Daycare Getting Started Guide

Tips for connecting with parents, managing children, and getting the most out of dawnset.

Connecting with Parents

There are two ways to connect with parents. We recommend asking parents to request to join your daycare, as this is the smoothest experience for everyone.

Recommended: Parents request to join your daycare

  1. Share your daycare code with parents (use the Parent Instructions handout from the Resources screen in the app).
  2. Parents download the app, create an account, add their child, and search for your daycare using your code.
  3. You'll receive a notification when a parent sends a connection request.
  4. Accept the request. If you already created a record for their child, be sure to answer "Yes" when asked "Do you already track this child?" This links your records together so no data is lost.

Alternative: You invite parents directly

  1. Create the child's record in the app (you can start tracking activities right away).
  2. Send an invitation to the parent's email from the app.
  3. When the parent accepts, the system will ask them if they already track this child.
  4. If they do, the records merge automatically — no data is lost.

This approach works well, but relies on the parent answering the matching question correctly when they accept your invitation. The recommended approach above avoids this step entirely.

Tip: Don't wait for parents to join the app before you start tracking. Create the child's record and log activities right away. When the parent eventually connects, all your tracked activities will be preserved automatically.

Managing Children

When you add a child to your daycare, you'll be asked about your relationship to the child:

  • Daycare child only — Select this for children in your care who are not your own. You'll have daycare-level access.
  • Your own child — Select this if the child is yours. You'll get full parent access with all permissions.
  • Both — Select both if your own child also attends your daycare. You'll have full parent access and the child will appear in your daycare list.

You can edit a child's profile (name, date of birth, etc.) until a parent connects. Once a parent has access, they take over profile management. You can still customize how each child appears to you (display name, avatar, and color) at any time.

Privacy: What You Can See and Edit

dawnset has a privacy system that gives parents control over what daycare providers can see. Here's a quick reference:

ParentsDaycare
View all activities✅Non-private only
Create activities✅✅
Mark activities as private✅❌
Edit child profile✅Only if no parents connected
Edit/delete own activities✅✅
View routine✅If shared by parent
Create incident reports❌✅

Parents can mark any activity as "private" when they create it. Private activities are completely invisible to daycare providers — you won't even know they exist. This lets parents track sensitive things like medication without sharing them with the daycare.

Guest Access

Guest access is a feature for parents to grant temporary access to caregivers like grandparents or babysitters. As a daycare owner, you should know:

  • Guest invitations can only be sent by parents (users with parent-level access).
  • If you have parent access to your own children, you can invite guests for them — for example, when you need a babysitter for your own kids.
  • You cannot invite guests for daycare children that you don't have parent access to.

Need more help?

Contact Support