All three of my kids attended A Children's Garden in Encinitas, and I felt so grateful and lucky to have them there. Ms. Cathy is such an amazing, loving person and teacher. She truly cares for the kids as if they were her family. Her and her teachers went way above and beyond to make each child and parent have a truly meaningful experience- between holidays, birthdays, the art show, career day- the list goes on and on. Most of my nieces and nephews have attended ACG as well, and they all had wonderful experiences. I was shocked to read the negative comments about ACG. While everybody is entitled to their opinion and should be able to express it, that review was the exact opposite of experience from every single parent I have ever talked to from ACG. I understand having a few frustrating things to vent but that just seemed personal. I find it very immoral, unethical and unprofessional to make false claims on the internet. Mia you should've done your research, because I did, and I know for a fact that both teachers you personally mentioned, and slandered are very well educated in ECE, and both fantastic people as well. You however do not seem very well educated in early childhood development or behavior at all. You should really read up on it sometime, it would probably help you and your child in the future. As a parent and teacher, who is educated in ECE, I witnessed a very safe, and nurturing environment. I also witnessed teachers who knew that the children who attend school do most of their learning from each other. Teachers are there to help guide and support when necessary, but the goal is to help foster independence in our children. All of their interactions with each other, yes even negative ones, are helping them grow. We cannot put our children in bubbles and keep all negative things away from them. If you are a lawn mower parent you are taking away so many healthy learning opportunities from them. ACG allows kids to be kids, to make mistakes, to express themselves, to be themselves, to run and play and to (GASP) get dirty. Parents if you're complaining about your child's clothes being dirty when they get picked up seriously just get them a nanny. Kids need to be able to act, talk, think and behave like kids. And ACG provides them this. When you put your child in school, it is usually their first opportunity to be a part of a community. They learn about themselves, an others. THey learn to communicate and deal with different situations. It helps them to know they are not the center of the universe, but part of a big group of people, who are all equally important. The ACG community is a wonderful community. They cherish and nourish the individual child, but they also promote nurturing the community that the children are a part of. Also let me just put something our there for fellow parents, sometimes as parents we unkowingly project our worries, stresses and feelings onto our children. This happens often, and chances are they are taking cues from your behaviors, and think that this is how they should be feeling too. I've seen it happen time and time again. read more
