is why you have to come to
SPEAKER_02:the mastermind. If you are a leader or a director or an owner and you want to know about more systems that ProCare offers that help your business run like a world on your machine, they're awesome. Awesome. Phenomenal awesome. Representative Mr. Zach will be at the mastermind teaching about those things that they have that help your center run like a world on your machine. If you're not good with finances, if you didn't get into business to handle that, let ProCare handle it for you. If you know that you need to connect, come here, what they have to offer, and then be ready to sign up. They're going to be at the Vision Mastermind in Phoenix, Arizona, June the 6th through the 8th, and the tickets are available on my website. So get in the room. Get in the room before they run out because there's only 100 spots available. Another question.
SPEAKER_01:People asking about does ProCare have training? Yes, go to our support center on our website. Always feel free to call your account manager if you don't think you're using it to your full potential. We can help you with that. Give us a call. Shoot us an email. Go to the website. We have a ton of videos. And if you need other help, we'll get you there. We just had a really good one. Oh, opinion on accident and incident reports. When is it not okay... not to communicate it with parents. We have had issues in the past where things should or should not have been written up. I think it's about how do you know when you should do an incident report.
SPEAKER_02:So I tell people to do an incident report for everything. I don't know, and I was going to say, I don't know what you deem as should not be written up. I don't know. I would have to hear that. But I teach people to write up everything. And I say that because I know we all have had that parent that she put little Johnny and little Sarah and little Susie in the tub that night and mysteriously found a mark. And she calls the child care center, but nobody, oh, well, I didn't write it up because I didn't see anything. No, it should always be written up. And from the neck up, they should be informed immediately. So So if it's from the neck down, then you can inform them when they pick up. But from the neck up, they should get a phone call immediately informing them as to what happened. Whether you see a mark or not, go ahead and tell them. Go ahead and tell them. And let me tell you something, that covers you even more. Because when they go, let's just say they go to the state because it happened. At least you did your part. You informed them. You have the documentation. You always want to cover you. So I always tell people to write up the incident, no matter what. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:How about we had a question from a webinar. Advice for... teachers who are a mentor like how how can you present new ideas for professional development or anything else as a mentor coach especially for somebody maybe who's been asked to be a mentor for the first time absolutely
SPEAKER_02:yeah first off congratulations because i love mentors um and child care centers i think they are phenomenal. I think every child care center should have a team of at least two mentors that welcome their new employees, walk them around the building, build a rapport with them. Y'all, I get so bubbly about this because it's so, it's so, we just got to think outside of the box and put ourselves in the shoes of how do you want to feel when you walk into a building. So I said that, but I love mentors because they get to take that person under the wing. And what I encourage every mentor to do is sit down with your team. Sit down with them. Let them have it out. What's wrong? Tell me what you want to see in the room. Take your notes. Take your notes. Sit down and listen to them. One, because you need them to know that you're their ally. You need them to know that. You need them to know that no matter how bad they're feeling, how good they're feeling, they can always come to you. And then you are the person that takes that information to management. So you want to sit down, let them get it all out. Listen, whatever it is. If you don't remember anything else I say today, eat the meat and spit out the bone. Take the substance that they are giving you. Write it down. Everything else that you know is just bull, spit it out. That's the bone. Spit it out. But listen to them. Listen,
SPEAKER_03:people just want to be heard.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. All right. We got you for just like about six more minutes. And I got a good question for you. Okay. Should teachers... And you're someone who is very, very social media savvy. And if you're not following Mr. Ty on his channels, I would recommend it because he does not disappoint. And also Procare, of course, our Facebook, Instagram,
SPEAKER_02:TikTok. Yes, all of them. Every place that you follow me, follow Procare. I'm on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. And this summer at the Visionaire Mastermind, we are recording my first two episodes of my podcast. And yes, ProCare is one of the episodes. And so now then we're going to be dominating YouTube. Oh, get ready. Get ready. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:it's going to be fun. Okay. So should teachers be able to defend themselves on social media when the community is belittling a center? No. Yeah, that sounds dangerous.
SPEAKER_02:No. No. No, no, no, no, no. Let me tell you, you just need, you need a general PR statement. We thank you for expressing your concern. Please be sure to stop by the center so that we can hear those in person. We are more than welcome, more than open to fixing any issue that may arise. We thank you for being a loyal and valuable customer of whatever your center name
SPEAKER_03:is. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:You don't, when they go, when they go low, you don't go lower, you go higher. So no, you don't.
SPEAKER_01:What if it's a teacher who's on there doing it, thinking they're helping the cause? Like
SPEAKER_02:going there to defend the center on behalf of the center? Mm-hmm.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And once again, that goes back to onboarding. You have to talk about those things to onboard it because even when I worked for KinderCare, we were taught that if an angry parent came out, that you crack the door, slide in the lawyer's car, close it back, go on about your day. So all of these things, and this is what I mean when I say about an onboarding process, every question that they're answering should be answered during their onboarding process. So when it comes down to responding on social media, that should be addressed in your onboarding process. No matter what they say on social media about us, our job is to prove them wrong in person. Our job is to, when parents come up to visit our center or when they come to enroll in our center, that should be deemed an I. These are the way we start training our professionals to be professionals.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:All right, I got one that might take the last five minutes. You could probably talk on this for two hours. How do you navigate teacher burnout? I warned
SPEAKER_02:you. How do you navigate teacher burnout? Are you a teacher trying to navigate it or are you a leader trying to help them navigate through it? I guess I'll answer from both sides.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, let's do both.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. If you are a leader, let's start there. No, if you're a teacher that is trying to navigate burnout, one, I would encourage you to do one thing. Identify the root cause of why you're burned out. What I have learned is that oftentimes work gets the blame. for what is actually burning us out. Oftentimes, it's our personal lives that are discombobulated, that are not aligned with what we feel they should be, all of these things. And now work is the icing on the
SPEAKER_03:cake.
SPEAKER_02:It's the straw that broke the camel's back. So when I would ask you to identify the root cause of why you are burned out. Now, if that cause is work, if it is rightfully work, I want you to go sit down and have a professional, hear me and hear me good, a professional meeting with your leader, expressing how that makes you feel, expressing how that contributes to how you show up in the classroom, How all of these things, professionally, that means don't go in there saying, well, I'm just not, and I got to do that. You go in there, you say, Ms. So-and-so, I would like to have a conversation about you, with you, because I really love working here. I really do. When I got hired, I knew there was something about this place that made me feel connected here. However, over the last few weeks, maybe even months, I've been feeling really, really, really burnt out. And I want to talk to you about the things that are making me feel burnt out so that we can work together on fixing those things. Because I also know that there's other team members that are feeling that way as well. But we love it here. We just want to come up with a solution together. I presented the problem. I included myself in it. And I also included that I want to be a part of the solution. It's all about you. how you deliver it. But first, identify your why. Why are you burned out? If you are a leader that is trying to help your team members that are burned out, look at the workload. Like I was talking about earlier about getting the janitor, you also have to look at why they are burned out. Why are they calling out? Why are they frustrated? Why don't they want to go the extra mile? You have to begin to identify these things. A good leader sits back. It's just like a parent with their child. If that child is doing something, one thing out of the blue or abnormal, we are immediately trying to figure out the why. Why are you walking like that? Why are you talking like that? Why do you have your pants on like that? We automatically want to figure out the why. You have to have that same mentality about your team when you see that they're getting burned out. Why are you that way? What can I do to fix it? Like I said earlier, eat the meat and spit out the bones. But you've got to identify the why. And when you're identifying the why, both teacher and leader, take some accountability. Because like I tell everybody, when you begin to do this, there's more fingers pointing back at you than they are pointing at the person that you're pointing at. So when you begin to look at your why, see what have I contributed or how have I contributed to me being burnt out? And what can I do also to fix it? Maybe I need to get up early in the morning. I have a morning routine. My executive assistant knows that I'm not responding to any work text message or message before 1030. Why? Because I have a morning routine where I set my tone. I'm in my worship. I'm getting my day ready. I don't care about who needs me. I need to make sure I am right first before I can give myself to other people. So maybe you need to sit down and look at that. When you get out of work, are you going immediately home to be a mother or wife? No. Maybe you need to take a detour and go get you your own plate of food and you sit down and you eat it and you decompress. Then you go home and cook for the family so that you can show up your best self. You have to identify your why, take some accountability, and then go to work fixing it.
SPEAKER_01:And that is a wrap on our Q&A session. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions, either at our webinar or through our Instagram Live. And of course, thank you to Mr. Tai for taking the time to answer them. Stay connected with us on our social media channels for when our next live will happen. And thanks so much for listening today. Bye, everybody.
SPEAKER_00:Until next time.