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In a rush? Here’s a quick breakdown:
From juggling a room full of little ones, navigating 750 licensing requirements, training staff, and keeping families in the loop, early childhood providers are busy (to say the least). With so many competing priorities, and constantly being pulled in all different directions, it can feel like there is little-to-no joy in your day.
To start, you’re doing the miraculous work of helping a group of young children develop and grow into kind, capable, curious, unique beings, and keeping them safe. That in itself is a full-time job. On top of providing the best quality of care, you’re documenting observations and assessments, tracking all incident and accident reports, communicating with parents and other staff, changing diapers…ok, I could go on, but you get the idea. And not to mention, no days are the same, and who knows what mishaps will happen.
It’s no wonder that burnout isn’t just common—it’s inevitable.
At Famly, we believe it shouldn’t be this way. Your day should be filled with what brings out your glimmers (what brings you joy and fuels you), not your triggers. Running a successful childcare business shouldn’t come at the expense of your own well-being.
That’s exactly why we keep asking, listening, and learning.
We surveyed early childhood owners, directors, and educators across the country to understand what’s driving stress, and what could actually help. Not just to gather data—but to better understand how to help bring some of that cheer back to their days.
In this summary, you’ll learn more about the most common stressors, how it’s impacting ECE staff’s time, and how Famly can alleviate some of the biggest challenges - ultimately, bringing that joy back.
Two of the top three centered around communication:
Honestly? We weren’t surprised. With parents more engaged than ever, and ever-growing research that it takes a village, parent and family engagement should be a focus in early childhood settings. But, there’s a catch.
We hear this all the time from directors and educators - communication with families is a constant balancing act. How can parents have enough visibility that they feel connected to their child’s growth, while not opening the door to endless questions, nitpicking, or interruptions?
You want to partner with families, of course. But, in the classroom, teachers need to focus on engaging with and keeping children safe, and every extra communication can pull you away from that.
We also hear that part of what makes parent communication stressful for directors is the extra time it takes to double-check that all staff messages are friendly, professional, and strengthen the parent-staff partnership. One director I spoke with was worried that her team’s frequent typos were degrading parents’ trust in her program.
We get it—teachers are juggling a room full of young children. Grammar isn’t going to be top of mind when there are three tantrums, a surprise inspection, and realizing that little Aidan’s on his last diaper happening all at once. It’s easy to send off a quick, “Send more dipers tomorrow.” As a result, it falls back on the director’s plate to review and reword, adding one more thing to an already never-ending to-do list.
A cycle of distrust starts to build. Staff are spread thin and send an unpolished message. So, directors don’t feel like they can trust staff, and they review every message. Staff then feel micromanaged and leave. And we all know how staff shortages add to burnout. There’s no room for joy in this vicious circle.
Directors need a way to take that pressure off themselves!. Famly’s Sidekick writing assistant was designed to put the power of professional communication in the hands of anyone working in childcare. Sidekick doesn't just perfect spelling and grammar—it can improve the tone of a message in one click with choices like ‘make it friendlier’ or ‘make it more professional.’ Plus, directors won’t need to doublecheck messages—and won’t turn into the micromanager they never set out to be.
The second most-common stressors mentioned in the survey responses fell under an umbrella category of “staff management.” These tasks included:
Managing your team isn’t just about logistics — it’s about trying to be a mentor, coach, and safety net all at once. And when every small decision affects quality of care, it’s no wonder it weighs so heavily.
Outside of double-checking staff’s messages with families, directors are spending time reviewing their team’s lesson plans each week. And it’s not a simple glance over. The director has to ensure the activities are checking a number of boxes: Are the activities developmentally appropriate? Are they aligned with a program’s curriculum? Are they actually supporting children’s development? And, do they adhere to any curriculum, accreditation, pedagogy, or state requirements? And finally, are families going to understand how activities support their children’s growth?
And staff scheduling? Of course it’s stressful! You have so many different types of employees: full-time, part-time, substitutes, parent helpers, and don’t get me started on the high turnover rate, which means there is constantly an open job ad, and you’re constantly going through the interviewing process.
Oh, and not to mention that you have to always meet ratio. Teachers and children get sick, families make quick decisions to leave - attendance can change instantly, meaning your staff’s schedule can change each morning.
Survey respondents chose attendance and occupancy tracking, and managing waitlists as one of their top stressors. After all, your business’s doors can only stay open if you have enough paying families.
That’s where Famly steps in—as your behind-the-scenes partner, taking the stress out of everyday logistics so you can focus on what really matters.
Famly was built to take things off your plate—so you can spend less time managing, and more time leading.
It’s not fair, but it’s the reality because of all the priorities and tasks that directors and educators are responsible for.
In order to better understand what are the most time-consuming tasks, we asked: What’s eating up the most time in your day?
Unsurprisingly, there was a lot of overlap between what stresses you out the most and what steals the most hours.
The top 3 most time-consuming tasks were:
Notice a pattern?
Two out of the three biggest time-consuming tasks involve reviewing someone else’s work. And when your day’s already maxed out, spending time redoing what others already ‘finished’ is inefficient and exhausting.
It’s a vicious cycle: You delegate to save time, but then you lose that time reviewing, editing, and adjusting. And we get it—you have to double-check, because quality and professionalism matter. But it shouldn’t have to come at the cost of your sanity and time.
The survey results showed just how much you’re doing each week:
Turns out, it’s not one big task dragging you down—it’s all the little, necessary admin jobs that keep getting bumped to “later.” And when caring for kids is itself a full-time job, it leaves no time for all the other tasks - a ton of documentation and paperwork, reporting, and compliance requirements to keep your center running smoothly.
In the survey, the most common tasks that are done after hours are:
Pushing these tasks to tomorrow isn’t really an option. Instead, you’re staying after hours or taking paperwork home. And that’s not okay. Getting your work done shouldn’t have to come at the cost of your evenings, your weekends, and your mental well-being.
“Well it really is magic! Compared to what I was doing before, oh yes, it takes me half the time or less for me to do things.”
– Julia Mason, Office Manager at Angel Land Preschool
We can’t do your whole to-do list (if only!), but we can automate and streamline a lot of it, which will cut the time you spend on admin tasks by half (or more).
“How do we do it,” you ask? Here are just a few ways:
Our goal is simple: to support early childhood staff, who are the real superheroes.
We want you spending your workday doing what you’re the expert at—building relationships, fostering learning, shaping young lives—not debating whether you have time to squeeze in one more form before pickup. Let Famly handle the busywork, so you can do what you do best, and get home to the “you” time you deserve.
When looking a bit deeper into staff’s perception on parent engagement, it seems there a parent engagement dilemma. Educators and directors truly want families to be involved, but there’s an important catch: how families engage matters just as much as whether they engage.
Most agree that open, consistent, direct communication is essential in a child’s successful growth and development. Yet, how you communicate determines whether interactions with families are helpful, disruptive, or even hurtful. For example, when a parent is constantly calling and checking in, they are interrupting teachers from engaging with children. Plus, these disruptions can also make teachers feel as if they are not trusted - that parents don’t believe they can adequately care for their child.
So while respondents do want more parent engagement, it’s clear it has to be the right kind — the kind that supports educators (and ultimately, supports the children too).
To better understand this data, we broke the data down by staff role. And what we found strongly suggests that the nature of your role in a center shapes how you perceive family engagement.
Why the difference?
Likely, it comes down to proximity and responsibility.
Office managers and administrators are often the first point of contact for families. They answer the phones, respond to emails, and field parent concerns throughout the day. If a parent is trying to reach a teacher who’s unavailable — and calls back multiple times — it’s the administrator who handles that friction. They’re also the go-to for prospective families navigating enrollment, which can involve a flurry of questions and expectations.
Meanwhile, directors and owners, especially in larger programs, may be a step removed from these everyday interactions. That distance may offer a broader — and possibly more generous — perspective on overall engagement.
This role breakdown reveals that while everyone wants strong relationships with families, your day-to-day experience with them can really shape how you feel about that engagement.
Bottom line? Everyone’s on the same page about wanting parents involved — but how that looks and feels can vary a lot depending on your role. And that’s something we need to keep in mind when we talk about improving communication and building better partnerships with families.
Strong parent partnerships are at the heart of every great early childhood program. But managing that communication shouldn’t derail you and your team. At Famly, we are proud that one of our core values is collaboration, specifically among all the adults in a child’s life. Our parent engagement features make collaboration easier and more transparent.
The work you do matters. You deserve tools that make your day easier — not harder. And you deserve to end each day feeling fulfilled, not just checked out. That’s what we’re working towards at Famly.
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Please note: here at Famly we love sharing creative activities for you to try with the children at your setting, but you know them best. Take the time to consider adaptions you might need to make so these activities are accessible and developmentally appropriate for the children you work with. Just as you ordinarily would, conduct risk assessments for your children and your setting before undertaking new activities, and ensure you and your staff are following your own health and safety guidelines.
Get top tips from a preschool just like yours. Hear from Reynolda Preschool on why and how they use Famly - and why they’ve never looked back.
Read their story
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