My 20 month old started at Freedom Child Care Centre a couple of months ago and loves it! So do her…read morefather and I. The three women in the toddler room do a fantastic job with the children and really seem to love what they do. As soon as you walk into the Centre it is warm and cozy and usually something is baking in the morning (such as muffins for snack time). The Centre always appears clean and tidy and they do an excellent job rotating the toys around so there is always something new to play with. One of our daughter's favourite things to play with are the "classic" telephones...we only have an iPhone, so these "real" phones are so much fun for her to play with! Our daughter also really seems to enjoy the different themes for each month as well. I was anxious about returning to work, but Freedom really made it seamless for us. No tears at drop off, yet she is excited to see her father and I at pick up. They have also been really supportive in terms of potty training our toddler and take her dairy allergy seriously. Five stars!

From the owner: Freedom ChildCare Centre in Victoria provides a safe, secure environment for toddlers and…read morepre-school children. We offer full time daycare for children aged from 16 months through to school age, with services including such things as diapers and wipes, early childhood scholastic learning, structured playtime and more. Field trips, monthly themes, a daily schedule and guidance allow children to develop self-esteem and control. Contact us for more information.

How could they close such a center... There are plenty of…read moregyms all over downtown--you can just walk into any hotel and work out. But there was only one place where kids could come play basketball every day. There's not a single decent gym in the entire area where you can work out year-round, in any weather, for $30 a month. So what now?.. Long live the home and the computer

I recently visited Victoria on vacation and it turned out the YMCA/YWCA two blocks from my hotel…read moreoffers day passes to its gym. This facility is a great option for anyone visiting Victoria who needs to work on their strength training while on vacation. They have several Life Fitness machines, including pectoral fly/rear deltoid. They also have some older machines from a brand I have never heard of before called Keiser, which turned out to be an American brand based in Fresno, California. The Keiser machines are strange because they have thumb controls to manipulate a pneumatic system which controls resistance, rather than the traditional system of sticking a pin into a weight stack. But once you figure out how to use them, they're okay.

I would rate it less than 1 star if I could. We paid for a…read morefull-time spot for the months of November and December, with the intention of sending our son there beginning in January when my wife returned to work. In mid December, with only 2 weeks notice (not the 30 days notice stated in their contract), we received an email informing us that we would not be welcome in January. We were out. No refund would be coming. Too bad so sad. This place is obviously very poorly run, has horrible business practices, and I am very glad we will not be dealing with them in the future. We are advising anyone looking for childcare to avoid this place if possible.

Too Long Didn't Read: WE RAISED LEGITIMATE CONCERNS AND WERE KICKED OUT…read more WE WERE REFUSED DAYCARE FOR BEING 4 MINUTES LATE. Magoo's is in a TERRIBLE LOCATION FOR TRAFFIC. There is no way you can approach Magoo's during peak traffic times when you will not be caught in gridlock traffic trying to get on the #1 Highway. Trip times varied by as much as 30 min. I understand the need for a cut-off - it's disruptive if children are arriving just as they're heading outside or down for a nap. There are lots of ways that Janine could implement that policy that would be empathetic to the reality of life with young children, however! She could have issued a warning, or called me to see if we were coming, or waited a little longer, or come back to work - it was only 4 minutes after all, which is hardly enough time to even leave. AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS, WE HAD NEVER MET JANINE, so a meeting was overdue. Even though I was the one out of money and inconvenienced, Janine was abrasive and angry. She complained bitterly about a previous manager leaving and working, "10-hour days." My daughter squirmed nervously in my arms as we listened to her rant. She said she was sick the day we were refused, but regardless, she was adamant that she is strict about her drop-off policy - saying proudly that STAFF ARE SENT HOME THE MINUTE THE RATIO OF STAFF TO CHILDREN BECOMES THE MINIMUM LEGALLY ALLOWED. As she put it, "9:31am." Janine implied that we were often late, but I asked the ECEs who worked with our daughter if, before this incident, we had ever been late, and they said that only one other time we arrived at 9:30. I left FEELING RATTLED. Because I didn't feel like I could speak to Janine about legitimate concerns, I CALLED THE LICENSING OFFICE AND ASKED THEM TO LOOK INTO SOME THINGS. I was concerned that the staff were not getting appropriate breaks. LICENSING DID A ROUTINE INSPECTION AND JANINE CONTACTED US THE SAME DAY TO SAY THAT WE WERE TO LEAVE THE DAYCARE BECAUSE OF IT. You can VIEW THEIR LICENSING REPORTS ONLINE. My daughter contracted HAND FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE in the fall and then I caught it. IT WAS AWFUL. Other kids were sick, too, some for the second time. I didn't feel that they were taking the right steps to combat the spread of HFM. HFM is spread through bodily fluids and feces. At the time, I saw that the CHANGE PAD IN THE INFANT-TODDLER ROOM WAS OLD AND PATCHED WITH DUCT TAPE. Eventually they replaced it. By the time we left Magoo's, they were changing the children by PUTTING THE CHANGE PAD AND SUPPLIES ON THE PLAYROOM FLOOR. THE FACILITIES ARE VERY BASIC AND TOUGH FOR THE STAFF TO WORK IN. The WASHROOM IS TINY; the PLAY ROOM IS SMALL. There is a LARGE SET OF CONCRETE STAIRS leading to the outdoor play area and another one leading to the entrance. The ECEs, who were each responsible for four children, had to take children two at a time up and down those stairs. The NAP ROOM IS A CLOSET and my daughter ended up sleeping in a pack-and-play in the kitchen (by choice - she was scared of the dark). THERE IS NO FRIDGE. The kitchen is very warm, so food must be packed very well to stay cold enough for many hours. THERE IS NO DISHWASHER. The ECEs wash dishes by hand. THERE IS NO LAUNDRY. Soiled clothes are sent home for you to wash. There are plenty of daycares in the same price range that have these basic appliances. THEY HAVE DIFFICULTY IN PROVIDING SERVICE IN ALL TYPES OF WEATHER. THE CHILDREN SPENT MANY DAYS INSIDE BECAUSE OF THE RAIN. We provided high-quality warm and waterproof clothing; but regardless they spent many whole days in the play room because of the rain. My daughter had mostly short naps and came home tired, but restless. Incidentally, TWICE THEY MISPLACED EXPENSIVE CLOTHING AND WOULD NOT LOOK FOR THEM. It took asking two or three times to get them to look for the clothes - they were at the daycare. It's totally understandable that clothes get misplaced, and I know they were very busy, but dismissing my requests to look for the clothes was frustrating. THEY ALSO CLOSED THE DAYCARE BECAUSE OF SNOW AND DIDN'T CALL ANYONE. Some daycares stayed open that day and some closed, buses were running, schools were open and the roads were driveable and totally clear by mid-morning. Other parents were angered by the snow day as well. JANINE'S BUSINESS PRACTICES ARE QUESTIONABLE. The day before our last, Janine told us that her "computer crashed" and there was no way she could stop the final direct payment in time and that we would have to put a stop payment on it ourselves. A similar thing happened to my sister. She WAS CHARGED FOR TWO MORE MONTHS AFTER LEAVING. Someone else posted a review on Yelp about PAYING MAGOO'S FOR TWO FULL MONTHS TO HOLD A SPOT, THEN BEING REFUSED THE SPOT AND LOSING ALL THE MONEY they'd paid - check it out. The two ladies who looked after our daughter directly worked very hard and we liked and appreciated them very much. Janine is the problem.

OK with a few faults…read more Kids seem to be happy, and secure however they have a bad tendance to close services without much advance notice at the first sign of a snowflake. If schools are open so should they. It's incredibly disruptive to working parents to have to rearrange their day at moment's notice.

Several friends of mine have benefited greatly from the compassionate and personal care of the…read morestaff at the Cridge Centre. I cannot speak highly enough of the commitment and love that is evident to those they serve including their childcare services, refugee care, abused women and their families, the seniors that are residents with them and those who suffer from brain injury. This family focused centre is outstanding in its service to all of Victoria.