For a child day care management degree, you must take business management classes. Topics studied in business management include bookkeeping, budgeting, staffing and organizing resources. As the owner of a day care center, each of these aspects of running a business will be in your hands. When your day care center is a new business, you most likely will not have the budget to employ others to help with these important daily tasks. Many potential child day care management majors overlook this aspect of the job. It is important to have an organizational nature in this profession.
Child day care managers are expected to understand varying aspects of child psychology. You must learn to organize and run activities, discipline children effectively, break up arguments and unwanted physical contact, recognize signs of child abuse and communicate with parents of the children you look after. While you may hire staff to oversee the children and their daily activities, it is your responsibility to recognize, document and address the issues that occur while the children are in the care of you and your staff members.
Child day care management degrees and certifications are offered on the Internet, on-site or a mixture of the two. When deciding which type of program you would like to take, consider the way you learn best and your current daily schedule. It is possible to work a full-time job and earn a day care management degree online at the same time. However, child day care management is a hands-on job and it may be less tedious and more invigorating to take hands-on classes with a live professor and classmates. Child day care management degrees are offered by trade and technical schools such as Penn Foster Career School, Everest College, Ashworth College and Childcare Education Institute.
Whether you attain a degree online or on-site at a campus, you should perform a program checklist to make sure you are receiving each of the essential skills to manage a day care. First, the program in question should provide you with all of the necessary credentials to manage a day care center in your state and city. Your professors should have realistic experience running a day care on both the business and personal ends. An ideal program will not only prepare you to work at a day care but own one, offer internship opportunities and help you find work after graduation.