daily diaries - am i doing too much? struggling to keep up with them

[mrs robbie williams]

Hi everyone, trying to streamline my paperwork a bit so i can actually spend more time enjoying the kids
so at the moment ive got an a5 notebook per child (got 5) which i fill in each day (well thats the idea but i dont seem to get time to do them )
I put in their arrival time, what they had for breakfast, what activity they did, school run, any incidents, school pick ups, any incidents, what snack they had, what activity they had, what they had for dinner, anything to tell parents. Then i type all this information onto another sheet saved on the computer to print off and put in their individual folders (incase the parent diary goes missing ), then i have a separate sheet per child in the daily attendance book, my planning folder, obs are obviously done on a separate sheet and linked (try to) with planning. Then things like accident, incident, fire drill are in separate folders. hen there's the learning journals or the littlies. It feels like its never ending
Also just another thought popped into my head from reading various posts on here - am i supposed to do a daily planning sheet? and how do i record this? or is this another file i need to create? i tend to let them choose what they like and go with the flow? i just want to get it right so i feel im in control and not the paperwork

[caz3007]

My Daily Diary has a line for nap times and nappies. I briefly write what she had for lunch and a couple of lines about what we have done and her general mood. I dont see mum (LO is collected by others) and want to be able to communicate with mum....we also have a weekly chat on the phone. On a Friday I usually write up a quick synopsis of the whole week, anything else I need mum to know and a list of bits that I have run out of.

It works for us, mum has an idea of how LO has been and what she has done, but not in detail. We do spend about half an hour on the phone each week chatting about things though.

[snufflepuff]

My daily diaries are very basic.
Snacks:
Lunch:
Nappies:
Sleep:
Activities:

Then i'll add things to the bottom if I need to eg. if the child used the potty, if theres something I need to tell parent. My current mindees Mum reads it and leaves it here, others have taken them home each night.
I cared for a friends child as a one off when her childminder was on holiday, and she bought her diary for me to fill in......this cm must have spent ages writing diairies each day! It was like she documented the child's every movement!

[Andrea08]

i write mine as if from the child...

when i got to Andies we played with the bricks and then it was time to go to the park i like the swings the best, soon i was feeling hungry and we had a surprise picnic and i had all my dinner b4 i had my No2 nappy changed,
i was tired at 1pm so i had a little sleep.....

i add photoes too and this diary is used for planning and next steps but i then have a learning file where i add my obs and next steps again..

but parents like the diarys and i wouldnt trust my L&D files to come bk to me safe so its worth doing it twice

[sarah707]

I don't duplicate paperwork... I certainly wouldn't type up something I have written. If it goes missing you still have the learning journey.

Look at how much you are writing as well. If the info is somewhere else, cut it down.

Hth

[funemnx]

I only do a daily diary for as long as mum needs it (usually when the child is speaking well enough to tell mum what he/she has been up to that day) A5 notebook, activities, naps, nappies and anything special that's happened that day. I do L & D folders with obs. Planning is very general, child led or toddler group activities with some planned activities by myself.

I still feel like|I'm drowning in paperwork though!!

[Katiekoo]

I recently asked parents via brief questionnaire what they thougt of the diary I write if they need more or less info. I have always written very detailed diaries with a description of what we do, mood, nappies, food, sleeps etc. One Mum said we love it read it every night, absolutely depend on it. The other said they're not really bothered and keep loosing it. So now I keep the detailled diary for one, and a quick summary sheet (not a book but a loose sheet) with just the barest details for the other. It has cut down my writing in the day and no one feels like they're loosing out.

[jane5]

I have an A5 note book for each child.

I write
Breakfast
Lunch
Tea
snacks

Slept 1pm - 2.15

am activities
pm activities

time of any dirty nappy and any thing else like what kind of mood they have been in.

I send it home with the parents and if they forget to send it back I just write this on a piece of paper.
I dont record it anywhere else because it is just really so I dont forget to tell the parents anything and I do to much paper work already.

I dont let the parents take the learning journeys home in case they dont come back but I am not worried if they dont return the diary as I hope that if ofsted came I would have at least one around to show them.

[Playmate]

goodness gracious I'm exhausted reading what you do!

We now do our diaries by email, We have a template sheet which consists of
Name
Date
Snacks
lunch
Tea
Sleep
nappies
daily activities
reminders
this can be filled in throughout the day and usually finished just after the child has left and sometimes we add the off wow moment photo. it is then emailed.
Our learning journeys are updated 6 weekly and individual planning sheets the same.
Group planning done 6 weekly and sometimes broken down to weekly and sometimes not!
Stop stressing about paper work and enjoy the children

[Hayley102]

I have a Daily Diary that I keep for the little ones. Once at Pre-school and able to communicate themselves I stop. I have an A4 sheet split into boxes for the day. They are titled food, sleep, toilet, Fun things i have done today, songs/books shared today, comments and messages from home. I can then bullet point or list things in each box. At the start of a term they are made into a book, this is sent home each day and then at the end of the term I send it home for parents to keep or do what they want with it.