We visited A Child's Place shortly before the pandemic and decided to move forward for Infant Daycare services. This was prior to our daughter being born in December of 2019. As such, we submitted our deposit of 1 month's tuition which is over $2,000. The plan was to start in April. When ready to start, everything began to close due to the lockdown. By time Child's Place re-opened, we had found alternative daycare option, though we figured we would take advantage at some point during the year so we didn't lose our money. Ultimately, they were never open and/or didn't have space that aligned with our needs. Rather than working with us to refund our deposit in-full or partial, A Child's Place gave us a runaround, went to their board, and ultimately decided they would take our money and not look back, with no services rendered. That's their prerogative, but not the type of business I would want to work with. They may be good with children, but have dishonest business practices. read more

Kimberly, the owner, was not the most kind person. Seems to brush a lot of important issues to the side. Pretty chaotic energy from the start of the day. read more

The communication is very bad. I've been Leaving messages for over a year now to take a tour and put my grandchild on the waitlist. No one had ever called me back. read more

Echoing some of the other reviews here - this daycare is extremely unorganized and unprofessional. The director is absent and rarely available. We were there for a year before leaving and once we announced we were leaving she treated us very rudely (and we had to stay another 2 months!). She is the owner and director so there's nothing you can do if you have a disagreement. The place is overflowing with toys, furniture and is very chaotic - it's too much for the kids. There are a lot of options in the area.... I would not choose this one. read more

We started our daughter her last fall and it was a long journey of researching which day care was the right fit for us. We were also not the easiest to deal with because we almost immediately had to travel overseas so she was in one week gone the next and than back again. Mrs. Kimberlee was incredibly accommodating and at the same time provided a lot of very good information for us to think about when choosing the days we would take her and what we should be doing at home. Through the whole time there she has been incredibly responsive and now that our daughter has been going there for a bit she is learning new things and has stopped crying every time we drop her off. The videos and pictures she sends to us every day are priceless since we cant watch her on the app all day those pictures of yoga or crafting are great. We are currently going through the lockdown and the whole reason I am writing this review is how incredible she has been throughout. She is in constant communication, hosting virtual classes, providing us parents with ideas daily for how to continue to teach our kids and keep them busy. She has even provided some ideas for us parents to keep our sanity. read more

Whatever you do, please do not bring your child to this establishment. The Director is totally unreasonable. She is difficult to reach and any time you have an issue, she tries to dodge you. This establishment is very unprofessional, disorganized and does not put the needs of the child first. Lastly, the Director has refused to give us our full deposit back even though we gave our 60 day notice within the 60 day window per the handbook. Do yourself a favor and turn the other way when you come in contact with this place. read more

I do not like or agree with the way the director, Kimberlee, conducts business, especially when it's the care of children. Her lack of communication, organization, and management caused us to cancel our enrollment and she refused to refund our $2000 deposit. Here is a detailed description of my experience: We liked our initial visit with the manager at the time, Joselyn, which is the reason why we put our deposit down 6 months in advance. After that, we had no communication with A Child's Space except for an email and phone call with Kimberlee to schedule our play date. I emailed Kimberlee a week before our play date and heard back from her 4 days later that she would get back to me but didn't receive confirmation of our play date until the night before so we had to reschedule. I was uneasy at this point but gave her the benefit of the doubt because she had been on her honeymoon. I also asked Kimberlee if we could do 3 days a week for the first 3 months because I found out that I could work from home one day a week and she said that we had to pay 2 months upfront, go to 4 days the second month, and pay different rates than the ones we were initially given which all suggested that she was trying to accommodate her financial needs, not our family's. Kimberlee emailed me the morning of our play date that she was looking forward to meeting us at 10. Upon my arrival, I waited for a while before I was buzzed in. Alex greeted me and made an effort to assist me but didn't know what was going on. She kept running in and out and making excuses for Kimberlee like she'd be right down, was on a conference call, etc. Kimberlee later said that she met with families at the end of play dates but if that was really the case why didn't Alex just say that? I was actually so upset with the lack of communication and organization that I started tearing up and asked Alex what I was even doing there and expressed that I was concerned with how things were going. I don't blame her for this because I believe this was due to poor management on Kimberlee's part which was made even more clear when Alex called me the following afternoon wondering why we didn't show up for our play date even though I had emailed Kimberlee our cancellation that morning. After our play date, I had to spend the rest of the day frantically calling and visiting other day care centers to find a replacement and the one we selected made their deficiencies even more apparent in terms of communication, organization, and management. We were very upset and put in a terrible position and all we asked was that she rectify the situation by refunding our deposit but she refused. Our play date was just a week before our start date and the only time I had a real opportunity to see how things were run so it was impossible for us to give 60 days notice in order to get our deposit back. Had we known things weren't as they seemed at our initial visit we would've cancelled our enrollment a lot sooner. read more

We started our son (who was 9 months at the time) in January and just before COVID hit. Mrs. Kimberlee was incredibly accommodating and provided a lot of very good information for us leading up to his start date. After the stay-at-home order was given and subsequently closing of the daycare, we found the level of communication with the parents and the kids well above what we might of expected. We received daily zoom invites for children's learning activities and other helpful suggestions. We highly recommend A Child's Space. read more

I noticed that a lot of the reviews are old - some from before my child was even born. Knowig that places like this evolve I thought it important to write about our more recent experience. Our daughter started there when she was 12 weeks old in 2012 and stayed until she started kindergarten in 2107. She just started first grade and EVERY time we go past A Child's Space she talks about how she misses it there. We had, overall, a great experience. We saw the director making improvements and changes throughout our time there. She sent the teacheres to continiuing education and provided lots of feedback on our daughters's progress. She WELL prepared for kindergarten - her first assesments showed her knowledge of words and sounds and more WAY above "Standards". Every kid is different, but I know she learned a lot there. They were flexible with us and caring for our daughter - they loved her. There was some turnover in teachers, but not excessive. Their drop off and pick up times were great for us - we had until 6pm to pick up. read more

My how quickly things change...after a large number of teachers leaving ACS in a matter of a couple weeks and concerns over my child not transition to the next classroom as quickly as we would have liked, we reached out to the director to try improve our experience there. She became defensive, condescending and increasingly rude. We found another daycare and followed ACS' policy to withdraw (a 60 day notice is required) and still receive our deposit back. While this is a long time to give notice, it actually worked out fine as another daycare wasn't ready to take my child until the summer. I was fine leaving her at ACS in the meantime because it was familiar and I didn't want to take my daughter away from her friends and daily routine. Her basic needs were being met despite not being challenged - but I could deal with that until the summer. The morning after I submitted our withdrawal letter and dropped off my daughter the director asked me into her office and proceeded to question me about the details of why we were leaving. She continued to argue with me and antagonize me over my grievances. I tried to keep my cool and tell the director this was not personal, that we just wanted a different experience for my daughter but that another daycare wasn't ready to take her on yet and the director rudely said that she thought I needed to take my daughter out of ACS that day. Baffled and completely shocked I tried to reason with the director...that she couldn't do that to us or take out her anger with me on my daughter. There was no reasoning with her - she forced us out on the spot. Shaking from shock and anger practically in tears, the director followed me into my daughters classroom. As I tried to explain to her teachers what was happening the director barked at the teacher not to listen to a word I was saying and escorted us out like we were criminals. What the director did to us was not only unethical but cruel. She couldn't handle my criticisms and so she took it out on my daughter by refusing to have her at the center without any regard of how it would affect her and the livelihood of our family. I followed her own policy and she completely flipped out. I've never been treated so horribly in my life and it's heartbreaking because my daughters experience there as an infant was good. I trusted this director and not only did she break this trust she purposefully tried to make our situation difficult by kicking us out of the daycare without any notice. RUN FROM THIS PLACE. I would never wish what happened to us on any other child or parent. read more

At first this daycare seemed really great. I took a tour and the classes were clean, colorful, the kids seemed to be happy, and it was right in the middle of work and home. However, my opinion has changed due to the fact that I can never get in touch with the director and no one returns my calls. I wanted to enroll my child in this facility, and needed a few papers filled out by the director so I left them there for her....it has been a week and she has not filled out the papers. I call and leave numerous messages and never receive a call back. I want to be able to get in touch with the people who are taking care of my child. After this, I dont care if I have to drive out of the way to drop off my child...I will not be taking him there. read more

We loved the location of this daycare, as it's 3 blocks from our place and only 1 block from the Roosevelt el stop. We had our 6 month old daughter in the infant room for only 4 months, as the teachers kept turning over. One day we'd walk in, a new teacher. I understand people come and go in all jobs, including daycare, but the number of times in only 4 months made us concerned. Ms. Chiquita in the infant room was wonderful, but we moved our daughter to another school that was more expensive, had more space for the toddlers, and was farther away. Hopefully they have their hiring process improved now and the teacher retention is longer. read more

Talk to me first before enrolling. Kimberlee is very fake (the director). I wish I would have listened to the person who told me that to begin with (a former employee). Run from this place read more

I enrolled my 2 yr old daughter here and pulled her out after just two days. Teachers were not paying attention at all as kids are hurting each other. Did not comfort crying children. Director was impossible to reach and unapologetic regarding the problems that I brought to her attention. Your child doesn't deserve this. read more

Very inaccessible place. The outside looks nice. Called for more information and was directed to the website a few days ago. I shared with them I already looked at the website and I liked what I saw so I wanted to receive more information. I provided my email address and phone number for any additional information to be sent. I didn't receive anything. I dropped by a few days later, asking for more information. They insisted on me filling out a little form and dropping it in their box in the middle of their very hot lobby. Seems like this place is understaffed based on how inattentive and inaccessible they are. read more

The quality of care and education program is exceptional by every staff member at the facility. My daughter can't wait to get out of her stroller when we get to daycare in the mornings. We are beyond impressed and can't wait to watch her grow at "school"! read more

My son has been at A Child's Space for almost a year. He absolutely loves it and has learned SO much. They even taught him sign language and Spanish! The teachers are very attentive and adore my son. The video camera system is great to be able to check on him when I miss him while at work. The daily updates with pictures of their activities throughout the day is great! We also get a daily summary after we pick him up of how long he napped for and what he ate throughout the day. We really like this place! read more

This is our son's first day care. We were very worried that he cannot adjust well because he were never exposed to a English environment before. Luckily, the teachers and the director Kimberlee were very patient and supportive. They took good care of my son. The small classroom size enables more individualized care for kids there. My son got great encouragement to speak more, both English and our native language. They have great curriculum. My son always bring home with his crafts. We found our son is getting more independent and outgoing. Every day, when I pick him up from the center, he has big smile on his face. He really enjoyed playing and learning with his friends and teachers. Ms Kimberlee and other teachers keep great communications with parents. They send us pictures, videos, and daily report online every day. The camera in the classroom makes us to see our son any time we want. They spent time to answer our questions and talk about our concerns. They also provide a lot of tips for parenting that helps us to grow too. We have to leave for family reasons. But my son and us will miss them. Thanks for their great work for taking care of my little one. We feel lucky to choose a child's space as our son's first day care. read more

We started our daughter at ACS since she was nearly 2 yrs, which is a difficult age to start daycare when the child is used to being at home with family for so long. Kimberlee and the teachers at ACS were wonderful in helping her to adjust. They were so understanding and sweet with our daughter, making sure she felt secure and cared for. They helped keep her distracted with fun activities, music and games with friends. I was very impressed with how much individual attention they gave to each child. It was not long before she really grew to love attending "school". Now that we are leaving due to an out-of-state move, we will miss the wonderful caregivers and fun family activities that we grew to love at ACS. I highly recommend Kimberlee and ACS for any family looking for a personal and enriching early education experience for their child. read more

TERRIFIC!!! My daughter is in the infant room and this is such a wonderful facility. I actually cried after our tour when I was pregnant because I was SO relieved to have found such a wonderful place. I love that the director is also the owner, she truly cares about the children and knows each of them by name. Every time I come in to pick up my daughter they want to know how everything is going. They also have web cam, which is very cool, especially for Grandma! I highly recommend this day care! read more

If your child is a fussy eater, you should be prepared to see your child experience weight loss and neglect at this place, because they don't have patience and interest to make sure that a fussy baby is sufficiently fed and cared. If your child cries, the infant room teachers will just give the child a pacifier till he/she is tied and falls asleep on his/her own. They also let a crying child cry in crib for hours without any form of comforting or attention. That was what happened to our child on a regular basis. When we picked our daughter up at the end of day, so often she looked very sad. It was heartbreaking. Additionally, you can't bring up any problem regarding how your child is cared at the place to the director, Kimberlee. If you do so, she immediately becomes defensive and completely unapologetic. If you bring up more than one problem to her attention, she becomes very upset and terminates your child's care immediately without any regard of how it would affect the child and family in such a short notice. STAY FAR FAR AWAY from this place! It's A Child's Hell! read more

I have been sending my baby to the daycare for the last two months. It is a great experience so far. The manager is cooperative and the teachers are very responsible. Great and lovely environment. read more

This Center is not supportive to children development. I am a credentialed certified preschool teacher and this center does not support the domains of Early Childhood Development. There is no opportunity for children to develop gross motor skills. When they go on their walk outside they have to hold onto a rope they don't get the opportunity to build those muscles that they need to help develop them as they grow. There is not child age appropriate materials available for the age groups. The classrooms are very small and children dont have adequate space. Their is no playground and the classrooms are carpeted. Young children like to be messy. No sensory play is available or implemented. The children are not allowed to paint on the easle without paper. When I was a teacher there the children painted on the easle without paper. I explained to Kimberlee that I could clean it off and she stated she doesnt pay me to clean an easle. What preschool teacher doesnt clean up paint? One day she removed a book from the classroom in my absence and when i returned to work she accused me of stealing the book. I made a workplace bullying complaint the next day and I was fired. I witnessed a child in a feeding chair for a long period of time because the teacher of that class was not able to redirect his behavior. I can go on and on. read more

My daughter has been at A Child's Space for over two years and my son was there for three years. My daughter is always excited to go to school. She loves her friends and the special activities like yoga, dance, and librarian visits. Although I'm sometimes frustrated by teacher turnover, the owner is a consistent presence at the school. She is responsive and genuinely cares for the kids. read more

I send both of my kids to A Child's Space and I am thrilled with the attention and love they receive from all their teachers and staff members. My children are encouraged and happy. I love the fact that they are exposed to different things during field trips, such as northerly island, boat rides, museums, plays etc. My kids are 5 and 3, and I think the classrooms/curriculum are set up appropriately for their respective ages. I am also told by other moms whose alumni-children have just started kindergarten, that their kids were already more than prepared. I think this is a great testament that our kids are getting what they need from A Child's Space to succeed in school! read more

"My son is 4 and attends a child's space he loves it and is always happy to attend. He's learning all the tool he needs to start Kindergarten and is eager to show me what he s learned. I'm a parent who worries about my son constantly I can now study with less worries. Timur is always smiling, happy and loves what he does. I would recommend A Child's Space to any parent." read more

It looks like the review that I made on 11/30/11 was filtered. I find this really annoying that I took the time to join yelp and write a review to only have it whisked away to no-man's-land. Anyhow, below is what I had written and can be found in the filtered reviews. It looks like many parents followed suite and wrote their own reviews that are not filtered. I have been with this daycare for about 4 years and 2 kids. Things did start out a little rough in the beginning (3-4 years ago) as the director was starting her new business, but any issues that I had I always found her to be forthcoming and accommodating, always addressing any concerns that I had. My older child really did well at this daycare and my younger child loves going. It is a nice little community and many parents at this daycare have 2-3 children attending. We like that the director keeps the ratio down and I personally love the webcam. The teachers, a few that I did not like several years ago are all gone and were replaced with teachers that I currently find to be fantastic and nurturing. I was disappointed by some of the reviews that I read here and baffled by some of the negativity regarding the director. I have never had any issue with her and the other parents that I have spoken with have not either. The rates have been increased at this facility on an annual basis over the years, but I assume this is to be able to recruit higher qualified care givers, which she has done. If you are looking for a daycare, I highly recommend touring this place and talking with other parents and drawing your own conclusions. When I did the tour several years ago, there was a reason that I chose this place to begin with even though it was just getting off the ground at that time. I chose to stick through the hiccups, work with the director, and make this a great place for my children. There is a reason she won the Chicago Rising Star Award last year and I like to think that I had a little bit to do with that. When I would have given this place 3 stars - 4 years ago, I now give it 5 stars as it is currently a working well-oiled machine. I hope that other parents with children currently attending (or attended in the past), provide their feedback on their experience so a real, representative review can be shown here. read more

It is hard to know where to begin since there are so many wonderful things to say about A Child's Space. Our daughter has attended school there for 4 years now, beginning when she was three months old. A Child's Space (ACS) has been an amazing and important part of our lives as our daughter has blossomed socially, physically, and intellectually at this school over the years. The director Kimberlee has been a blessing to us. Kimberlee's transparency about the school's goals, progress, and ongoing commitment to providing our child and all children who attend ACS with a safe, fun, and stimulating learning environment has been essential to our growth and trust in the school. When needed, Kimberlee has always been open to providing us with assistance in managing challenges that our daughter presented us with, reassuring us through difficult parenting moments. Kimberlee has also so wonderfully been open to receiving feedback about areas for improvement and areas of continued success. The teachers are warm, kind, and encouraging. The staff promote a positive, friendly attitude towards the students and families and encourage learning through play. Whenever we've had a question about our child or her classroom, we have always felt comfortable asking the teachers and they have always answered questions respectfully and helped us navigate through learning curves when needed. The teachers at ACS nurture our child's creativity and curiosity. The facility is clean, inviting, and safe. Each parent has a personalized entry code that permits his or her entrance into the building. The webcam is an essential feature that I don't think I could've lived without those first few months of our daughter's care as we were both full time working parents who were able to see our girl roll over for the first time at school on the webcam. The webcam gave us a sense of peace and comfort knowing that we could see our daughter whenever we wanted or needed to. In short, we absolutely LOVE A Child's Space, it has been a place of comfort and safety for all of us to learn and grow. It is going to be difficult for our whole family to say goodbye to A Child's Space, but we are also saying thank you...thank you for being such an amazing place that we could trust the care of our daughter. read more

My son attended ACS from the age of 2 1/2 until he entered Kindergarten. The staff at ACS is very open to feedback and incorporated the curriculum feedback I provided. When he entered Kindergarten this past fall, during our 6 week progress report meeting, his teacher stated "he was well prepared for Kindergarten. I wish all my students were this prepared". I worked with my son at home to introduce to him new concepts and to reinforce the concepts he learned at ACS. Sure there's staff turnover but that's the nature of early childhood education. It happens at every facility. The children are well loved, cared for, and educated at ACS. When it comes time to put my now 6 week old in preschool this will be the place I choose again. read more

Just to add an update -- we've moved our kids to another daycare, and initially it was a tough transition, but myself, my husband, and our 2 children are much happier at the new place. I used to worry that even if i moved the kids, there would always be issues at any daycare we went to - but I will say the new location is more organized, open to feedback (they even call periodically to make sure everything is okay), and have great communication between parents, teachers and directors. The teachers have stayed in the facility for many years, and typically stay in their classroom, so the kids aren't constantly having new teachers and transitions. The process of transitioning is smooth and has been consistent. And, since the children have moved to this daycare, they have yet to cry when I leave, instead they go to school happily and start their routine with their class. After changing daycares, I have realized that our A child's space was in fact, not as a good a daycare as others in the area, and it was not due to general daycare issues that would arise anywhere. read more

Our experience with A Child's Space has been great. My 19-month old son had a tough time transitioning to daycare from grandma-care, but the teachers were extremely helpful at drop-offs in getting him calmed down and ready to play. The director of the center was also very on top of things - personally checking up on my son throughout the day and letting us know how the adjustment was going. He now seems so much more independent and is a lot frendlier and engaged when he meets new people than he had been pre-daycare. I'm also a bit amazed at how adventurous my son is with respect to meals at A Child's Space - he eats a much better (and varied) diet there than he ever would for me at home. I was a ltttle concerned at first about choosing A Child's Space based on some of the reviews, but after the tour, I had a good feeling about it and going with my instinct has been the right decision. read more

After just a month we decided to withdraw our daughter from this facility , but you have to give 60 days notice to get your large deposit back. Our baby was fed late on multiple occasions - when we asked why she was fed 1 hour and 45 minutes late they said they "were busy". We witnessed a hungry baby cry for half an hour before it was fed; babies are strapped to bouncy seats for much of the day and often fed in them, the "teachers" change during the day so when you pick up your child the teacher can't tell you about what happened in the morning. On multiple mornings we witnessed one teacher with more than 4 babies. We would tell the owner who would send in another teacher. One time the owner was not there and we had to go into another classroom and pull that teacher away to go to the infant room. One parent told us how he witnessed a fire drill occurring one day when the owner was not there that resulted in untethered toddlers wandering the sidewalk and wheels on the cribs used to transport the infants falling off. Despite the owner's assurances, the teachers do not appear to be adequately educated, for example one teacher stated that our 6-month old should be walking. They are poorly organized and the facility often appears rather untidy and dingy. For example, we still get emails from the organization and we still have webcam access despite withdrawing our daughter some time ago. It often took multiple requests in order to get simple administrative matters taken care of, such as asking for monthly invoices. The owner can be very smooth and gives off a false aura of being in control, but she made several promises including moving a teacher from the infant room, but it didn't happen until we told her we were talking to other parents. read more