Families reach Seedling through a secure portal that opens from their email — there's no app to download and no account setup for parents to get through.
How a family gets in
- You add a guardian (with their email) to a child.
- They receive a secure link by email.
- They tap it and they're in — on any phone, tablet, or computer.
Because it works from email, it reaches everyone: the grandparent on pickup duty, the dad with an older phone, the family sharing one device.
The emailed link itself is single-use and expires about 30 minutes after it's sent — it's a key to the door, not the door. Once a parent taps it, that device stays signed in for around two and a half months, so they only need a new link when they switch phones or clear their browser. Parents can send themselves a fresh one at any time from the portal's sign-in page, without waiting on you.
Once they're in, families can pin the portal to their phone's home screen so it opens with one tap, like an app.
You stay in control
- Each link is unique to an individual guardian.
- You can grant or revoke any guardian's access at any time from the child's profile. Revoking is immediate and total: it signs out every device, kills any link still sitting in their inbox, and turns off any photo links they'd shared with extended family. Restoring access brings the photo links back.
- Guardians get a security notice by email whenever their portal is opened on a new device or browser, so unexpected access gets flagged fast — they just contact you, and you reset it.
- Sensitive information is encrypted and backed up.
What families can do in the portal
- See today's check-ins, activities, and photos
- See their balance, payments, and receipts, and pay through a secure link — this one is a per-guardian switch, so you can leave billing visible to the paying parent and hidden from everyone else on the account
- Sign agreements
- Browse and save every photo from their time at your center
- Download their year-end tax statement
Helping a parent who's stuck
- Confirm the email on file is correct in the Families area.
- Re-send their access link from the guardian's profile.
- Remind them to check spam, and that the link works in any browser — nothing to install.
Replies to your messages come back into the portal's conversation, so families can just hit reply.