One Provider’s Experience with Child Care Management Software

Julie Schwarz, owner of Thunderhawk Daycare in Grinnell, Kansas, shares her opinion on the KidKare software and how her program has benefitted from it.

The Ideas & Solutions blog is intended to provide a forum for the discussion of child care and early education issues and ideas. We hope to provoke thoughtful discussions within the field and to help those outside the field gain a better understanding of priorities and concerns.

Originally published in the Spring 2023 issue of Kansas Child Magazine.

One child care provider is seeing things in a whole new light. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Julie Schwarz, owner of Thunderhawk Daycare in Grinnell, Kansas, to get her opinion on the KidKare software, a child care management system (CCMS), and how her program has benefited from using it.

Julie says that, by introducing this software into her child care business, she has been able to stay on top of her recordkeeping on a regular basis.

Although she admits that she’s not very tech savvy, Julie says the KidKare software has made a huge impact on her business. She has found it to be user-friendly and easy to navigate. The CCMS software does everything her child care business needs it to. She can easily maintain records for children in her care, as well as print any invoice that she may need.

By inputting everything into one program, she can always find what she needs when she needs it.

The software houses records on each child and family enrolled in her program. It also provides a variety of resources, like health and emergency forms. She can easily email families their invoices so that they can pay online. If a family prefers a printed invoice, that option is available as well.

Julie says the software has made business taxes the simplest and easiest they’ve ever been. All she needs to do is make sure records are updated and then select which report she wants to run from the accounting tab. It really is just a click of the mouse to keep all her business records up to date.

“As a child care provider, you don’t have a lot of time for any record keeping,” says Schwarz. “We work long hours with no breaks. The CCMS program is versatile. You can choose to use it for just a few of the features or all of them. How you incorporate it into your business is up to you. It is a reasonable price for all you are getting.”

Julie advises providers to do research on different CCMS software programs in order to select the one that best fits their needs. Overall, using CCMS software has been one of the best decisions she has made for her business.

Shared Services Network

Learn more about our child care management software partners and how you can start using this program at no cost to you!

Child Care Aware of Kansas

Child Care Aware of Kansas connects everyone with a stake in child care — parents, child care providers, businesses, local and state leaders, and community members — to the information and ideas they need to take action. We provide opportunities, connections, and support for Kansans to envision what a better child care system can look like for them. Working within a network of Child Care Resource & Referral agencies, we also connect caregivers and providers to the information and support they need.