Looking to boost enrollment and stand out in a competitive market? Enrichment programs might be the game-changer your child care center needs. Megan Bowling is the director of franchise development at Stretch-n-Grow, a well-known children’s fitness business with 125 locations around the world. In this episode, she shares how child care centers can benefit from offering enrichment programs and how to market them to parents! She describes how these programs benefit children's physical and...

Ready to build a culture of well-being in your early childhood program? In this episode of the Child Care Business Podcast, we sit down with Wendy Turcotte and Dani Svantner, the dynamic duo known as The Play Coaches who have become leaders in implementing social-emotional learning from infancy. They share why SEL should be the foundation of your curriculum — not just an add-on — and how this approach transforms classroom management and enhances child development. In this episode, you’ll lear...

Literacy begins with embracing the whole child, says Stacy Benge, an expert on early literacy and a proponent of child-led play. Her mission to help educators approach literacy in a way that builds confident, curious, lifelong learners. In this podcast, Stacy defines child-led play (and dispels myths about it), including the difference between child-led and adult-led learning. Stacy also explains how child-led play develops skills essential to literacy, and go through each of the...

Jaime Rechkemmer is the founder of Aim4Impact Consulting and her work in early childhood education includes helping child care centers with QRIS, compliance, professional development, curriculum, assessments, technology and more. She has worked at some of the largest child care organizations in the country, and she chairs the AI and Machine Learning Advisory Board at Watch Me Grow. In this episode, Jamie shares her tips for how ECE leaders can build loyalty among families. And that includes s...

Heather White is a multi-site owner who is part of The PREP Schools franchise, and she’s a licensed director and speaker. Finding ways to help fellow child care leaders find joy in their jobs and lives is a huge passion of hers. In this podcast, Heather shares her six professional pillars of child care success and delves into how each matters in being successful in early childhood education and in being happy leading a program. Those pillars are: mindset, team, systems, marketing, financial a...

In this episode, Kelly Matthews and Paula Drew of the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association describe how to create a family handbook for your child care center. This handbook is key to your bottom line, your reputation and ultimately, your business. They give the following writing tips: Use a consistent font and formatting throughout. Review carefully for correct spelling and grammar. Write in plain language that is easy to understand. Do you serve families who speak languages...

Mr. Ty, the Childcare Whisperer, has the answers to your child care questions! Among the questions he answers in this podcast: How can you encourage middle management to not be friends or overly friendly, causing a divide between teachers? How can I encourage staff to take initiative and feel empowered in their roles while maintaining consistency in classroom practices? As a new owner taking over a center that has a tarnished reputation and frustrated staff, how can I get community and staff ...

Dr. Nermeen Dashoush is the chief learning officer of MarcoPolo Learning, the award-winning global developer of educational products and instructional resources, and she's also a clinical associate professor of early childhood education at Boston University. In this episode, she shares her insights about how early childhood education programs can use videos in their classroom to supplement lesson plans. She explains the appropriate length for videos in classrooms, as well as the importance of...

Michele Schmitt is the senior director of government relations and business development for Procare Solutions. In this role, she meets with legislators and other stakeholders in early childhood education to advocate for the industry and stay on top of what's happening in government, both at the federal and local levels, in policy and proposals. In this episode, Michele breaks down a recent visit to Capitol Hill and gives an update of what child care center leaders and families should be payin...

In this important episode, Jon Pollock, chief product officer at Procare Solutions, and Kathlyn McHenry, director of state policy and government relations at the Early Care & Education Consortium, share their expert insights on the latest business trends and legislative updates. Many of their insights draw on the findings of the 2025 Procare Child Care Business Trends Report. Jon and Kathlyn discuss important trends in ECE in areas including enrollment, staffing, software and what's...

"You cannot be a director if you don't have a vision," says Mr. Ty, the Childcare Whisperer who is the president of The Childcare Agency, a popular motivational/keynote speaker and an early childhood education teams coach. In this podcast, Mr. Ty shares his tips from his years of experience working in ECE, including what he sees as problems that must be fixed. On that list: Putting a Band-Aid over a problem instead of looking at a long-term effect, we put a bandaid over things instead of loo...

The Child Development Associate CDA credential, better known as the CDA, is the most widely recognized credential in early childhood education. It is an important part of career advancement in the field, but many talented teachers do not have the certification. In this podcast, Sammantha Boyle, a curriculum manager at Procare Solutions, breaks down step-by-step what the CDA is and how to earn it. She also describes how child care center directors and owners can support their sta...

Samantha Phillips is an insurance broker who specializes in insuring child care centers, a job that is especially tough this days as ECE businesses struggle to find and keep insurance. Costs are soaring. Samantha said she has a client in Massachusetts whose insurance DOUBLED, from $25,000 a year to $50,000 a year .. and the client had never filed a claim. And paying that amount was the client's only option. That's just one example Samantha shares during this podcast. She also gives e...

Molly Hichens is a second-generation owner at Bright Beginnings Preschool, which has three locations in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is about to celebrate 40 years in business! She’s also an accomplished child care consultant and speaker. In this episode, Molly breaks down some tips for how child care center leaders can attract new families! Those tips include: Highlighting three to five unique selling points, also known as value propositionsMake the tours special for prospective fa...

Kathe Petchel began her education career working as a public school teacher before opening her own preschool center in 1984. She now owns three sites serving more than 300 families in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 2017, Kathe joined HINGE Advisors, where she now works in business development. In this podcast, she shares her tips on using creative leadership and assessments to train child care center staff. Among the topics she discusses: How to "gamify" staff assessmentsTips for compliance c...

Beth Cannon is the owner of 13 Stretch-N-Grow child enrichment franchises and is an expert in early childhood education working as a speaker, trainer and coach. One of her talents is teaching child care center leaders how to develop talent from within their current staff, which is especially important as owners and directors struggle to retain high quality staff. In this podcast, Beth shares her tips for identifying staff who are ready for more responsibilities as well as the importance of ...

Are you ready to take your child care center to the next level? Whether you're a seasoned child care professional or just starting out, the tips from Caroline Jens shared in this podcast will help you grow and succeed in the competitive world of early childhood education and management! Caroline is the owner and co-founder of Child Care Biz Help and has dedicated nearly 20 years to child care. She is an expert in business development, leadership, finance, web development, internet marketing ...

"We've gone down this path of expecting little humans to sit when they're not developmentally made to sit this long. Brains don't learn like this," says Prerna Richards, founder of Together We Grow. In this episode, Prerna walks us through how to use developmentally appropriate practices to de-stress teachers and children. Prerna says early childhood education programs are seeing aggressive behaviors and shares how child care staff can use DAP to take the stress out of learning to create a b...

As early childhood education providers, your jobs including serving many people, including children and families. But too often, you don't pour enough back into yourselves ... and that's where burnout comes from, says Anisha Angella, founder of the The Early Childhood Coach. In this podcast, Anisha walks us through the roots of burnout and gives tips on how to stop teacher burnout from starting. She explains there are 12 steps that happen before burnout in ece begins and how to recognize the...

Kathy Ligon is the founder & CEO of HINGE Advisors. Trained as a public accountant, Kathy has more than 35 years of experience in educational operations. During that time, she has found there are five pillars to the success of a child care business: occupancy, tuition rates, discounting practices, salary costs and rent-cost management. Listen as Kathy walks us through each of these pillars in detail to learn how you can grow your child care business! To learn more about Kathy and h...