10+ Parent Handbook Must-Haves

What your parent handbook must include, plus how to build one that’s perfect for your business

You’re working at your laptop, digging through a pretty involved spreadsheet. Your coffee is mostly gone and you’ve got a few minutes to figure this out before your staff arrives.

Ping.

It’s a text.

“Does Brennan need shoes today? Are flip-flops okay?”

This parent’s question is more complicated than a “yes” or “no,” and with the students arriving in . . . 38 minutes, it’s not a response that can wait. 

So you set aside your spreadsheet and spend a couple of minutes crafting a response to the parent who’s waiting on the other side of that text.

35 minutes. Back to work.

Ping. 

An email now. 

“I’m already at work and Sadia’s at her carpool and forgot her lunch. Can I drop it off later in the day?”

These kinds of questions seem simple on the surface, but as a business owner you know that even a simple “yes” or “no” answer needs more care and attention than a one-word response. Fortunately, there’s a way for families to find the answers they need without sending messages to you and your staff: your parent handbook.

What’s a parent handbook and does my business need one?

A parent handbook lays out all of the basics a guardian might need to know about your organization while their child is enrolled in your program. Usually, it will be a digital document like a PDF that guardians can easily access from a mobile device.

Creating a parent handbook might seem like an unnecessary addition to your project list, but I’m here to tell you that if you run a childcare-based business like a school, summer camp, daycare, or extracurricular program, you need a parent handbook. Like, right now. I’d tell you all about it, but it’s actually such an important topic that the question of why you need a parent handbook has its very own post. There’s a lot of good information over there, so definitely check it out.

Then, let’s talk about how to create a parent handbook that’s going to fulfill all of the great benefits discussed over on that post—one that will increase client satisfaction and reduce your stress.

How is a parent handbook used, practically speaking?

The handbook is a reference document, like an encyclopedia. Back in the old days, we had the Encyclopedia Britannica (which was the internet of the early 90s). It sat on a shelf, volumes and volumes and volumes of it, until you had a question. If you wanted to know about . . . lichen, for example, you could open it up to the letter “L” and find an entry all about that weird little green tree moss.

Your parent handbook is going to be like the Encyclopedia Britannica of your organization.

When a parent or guardian has a question about drop-off times, they’ll open up the PDF you’ve provided, and search for the keyword “drop-off”. Good old ctrl+F is going to save the day.

That is to say—do not expect your families to read this document cover-to-cover. It’s For Reference Only. You don’t need to print copies for each family, but do provide a digital document, like a PDF, that can be easily stored and opened on their phone. Print one copy to keep at your front desk for reference by staff and parents. You could even bind it to keep it nice. Office supply stores generally offer this service if you don’t have a binding machine.

What’s included in a parent handbook?

Full disclosure: creating a parent handbook can be a big project. The document itself is going to be long. Depending on the details of your organization and programming, it could be anywhere from 20-50 pages (stick with me here). It is a beast. But it is going to be so worth it.

The handbook should have an answer for each question that gets asked over and over again, as well as any policies you want in writing. That way, you can refer to them during a conversation or direct parents to specifics entries when you’d like to see different behavior.

A parent handbook will be different for each business: a daycare or a dance studio, for example, might need to include policies on potty training, while a summer camp for teens can safely leave that information out.

Every handbook should include the business’s contact information, attendance policies, cancelation details, fee schedules, and lost-and-found instructions.

A few other categories that all or nearly all organizations should include are:

Welcome letter. This is an opportunity to welcome the family, whether they are new or returning, and briefly introduce them to you and the history of your business.. No matter what, you and the parents have a common goal: the health, safety, and growth of their child. It’s a good idea to remind your families that you’re in this together!

Mission and vision. You might already have these statements all set, and if not, now’s a great time to create them! Including these in your handbook creates a framework for the work that you do.

General rules and expectations. Try to create 3-5 broad expectations for your classroom. For instance, Compass Creative Dramatics uses three rules, which cover not only student behavior, but expand to include guardian expectations, too: The Forcefield Rule (which addresses physical interpersonal behavior as well as property), The Food Rule (when to eat and how snack breaks work), and The Respect Rule (which covers emotional interpersonal behavior, timeliness, and technology policies). Having fewer, broader rules helps students and parents remember what’s expected of them and allows you to quickly address any issues that might arise.

Dress code. What should the student wear? Do they need a specific type of shoes? Should they arrive in that attire, or change when they walk in the door? Are there changing rooms? Lockers? What should parents expect?

Daily requirements. When is pick-up? How about drop-off? Is there a fee if I arrive to pick up my child past a certain window? What does my student need to bring with them each day? Is there a cubby or locker where they can store things overnight?

Snacks and lunches. Do students provide their own food? Is food provided? How many snack breaks are there during a class/session? Is food kept in a common refrigerator, or should meals and snacks be packed in insulated lunch boxes with ice packs? Are there limitations on what kinds of food students can bring (for instance, is your space peanut or tree nut free?)

Observation. Are parents allowed to watch your class/practice/rehearsal? If not, why not? If so, where should they sit, and what’s expected of them during that time?

Discipline policies. What happens when a student doesn’t follow an expectation? Is there a series of steps that are taken? What about when a parent breaks expectations?

Photos and videos. Can I take photos/videos of my child? Can other children be in the photos/videos? Can I post them on my social media or website? If so, are there guidelines surrounding that?

Emergencies. Outline how emergencies are handled and remind families to keep their emergency forms updated. Give instructions on how to do that (at the front desk in person? through a parent portal? by email?)

Other ideas to consider include grouping/selection process information (how do you decide what team my child gets onto?), educational philosophy (what’s your approach? why is it the best option for your program? what are any quirks or nontraditional elements of this philosophy?), and programming types (if you have a competitive or performance program that’s separate from a recreational program, they’ll probably need their own handbook).

Begin with research

Step number one is deciding what information you want to include.

Start by researching your own company. Write out the must-haves listed above and determine other areas you should address. Consider questions that you might add to an FAQ page on your website. Look back through text messages and emails you’ve received. What questions have families asked you previously? If parents have asked about them in the past, there’s a good chance that parents will ask about them in the future, so add them to your list!

For each category on your list, write out all of the details that apply. For inspiration, take a look at the question prompts included for each of the subjects above.

At this point, the more information, the better—you can always decide to cut something later.

Content matters, but style is just as important.

The next step is to make your content relatable. Gone are the days of dry, formal language. Your handbook should be conversational, warm, and (dare I say it?) entertaining. Ah, how times have changed. 

Once it’s informative and relatable, focus on formatting to make it readable. Beyond readable, in fact. You need to make it skimmable. Even though you’re not expecting your parents to read your handbook word-for-word, there are parents who will want to absorb as much as they can as soon as they receive it. The thing is, they’re still not going to actually read it. People just don’t read. We skim. Even parents who do the ctrl+F thing aren’t going to read every word of the entry they find. Parents should be able to easily glance through your PDF and feel like they have a general understanding of what they will need to know.

I know—you’re going to spend a lot of time and energy creating engaging pages. And it’s a bummer that your hard work won’t be read by readers who are appreciative of your excellent style. But if you don’t take the time for that work, no one will absorb the information you present at all. Your final handbook should be informative, clear, conversational, and skimmable.

Wow. This seems like a project.

Not gonna lie, it is. It’s a lot of information to put together. Clarity takes effort and style takes time and focus. Your handbook will take time upfront. But in the long run, it will save you so much time and energy! It’s totally, one-hundred-percent worth the investment.

I know that time is limited, though, and you’ve got a to-do list a mile long. I get it. Maybe a handbook doesn’t feel a “must have” to you. But it is. It’s necessary and it’s urgent because this time next year, you don’t want to be losing precious minutes and hours typing up one-off responses to those texts and emails. You don’t want parents to feel confused, lost, or frustrated because they don’t have easy access to your information all in one skimmable document. You want to have a resource that you can link your parents to for easy answers, fast.

If you’re interested in banking that time, drop me a note. As a copywriter for education and childcare businesses, I have the know-how and the tools to build you a beautiful and oh-so-useful parent handbook. You’re short on time—so let me make time for you.