Daycare payment is just one of the many items on the list of what parents need to pay for. These costs aren’t insignificant, either. The estimate of childcare and education expenses made up 16% of the total cost of raising a child born in 2015.

The total cost to raise a child from birth through age 17 was $233,610. That means that it’s over $37,000 just for childcare and education.

If you work at a daycare center, these numbers might not come as a shock to you. Your time and care are valuable, and you have to provide for yourself and potentially your own family. But you’re aware of the challenges that come with actually collecting this money.

Some parents may miss the due date so you aren’t getting paid on time. Just like other bills, people can struggle to make a payment before they receive their own paycheck. This is a challenge for any daycare provider with staff who rely on income to pay their bills.

There’s also the challenge of guardians who don’t pick up their kids on time, causing staff to stay late. This not only wastes their time, but now they need to get paid more for working overtime.

So what solution do childcare providers have to help with these challenges? It might sound simple, but you need to send a daycare payment reminder.

Establishing a Payment Policy

Before you get to the point of sending reminders, you need to set policies so that there’s a reason for sending these in the first place. Parents won’t have much of an incentive to pay on time if you don’t implement any rules regarding these bills.

Having a policy in place helps you hold your clients accountable. If you include this in your contract, then you have leverage for requesting payment from parents. If they still don’t pay on time, then you can legally charge them a late fee.

The same goes for if they are late picking up their children. Since this requires more time from your staff, you end up having to pay your workers more. Or if you operate an in-home daycare, it takes up more of your time.

The point of daycare isn’t to be an ongoing service until it’s convenient for parents to arrive. Like any other business, there are specific hours for a reason. But a caregiver can’t just leave a child if their parents didn’t show up on time. They have to stick around until the guardian gets there. Including fees in your policy for when parents show up late will also make them aware of penalties that they’re responsible for.

Your policies should specify the exact fees that could incur from either arriving late or paying late. For example, state that there will be a fee of $5 for every minute that the parent is late or a $15 fee if your daycare doesn’t receive payment by the due date. Of course, you need to include this due date in your policy. Maybe it’s the Friday before the week of care, or on the first of every month.

Regardless of what your financial and time policies are, be sure to include them in the contract when clients sign up for your services.

Why Reminders are Necessary

The first reason why reminders are necessary is pretty obvious: you need to get paid (duh). If one of your clients forgot to pay and you didn’t let them know, then you may never see that money. And if you let this slip by once, they could start intentionally skipping payments.

They might pay eventually, but they wouldn’t make it a priority to meet the due date. If you don’t act when it first becomes a problem, then it will just get harder to manage. This is one reason why you need to remind them of the deadline and what your policy is if they aren’t on time.

Now, it’s not that parents want to take advantage of caregivers. The reality is that it can be easy to forget. Between working and caring for their kids the rest of the time, they’re so busy. It’s not a surprise that their focus might be on something else, not to mention any other payments they need to remember. Young children also have many doctor's appointments so parents are already trying to keep track of so many dates.

Because of how much parents need to juggle and remember, it makes sense why a daycare payment might slip their minds occasionally. This is the second reason why you must send them a reminder.

Besides all of these details that guardians are focusing on, there may be a cognitive component for why mothers might forget. Sometimes referred to as “mom brain,” mothers experience brain fog after the birth of a child.

This isn’t just a term to shame moms for being forgetful. Research has shown that gray matter decreases in certain parts of the brain during pregnancy. Then postpartum, it increases in other parts. These brain changes help with developing maternal skills when the baby arrives.

The memory lapses that have led to the term “mom brain” may have to do with these brain changes. They may also have to do with how mothers devote energy to caring for their new child. Their focus is on more important things: keeping their child safe and healthy.

It’s unclear how long these changes may last, and a mom can’t get rid of or prevent them. Because she may go through this forgetfulness, it’s even more important that she receives a daycare payment reminder. Since her focus is on other aspects of caring for her new baby, she may easily forget about the day that payment is due.

When to Send Reminders

An important part of reminders is knowing when to send them. This will have to do with when your payment due dates are. For instance, if they’re due monthly, then someone would likely forget if you’re sending a message an entire month in advance. If parents need to pay each week, then reminders within that same week would help them remember to pay on time. Even if these messages go out in advance of the due date, one last reminder the day before can get them to pay before the final deadline.

There’s some debate from daycare providers about when to send a final reminder. Daycare.com is a forum where owners, directors, operators, and assistants can post and ask questions.

One member expressed their frustration with collecting payments from clients. The user posted the following question…

Responses from other users suggested just sending an updated invoice with the late fee instead of sending another reminder on the due date. Several indicated that they already do send multiple reminders, so they would immediately send a new invoice as soon as the due time passes.

As a provider, you’re doing your part by already sending multiple reminders. It would cause frustration for you if a parent still hasn’t paid despite these efforts.

However, it can also be frustrating for a parent to receive late fees. If they keep getting hit with these hefty fees, they’ll likely switch caregivers. Sure, it was their fault that they didn’t send the money on time. But like I mentioned, it’s easy to forget due to how busy they are. If you expect them to remember too far in advance, then it’s a no-brainer that they won’t get their payment in on time.

You’ll improve the satisfaction of these customers if you send a last-minute message right before the payment is due, whether that’s the day before or the day of. Including the time that they need to submit it will also help so there’s no question about what you consider late.

Also, consider the time of the day that you’re sending these reminders. For instance, let’s say that your facility opens at 7:00 AM. You might think that this is a good time to send them out so that the parent will pay when they arrive. However, this may be a prime time for getting their child ready for the day or when they’re already in the car driving.

They won’t likely see the message then until after they drop their child off or are on their way to work. It could slip their mind then by the time they get to their office and are starting the workday.

The same goes for evening hours as well. They might be juggling dinner, doing homework with older children, getting younger kids to bed, packing for the next day at daycare…the list goes on. Early evenings are busy for parents, especially when they just finished working.

So what time should you send them? Lunch hours are more of a hassle-free time for parents, so sending a message then would remind them to pay while on their lunch break if you offer online payments. Right before the end of the workday could also prompt them to bring physical payment with them if they were to pay with a check, credit card, or cash. Later evenings may also have downtime for them so they remember to pay online once their kids are in bed, or pack the payment in the bag to send to daycare.

Regardless of when you send these messages before the due date, you also need to send one after the date has passed. If a parent didn’t make their payment, you need to send a new invoice shortly after. As seen in the comments on the Daycare.com forum, some daycare directors will send these the minute after the cutoff time has passed.

Sending these updated invoices quickly will get parents to pay since they realize that they were late and they won’t want even more fees added to their bill.

Methods to Use

Besides knowing the best time to send a reminder, daycare centers also need to know the most effective method to use. Simply put, there’s no foolproof communication tool that will get you paid every time. The reality is that people have different preferred ways to communicate.

Some might live on their email, while others are more likely to answer the phone if they notice the daycare is calling. Others may find it easier if your office sends a text message so they can add the due date to their phone’s calendar.

This is why it’s helpful to use a few different methods so that they’re more likely to see at least one. There are even platforms that streamline all communication between your staff and parents. Our solution, Payment Hub, is one example so your team can message parents about any important matters, including payment.

This platform reduces the workload by sending automated statements. You can also send text messages and alerts to your clients. Parents can even set up autopay so that they’re always on time with their payments.

A more traditional way to remind parents is by sending home a paper flyer. No, it isn’t as modern as digital channels where they can get your messages from anywhere. But having the physical reminder that they can hang on their fridge at home could help them be on time since they would see the paper every day. This is more of a constant reminder, unlike an email or text that could get lost among other messages after a few hours.

Reminder Template Samples

As a daycare provider, there’s so much you have on your plate as it is. Between taking care of young children and already communicating so many details to their parents, implementing payment reminders is just another thing on your long to-do list.

To make things easier for you, here are several daycare payment reminder templates that you can start using today.

Email Template Sample

When drafting email templates, you need to keep in mind the subject line since that will grab your clients’ attention. If they don’t even open the email, then this method would be useless.

Besides including text that reminds them to pay, you can also add an image. This will make them more engaged as they read your message. Visual information gets to the brain 60,000 times faster than text-only content. In 2020, two-thirds of people said that they preferred emails that consisted mostly of images.

They’re even more likely to remember this information if it’s visual. People remember 80% of what they see, compared to 20% of what they read and 10% of what they hear.

Subject: Parenting is Tiring. Don’t Forget Your Payment is Due.

Body:

Hi [Customer’s First Name],

We hope that you’re satisfied with your child’s care at [Daycare Facility Name]. We take pride in putting your child’s health and safety first so that you don’t need to worry about this while you’re apart.

We know that your schedule is busy, and we hope that our services are helping to relieve some of the stress that comes with parenting.

I did want to quickly mention that we haven’t received payment from you just yet. No worries, it isn’t due until [due date] at [time]. This payment is to cover care for [dates of service]. If we don’t receive payment by this deadline, you will see a late fee of [amount] on your new invoice.

You can pay by check or card when you pick up or drop off your child. You can also make a one-time payment or set up autopay online here - [Link to invoice].

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reply to this email or give us a call at [Daycare Billing Number].

Kindest Regards,

[Your First Name]

Text Message Template Sample

This sample is applicable for text messaging or apps that allow sending messages to parents, such as the Brightwheel platform that I mentioned before.

Text:

Hi [Customer’s First Name], this is [Daycare Facility Name] messaging you regarding your child’s daycare bill. We haven’t received your payment yet for [dates of service]. We know that you must be busy, but wanted to remind you that this payment is due on [due date] at [time]. If we do not receive payment by this time, you will see a late fee of [amount] reflected on a new invoice. Please call us with any questions. Thank you!

Phone Call Script Template Sample

When I say phone calls, I don’t mean you need to spend a few hours manually calling every parent when payment is due. You can use an automated system with a pre-recorded message. That’s why you need a script.

You could also use this communication channel as a final reminder and call those who haven’t paid yet. This is more personal and gives you the chance to talk to the parent in case they have a valid reason for why they haven’t paid.

If they’re struggling before they get their paycheck, then receiving late fees would make things worse for them. Talking to them individually could help you come up with a more feasible payment schedule for them, such as on a different day of the month after their paycheck hits the bank.

Call Script:

Hi, this is [Your Name] calling from [Daycare Facility Name] regarding your child’s daycare bill. I noticed that you didn’t submit your payment yet for the care during [dates of service]. We understand that you’re busy and focused on your child, but we wanted to make sure that you were aware of the due date approaching on [due date]. We don’t want you to receive a late fee, so we just wanted to remind you of this upcoming payment deadline. If you have any questions about your payment, you can give our daycare a call at [phone number]. Thank you so much, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Handout Template Sample

Since people remember more information that they see versus what they read or hear, a designed handout is another great template sample to add.

Conclusion

As a daycare center, your primary focus should be to care for children. After all, the word “care” is in your business’s name. Clients choose and trust you because of this.

But to provide excellent services, you also need to receive payments. Otherwise, you can’t maintain your business. This becomes a challenge when parents don’t pay the childcare bill on time.

To encourage them to submit their payments, it’s important to send reminders. Just as you have so much to keep track of at your facility, parents also have a lot to focus on.

You don’t want to make matters more overwhelming for them by hitting them with late fees that they didn’t know about. Setting policies in the contract establishes boundaries from the beginning.

Reminding them of these policies, especially as it approaches the billing deadline, helps them comply with this agreement. It also boosts their satisfaction since they won’t end up with hefty late charges.