Caring for Young Children — Business Matters – Virtual Toolkit

Professional Development Activity

Begin by reading the  Growing Ideas: Caring for Young Children Tipsheet (PDF) and completing the Growing Ideas Into Action Handout (PDF) – A resource to use as you read and use the tipsheets.

Two women discussing paperwork.

Training Materials to use right away:

Try, Review, Reflect and Plan:

The Four Key Tips on Contracts and Policies (PDF) explains some basic rules that can help providers communicate clearly with parents and reduce potential conflicts. The Coming To Terms: How to Effectively Use Contracts & Policies (PDF) provides information to help set some rules/policies for your business.

  1. Download and review  Four Key Tips on Contracts and Policies (PDF).
  2. Download and review Coming To Terms: How to Effectively Use Contracts & Policies (PDF) .
  3. Select and try out the strategies in these resources in your program.
  4. Use the Caring for Young Children — Business Matters Self-Reflection Guide and Documentation Sheet (PDF) to:
    • Review, reflect and plan your work with children.
    • Document your training hours.

Highly Recommended Resource:

Family Child Care Recordkeeping Guide book cover

Copeland, T. (2010). Family Child Care Record-Keeping Guide (8th ed.). St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press

From Publisher’s website:

This new edition of the bestselling guide has even more valuable information for keeping your business records and saving money on taxes. Revised and updated, the Family Child Care Record-Keeping Guide covers everything you need to keep accurate business records-from tracking income and expenses to working with a tax professional.

Children’s Book Selection:

Max's Bunny Business book cover

Wells, R. (2016). Max’s Bunny Business. New York, NY:  Viking Juvenile

Book Description:

“Bunny business? Funny business!

Max’s sister, Ruby, and her best friend, Louise, are in business. They have big plans for the profits from their lemonade stand, and they definitely don’t want Max to help or share. But trust Max to have plans of his own. He just might show Ruby that he has a better way to run a bunny business.”

Interested in additional information on this topic? Visit our Caring for Young Children – Business Matters Selected Resources page.

Have a professional development plan? As you read the Growing Ideas Tipsheets, and use the Virtual Toolkit training materials be sure to place your handouts/documentation of this work in your personal professional development portfolio.

Updated: 07/25/2024