Parent handbook builder
A handbook earns its keep on the day something goes wrong. Every clause here exists because a programme somewhere had the conversation without one.
These are the clauses families ask about later. Edit them into your own words, then print the draft for review.
Hours, closures and pickup
- 1.Opening and closing times, and the last minute a child may be dropped off
- 2.Days closed: public holidays, staff training, the week between Christmas and New Year
- 3.Weather and emergency closures — how you announce them and by when
- 4.Late pickup: the grace period, the fee after it, and what happens at repeat
Tuition, fees and notice
- 1.Tuition, when it is due, and whether it is charged weekly or monthly
- 2.What tuition covers and what it does not — meals, nappies, trips, supplies
- 3.Registration and supply fees, and whether either is refundable
- 4.Holiday and absence policy: is a missed week charged?
- 5.Notice required to withdraw, and the deposit or final month rule
- 6.Late payment: the fee, the grace period, and when a place is lost
Illness, medication and allergies
- 1.When a child must stay home — fever, vomiting, rash, eye discharge
- 2.When they may return, and whether a note is needed
- 3.Medication: what you will give, and the written authorisation required
- 4.Immunisation policy and any exemption process
- 5.Allergy plan, and how food is handled in the room
- 6.What happens if a child becomes ill during the day, and how fast you expect collection
Guidance, safety and communication
- 1.Guidance and discipline: what you do and what you will never do
- 2.Biting policy, written before the first bite
- 3.Screen time, sunscreen, sleep position and safe-sleep practice
- 4.Photographs, social media and who may appear
- 5.Communication: daily sheets, conferences, and how to raise a concern
- 6.Termination: the reasons a place can end, and the notice you will give
Write the clauses people argue about
Late pickup, absence billing, illness exclusion, and notice to withdraw. Those four produce most of the disputes in childcare, and all four are trivially avoidable in writing.
Be specific and be numeric. "Late fees may apply" is not a policy. "A fee of one dollar per minute applies after a five-minute grace period, charged to the following invoice" is one, and it is the version nobody argues with.
Write the biting policy before the first bite
Toddlers bite. A programme with no written policy improvises under pressure with two upset families in the room. Say what you do, what you tell each family, and at what point a place is at risk — before it happens.
Illness has to line up with the sick policy
The handbook and the exclusion policy must say the same thing, in the same words, with the same numbers. A handbook that says "24 hours fever-free" beside a notice board that says "symptom-free for a full day" gives families a choice about which to follow.
Pick your source, follow it, and cite it in the handbook. Public-health guidance changes, and a handbook that names its source is a handbook you can update in one edit.
Tone is a retention decision
A handbook can be complete without reading like a summons. The programmes that get the fewest arguments are the ones whose handbooks explain why a rule exists in the sentence after the rule.
One line of reasoning per clause. "Tuition holds the place, so it is charged whether or not your child attends — the teacher is in the room either way."
Get it signed, and re-issue it
A signature page at enrolment, and a fresh one whenever the handbook materially changes. Keep the version number and date on the cover so both sides know which one they signed.
Give notice for changes to money terms specifically — a fee increase that appears in a re-issued handbook without a covering note reads as a change made quietly, whether or not it was.
Sources
- Child Care Licensing — Childcare.govfetched 2026-09-04