Your Guide to Christina'sChild Care Center
Everything you need to know about managing your center, supporting your staff, and keeping families connected. Pick your role and explore the tools built specifically for you.
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Getting Started
Three doors into the platform: one for families, one for staff, and one for Christina. Start here.
Parent Login
Your private door into the parent portal. See updates, photos, and messages the moment you log in.
Families used to have to call or wait for a printed newsletter to know what happened during the day. That felt distant. This replaces the guessing with a real-time window into your child’s day.
You log in once, and everything is right there: today’s photos, the latest newsletter, any messages from Christina. No app download, no extra passwords.
Step by step
- 1Go to the parent portal login page
- 2Enter your email and the password Christina gave you
- 3You’re taken straight to your family dashboard
- 4Bookmark it so you can check in anytime
Employee Login
The staff portal entrance. Clock in, check your schedule, enter meal counts, and access everything you need for your shift.
Staff were juggling paper sign-in sheets, separate spreadsheets for meal counts, and text messages for schedule changes. That’s too many places to look.
One login gives you your full day at a glance. Clock in from your phone, see your tasks, check who else is on, and log meals all in the same place.
Step by step
- 1Go to the employee login page
- 2Enter your email or PIN number
- 3Your shift dashboard loads automatically
- 4Use the quick-action menu for clocking in and out
Admin Dashboard
Your command center. At a glance: who’s here today, what’s overdue, which alerts need your attention across both locations.
Running two centers means constantly juggling a mental list of what’s happening at each site. This dashboard puts everything in one view so nothing falls through the cracks.
Smart alerts surface only what needs your attention. You see enrollment gaps, missed meal counts, low supplies, and staff coverage issues before they become problems.
Step by step
- 1Log in with your admin credentials
- 2Review the smart alert panel at the top
- 3Check the daily summary cards for each center
- 4Click any alert to jump directly to that tool
Daily Essentials
The tools that run every day: meals, attendance, photos, tasks, and the quiet-hour checklist.
Meal Count Entry
Log breakfast, lunch, and snack counts by classroom in under two minutes. Designed for staff to do it quickly, every single day.
Meal counts fund the CACFP reimbursements that cover a meaningful chunk of food costs. But they only work if they’re submitted on time, every day. Paper logs get lost, and late submissions mean lost money.
The entry form is pre-filled with your classroom and today’s date. You just enter numbers and hit submit. The system flags if you’re cutting it close to the deadline.
Step by step
- 1Open the Meal Count page from your employee dashboard
- 2Select the current meal period (breakfast, lunch, or snack)
- 3Enter the count for each child in your classroom
- 4Hit Submit before the deadline shown on screen
Food Counts & CACFP
The admin view of all meal submissions. Track compliance rates, see which classrooms are behind, and monitor your monthly reimbursement totals.
CACFP audits can come without much notice. If records are incomplete, the center risks losing reimbursements retroactively. This tracker keeps you audit-ready every day, not just when the auditor calls.
You see a running compliance score, a breakdown of on-time vs. late submissions, and projected reimbursement for the month. If something’s off, you know about it the same day.
Step by step
- 1Navigate to Food Counts in your admin sidebar
- 2Check the Compliance tab for this week’s on-time rate
- 3Click any classroom row to see its submission history
- 4Review the Reimbursement Tracker for monthly totals
Attendance Tracking
Know who’s here, who called out, and whether your ratios are covered. Updated in real time as children arrive and depart.
Ratio violations are the fastest way to get a licensing citation. When you’re moving fast in the morning, it’s easy to lose track. This gives you a live headcount at all times.
Color-coded alerts tell you if any room is approaching a ratio issue. You can pull up the full day’s attendance for any child in seconds, which matters a lot on pick-up days.
Step by step
- 1Open Attendance from the Daily Essentials section
- 2Mark arrivals as children check in each morning
- 3Watch the ratio indicators update in real time
- 4Export attendance records for any date range
Daily Photo Upload
Snap and upload photos of activities, milestones, and classroom moments from your phone. Tag the activity type and classroom in seconds.
Parents love seeing their kids in action, but getting photos from staff to families used to mean texting personal numbers or emailing blurry attachments. That’s not professional, and it’s not private.
Photos go straight into a review queue for Christina to approve before parents see them. You take the photo, tag it, and move on. The system handles the rest.
Step by step
- 1Open the Photos page from your employee menu
- 2Tap the upload button and select your photo
- 3Choose the classroom and activity type
- 4Write a short caption (optional) and submit
Photo Review
Review submitted staff photos before parents see them. Approve, reject, or edit captions from a clean grid view.
Once a photo is visible to families, it’s visible. Having a review step protects children’s privacy and lets you maintain a consistent, professional look for all shared content.
You can review a full day’s photos in a few minutes. Bulk approve the ones that look great, reject any that don’t meet the mark, and add context to captions before families see them.
Step by step
- 1Open Photo Review under Communications
- 2Filter by date, classroom, or pending status
- 3Click any photo to preview it full-size
- 4Approve, reject, or edit caption, then move to the next
Task Board
A kanban board of every task across both centers. Create tasks, assign them to staff, set due dates, and track what’s done.
Verbal to-do lists disappear the moment the conversation ends. Things like "check the spare freezer" or "order more bibs" kept getting lost between shifts. This gives every task a home.
Staff see only the tasks assigned to them. You see everything. Overdue tasks turn red automatically. Nothing falls off the list because it’s always right there.
Step by step
- 1Open the Task Board from your admin dashboard
- 2Create a task with a title, due date, and assignee
- 3Drag it through To Do, In Progress, and Done columns
- 4Set a recurrence for tasks that happen every week
Nap Time Tasks
A curated task list that appears during nap time: cleaning, restocking, documentation. Keep the quiet hour productive without forgetting what needs doing.
Nap time is the only pocket of uninterrupted time in a childcare day, and it often got used inconsistently. Some staff were productive; others weren’t sure what to work on. This removes the ambiguity.
You open the Nap Tasks page and see exactly what needs to happen during this window. Check items off as you go. Christina can see completion rates across the team.
Step by step
- 1Open Nap Tasks when nap time begins
- 2See the list of assigned tasks for this shift
- 3Check off each item as you complete it
- 4Add notes on anything that needs follow-up
Communication
Photos for families, newsletters for everyone, messages when it matters, and preferences that respect your time.
Parent Photo Gallery
A private, chronological feed of every approved photo from your child’s classroom. Tap to react and see the captions staff added.
Parents used to wonder what their kids were doing all day, especially for infants and toddlers who can’t report back. Seeing real photos from real moments closes that gap completely.
You scroll through photos the same way you’d scroll a social feed, except it’s completely private and only contains your child’s classroom. React with a heart, save favorites, and know your kid had a great day.
Step by step
- 1Log into the parent portal
- 2Tap Photos in the main menu
- 3Scroll through today’s approved photos
- 4Tap the heart icon to react or long-press to save
Newsletter Builder
Build a professional weekly newsletter with photos, events, menu highlights, and classroom spotlights. No design skills needed.
Sending updates used to mean assembling a Word document, attaching it to an email, and hoping parents actually opened it. The result looked inconsistent and took way too long to put together.
You add sections, drag photos in, type your updates, and the layout handles itself. Schedule it to send Friday afternoon so families have it for the weekend.
Step by step
- 1Open Communications and click New Newsletter
- 2Add sections: photos, events, menu, milestones
- 3Fill in your content for each section
- 4Preview, then schedule or send immediately
Newsletter Archive
Every newsletter Christina has sent, searchable and readable from any device. Never miss an update even if you were away.
A newsletter sent on Friday disappears into an inbox by Monday. Parents who travel or work irregular hours often missed important updates entirely. The archive fixes that.
You search by date or keyword and pull up any past newsletter in seconds. Great for referencing upcoming events, finding the menu from last month, or catching up after vacation.
Step by step
- 1Go to News in your parent portal
- 2Browse newsletters sorted by most recent first
- 3Use the search bar to find a specific topic
- 4Click any newsletter to read it in full
Communication Hub
Send announcements to all families, message individual parents, or use saved templates for common situations like closures or illness notices.
Reaching families used to mean a patchwork of texts, emails, and Facebook posts. Messages got missed, and there was no record of what was sent or who read it.
You write one message and choose your audience: all families, a specific classroom, or one parent. The system logs who opened it, so you know your message actually landed.
Step by step
- 1Open the Communication Hub from your admin menu
- 2Choose your audience: all families, a room, or one parent
- 3Pick a template or write from scratch
- 4Send now or schedule for later
Notification Preferences
Choose exactly how and when you hear from the center: new photos, newsletters, important announcements. Your inbox, your rules.
Some parents want every update the moment it happens. Others prefer a daily digest. With a one-size-fits-all email approach, you end up ignoring everything or missing things that matter.
You set your preferences once and the center respects them. Get a push notification when new photos go up, a weekly email with the newsletter, and nothing else.
Step by step
- 1Open Notifications in your parent settings
- 2Toggle on the types of updates you want
- 3Choose email, in-app, or both for each category
- 4Save and your preferences apply immediately
Scheduling & Staff
Schedules that work, a wiki that answers questions, and the tools that help your team grow.
Schedule Board
Build and publish staff schedules for both centers. See gaps, manage coverage, and handle swap requests from one calendar view.
Scheduling two centers with part-time and full-time staff across shifting enrollment numbers is genuinely hard. Doing it in a spreadsheet means re-doing it every time someone calls out.
The board shows you who is scheduled, who has a conflict, and where ratio coverage gets thin. Drag shifts to reschedule. Approve or deny swap requests without a single text.
Step by step
- 1Open the Schedule Board from your admin menu
- 2Select the week you want to build
- 3Drag staff into shift slots for each room
- 4Publish the schedule so staff can see their shifts
Employee Schedule
Your personal schedule view. See your upcoming shifts, request time off, and get notified when the schedule is published.
Staff used to find out their schedule by texting Christina or checking a paper printout on the fridge at the center. That’s not reliable, especially for people who plan childcare around their own work hours.
You see your schedule the moment it’s published. Your shifts are in your calendar app if you want. And you can request a swap or time off directly from this page without hunting for someone to call.
Step by step
- 1Open Schedule from your employee dashboard
- 2Browse your shifts for the current and next week
- 3Tap any shift to see room assignment and start time
- 4Use the Request Time Off button for planned absences
Knowledge Base
The center’s internal wiki. Policies, procedures, how-to guides, and anything else staff need to do their job well.
New staff spent their first weeks asking the same questions over and over. Veteran staff couldn’t find the updated allergy protocol because it was buried in an old email. A central knowledge base fixes both problems.
Every answer is searchable and always current. You look up the fire drill procedure, the sick child policy, or how to use the lesson planning tool, and you find it immediately.
Step by step
- 1Open the Knowledge Base from the Staff section
- 2Browse by category or use the search bar
- 3Click any article to read it in full
- 4As admin: add or update articles from the editor
Staff Development
Track training hours, certifications, and professional development goals for every staff member. Know who’s due for renewal before it becomes a compliance issue.
Minnesota licensing requires ongoing training hours, and certifications expire on their own schedule. Tracking this in a spreadsheet only works until someone forgets to update it.
You see each staff member’s training status at a glance. Automatic reminders go out before a certification expires. Staff can log their own hours, and you verify them.
Step by step
- 1Open Staff Development from the admin sidebar
- 2Select a staff member to view their training record
- 3Add completed training with the date and credit hours
- 4Set renewal reminders for certifications
Onboarding
A structured checklist for every new hire. Background check status, orientation tasks, and first-week milestones tracked in one place.
Onboarding a new staff member involved scattered paperwork, forgotten orientation tasks, and no clear record of what had been completed. New staff felt lost, and Christina had to keep it all in her head.
You create an onboarding record when someone is hired. Every required step is listed. As each task is completed, it gets checked off. Nothing important gets skipped.
Step by step
- 1Open Onboarding under HR
- 2Click New Hire and fill in their basic information
- 3The onboarding checklist generates automatically
- 4Mark each item complete as the new hire finishes it
Supply Management
Track inventory levels for both centers. Set reorder points, approve purchase requests from staff, and see what’s running low across locations.
Running out of diapers at Crystal on a Tuesday when there’s a full case in Brooklyn Park is the kind of problem that only happens when no one has visibility into both locations at once.
You see stock levels for every item at every location. Low-stock alerts fire before things run out. Staff request what they need and you approve with one click.
Step by step
- 1Open Supply Management from your admin menu
- 2Browse the full inventory list by category or location
- 3Set a reorder threshold for each item
- 4Review and approve incoming staff supply requests
Request Supplies
Submit a supply request to Christina in under a minute. No texts, no sticky notes, no guessing whether she saw it.
Supply requests made verbally or by text got forgotten constantly. Staff didn’t know if their request was approved, ordered, or never received. That friction led to either shortages or staff buying things themselves.
You submit a request with the item, quantity, and reason. Christina sees it, approves or declines, and you get a notification either way. The request lives in the system whether or not she’s standing right there.
Step by step
- 1Open Request Supplies from your employee menu
- 2Search for the item or add a new one
- 3Set the quantity and add a note if needed
- 4Submit and watch for approval notification
Business & Growth
Enrollment pipelines, revenue forecasts, two-center operations, and the compliance tools that protect what you’ve built.
Enrollment Funnel
Track every prospective family from first inquiry to first day. See where leads drop off and which classrooms have openings.
Enrollment inquiries came in by phone, email, and Facebook message, and there was no reliable way to track which families were still interested. Leads slipped through the cracks, and open spots sat empty longer than they needed to.
Every family has a record. You see their stage in the enrollment process, when you last contacted them, and which room they’re interested in. Follow-up reminders keep warm leads from going cold.
Step by step
- 1Open the Enrollment Funnel from the Pipeline section
- 2Add a new lead when a family makes an inquiry
- 3Move them through stages: Inquiry, Toured, Applied, Enrolled
- 4Set a follow-up reminder to stay in touch
Authorization Tracking
Keep tabs on every subsidy authorization: DHS child care assistance, county contracts, and private pay agreements. Never lose track of what’s been submitted and what’s still pending.
Authorization paperwork has hard deadlines, and a single missed renewal can mean a child loses their spot or the center stops getting reimbursed. This tracker makes sure those deadlines don’t sneak up.
You see every authorization with its status, renewal date, and the family it’s attached to. Upcoming expirations flag automatically so you have time to act.
Step by step
- 1Open Authorization Tracking from the Pipeline
- 2Add each family’s authorization with its type and dates
- 3The dashboard flags anything expiring in the next 30 days
- 4Mark authorizations as renewed when the paperwork comes through
Tour Manager
Schedule center tours, track who showed up, and follow up with a message after. Turn a visit into an enrollment.
Tours were being scheduled by phone and tracked on a notepad. Families who toured and then went quiet had nowhere to land, so they were forgotten. The conversion rate from tour to enrollment was lower than it needed to be.
You schedule the tour, add the family’s contact info, and get a reminder before it happens. After the tour, send a follow-up message with one click. The system tracks how many tours convert to enrollments over time.
Step by step
- 1Open Tour Manager from the Pipeline section
- 2Add a new tour with date, time, and family info
- 3Get a reminder 24 hours before the scheduled tour
- 4After the tour, mark outcome and send follow-up
Revenue Forecast
See projected monthly revenue based on current enrollment, authorizations, and open spots. Know whether you’re on track before the month ends.
Revenue in childcare is variable: authorizations change, families disenroll without notice, and CACFP reimbursements fluctuate. Without a forecast, surprises only show up when the bank account is already affected.
The forecast pulls from real enrollment numbers and authorization amounts. You see the gap between projected and actual and can plan accordingly, whether that means filling a spot or adjusting hours.
Step by step
- 1Open Revenue Forecasting from the Financial section
- 2Review the current month’s projected vs. actual revenue
- 3See which open spots represent lost revenue
- 4Use the scenario tool to model what filling those spots would change
Cross-Site Operations
One view for both centers. Compare attendance, staffing, and supply levels across Crystal and Brooklyn Park without switching tabs.
Running two locations creates a mental overhead that accumulates every day. You’re always wondering if the thing that’s true at one site is also true at the other. This collapses that into a single screen.
Side-by-side metrics let you see which location needs attention today. Resource reallocation, like moving supplies from one site to another, starts with a clear picture of what’s where.
Step by step
- 1Open Operations from your admin dashboard
- 2View the side-by-side comparison dashboard
- 3Click either center to drill into its details
- 4Use the transfer tool to move resources between sites
Incident Log
Document injuries, near-misses, and behavioral incidents with a timestamped record. Generate reports for licensing when needed.
Incident documentation is a licensing requirement, but paper incident reports get misplaced, are hard to search, and offer no way to spot patterns. A recurring situation with one child or room should be visible before it escalates.
You log an incident in under three minutes. It’s timestamped, attached to the child’s record, and available whenever licensing asks. Patterns across incidents are surfaced automatically.
Step by step
- 1Open Incident Log from the Safety section
- 2Click New Incident and fill in the required fields
- 3Attach photos or witness notes if applicable
- 4Export a report for licensing or parent communication
Meeting Efficiency
Run staff meetings with a structured agenda, track action items, and make sure decisions from last week actually happened.
Staff meetings often covered the same ground week after week because there was no record of what was decided or who committed to doing what. Good ideas got lost between meetings.
You open a meeting, work through the agenda, and assign action items before everyone leaves. Next week’s meeting opens with a review of what was supposed to happen. Accountability becomes automatic.
Step by step
- 1Open Meeting Efficiency and create a new meeting
- 2Add agenda items before the meeting starts
- 3During the meeting, take notes and assign action items
- 4At the next meeting, review the open action items first
Watch It In Action
Real recordings of the live platform with narrated walkthroughs. See exactly what each portal looks like.
Public Website
~45 secWhat families see: home page, programs, gallery, tour scheduling, and the feature guide.
Employee Portal
~60 secStaff daily workflow: PIN login, meal counts, photo uploads, tasks, and schedule.
Admin Portal
~2 minChristina's command center: dashboard, scheduling, compliance, communications, and analytics.
Ready to start? Pick any tool above.
Every feature has a guided tour built in. Look for the Take the Tour button and follow the steps at your own pace.