Free Resources

Not Ready To Join?
Start Here.

This Month’s Focus, the blog and three email templates, already written. Open to everyone and free to use.

Director Zen shapes illustration: bowl, ball and arch

This Month’s Focus

Five things worth your attention this month.

Running a center means everything is urgent and nothing is finished. Every month we name five that are worth your attention right now. You know your program, so you decide which one it needs. Read it free. Members get the forms, scripts and checklists that go with each one.

October

People feel valued when their work is seen and their experience is heard.

01

Lead your team

Make Recognition Specific and Consistent

02

Grow your program

Make It Easy for Families to Speak

03

Systems & SOPs

Close Each Month with a Clear Review

04

Checkpoints

Review Staff Files Before Renewals Become Urgent

05

Self-care

Keep Score of the Smooth Days Too

How to use it

1
Review

Skim the five focuses at the start of each month. Pick one to implement.

2
Adapt

Your program is unique, including size, ages served, and calendar. Adjust to fit your program needs.

3
Community

Bring the messy parts to the community thread. Someone else is mid-month too.

Your Go-To for Childcare Articles

Practical reads on leading people, growing your program and making the day-to-day a little easier. Free for everyone — with deeper articles, tools, templates, courses and more inside the Director Zen membership.

View all
Proactive Leadership in Childcare: Why the Same Problems Keep Coming Back

7

 min read

Proactive Leadership in Childcare: Why the Same Problems Keep Coming Back

Most repeat problems at a childcare center are information, not bad luck. Three questions to ask after any incident, and how to turn the answers into one change.

Childcare Staff Onboarding: Why a System Beats Your Memory

6

 min read

Childcare Staff Onboarding: Why a System Beats Your Memory

Onboarding is not training and it is not paperwork. What a real childcare staff onboarding system covers, what it costs to run without one, and why it pays for itself.

What Parents Look For in a Childcare Center: 8 Things They Notice

5

 min read

What Parents Look For in a Childcare Center: 8 Things They Notice

Parents are not evaluating your curriculum. The eight things they are actually reading when they walk through your door, and what each one tells a director to fix first.

Childcare SOPs: Practice, Study, Repeat

4

 min read

Childcare SOPs: Practice, Study, Repeat

SOPs are not paperwork. They are your team’s playbook, and a playbook only works when somebody runs the drills. Five steps to build one your staff actually follow.

Childcare Staff Retention: Why Your Best Teachers Actually Stay

5

 min read

Childcare Staff Retention: Why Your Best Teachers Actually Stay

Pay matters, but connection is what keeps the staff you cannot afford to lose. What one teacher’s decision in 2020 taught me about retention that no policy could.

Childcare Director Burnout: How to Get Ahead of It

4

 min read

Childcare Director Burnout: How to Get Ahead of It

Burnout in childcare leadership is common and most of its causes are addressable. Five practical places to start this week, from a director who got it wrong first.

Director Zen balance-shapes illustration

Three Emails Directors Dread Writing. Already Written.

Written by a director who has sent them. Ready to customize. Free, straight to your inbox.

The unpaid tuition notice. Firm, respectful, clear.
The upset parent response. Calm, professional, de-escalating.
After a difficult conversation. Closing the loop with care.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. We respect your inbox.