10 Mistakes to Avoid When Rolling Out KidCheck Check-In

This time of year, we love adding new members to the KidCheck family. For us, it’s an honor to partner with those who wish to prioritize child safety and make the transition to electronic children’s check-in.

Our goal is to make the process as easy and painless as possible. We offer numerous resources to get you up and running quickly, with a Support team of live humans available six days a week (including Sunday) to answer your questions, and an online Support & Training Center accessible 24X7.

Nevertheless, here are the ten most common mistakes to avoid during rollout.

You might think you’re helping your parents (and yourself), but you’ll end up creating more unnecessary work for yourself and potentially creating some very angry parents. Top 3 reasons why not to create accounts for parents:

Mistake #1: Creating accounts for your parents ahead of time

Some parents will not be motivated to create a login account if you create an account for them. Without a login account, administrators are the only people who can update and make changes to people’s accounts (which creates more work for you in the long run).

Parents can become (very) frustrated or confused when they get a “Welcome” email (which they will get from us when you create their account) to something they didn’t know about and didn’t sign up to receive. When you create accounts for parents, they miss the opportunity to go to our website and learn about what KidCheck is and how it works.

Increased liability. We NEVER advise that organizations enter the guardian, medical, or other sensitive information on behalf of a parent without written consent.

Mistake #2: Assigning keytags to parents ahead of time

Keytags are very quick and easy to assign during check-in. Assigning them ahead to time takes more time and increases the risk of someone taking the wrong tag.

Mistake #3: Not having enough check-in stations

This is especially critical for churches, who have a lot of parents checking-in at the same time. We recommend having one station per 50 children (during your busiest time).

Mistake #4: Not keeping the same printer with the same check-in station

Even if you are using the same model of printer, different printers will cause your computer to create multiple print queues (which result in labels not being printed). If you have multiple stations, label your printers and keep the same printer with the same station every time.

 Mistake #5: Rolling out too quickly

Don’t rush it! Make sure your parents and volunteers/employees have time to understand KidCheck. At a minimum, small organizations should allow two full weeks for parents to create accounts. Large organizations should allow at least 3-4 weeks.

Mistake #6: Not testing your check-in station

Make sure you and your workers are comfortable starting up the check-in station(s). Test each of your stations on the internet connection you will be using for check-in. Make sure your network’s speed and latency can handle check-in reliably.

Mistake #7: Creating joint parent accounts

Rather than creating one account for “Steve & Sally Smith,” instruct parents to create one account for each guardian. Only one of the guardians should list the family’s children, and then add the other spouse as an authorized guardian, allowing for greater account control, and for each guardian to have their own keytag.

Mistake #8: Running a check-in station in “Staff-Attended” mode (if it isn’t staff attended)

“Staff-Attended” mode stations show additional guardian information and allow for changes to be made to guardian accounts on the check-in screen. For security reasons, this should only be enabled if the station is attended to by an authorized staff member.

Mistake #9: NOT calling us if you have issues

We are here to help! Our support staff is friendly, US-based, and available on Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm, and on Sunday’s from 6 am to noon (MST). Most issues can be resolved very quickly right over the phone. Call us at (855) 543-2432.

Mistake #10: Not creating or following a Child Protection Policy

KidCheck is a great security product but is still just a tool. Make sure you have a Child Protection Policy in place, and that your volunteers & employees are trained on it!

To learn more about the benefits of using secure children’s check-in, get the latest tips and tricks, or see what our community is up to subscribe to the Kidcheck Blog or join us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.