My children attended Child Works for more than 3 years. I was happy with it at first, but the director, Kerri, turned out to be extremely controlling, unreasonable and difficult to communicate with. At 3 years old, my son was nearly potty-trained but was still resistant to using the toilet, which I've read is completely normally for that age, and especially for children dealing with the trauma of divorce, which he was smack in the middle of. But because it was inconvenient for Kerri and her staff and outside the bounds of her perfectionist notion of appropriate discipline, she tried to convince me that he was falling behind in his development and needed to be pressured to use the toilet. Everything I read said the opposite--that pressuring a child to finish potty training before they're ready is cruel and counter-productive. She refused to listen to my opinion or to admit that she might be wrong in her approach, and was, frankly, totally patronizing in our conversations about it. She refused to compromise and insisted on forcing him to use the bathroom and punishing him for not doing so under the guise of gentle persuasion.
Kerri was similarly condescending in most of our interactions. I was a single mom going through a divorce, helping care for a dying family member, trying to manage a new and highly demanding corporate job, and caring for two emotionally raw toddlers coping with their parents' separation. I therefore had a hard time getting my kids to Child Works by 9:00 AM some days, for which Kerri scolded me and talked down to me about getting there "on time," with very little empathy for my situation.
Kerri and her staff can be very warm and caring toward the children in their care, but she can also be overly strict and dismissive of children who do not conform to her unrealistic vision of proper discipline and "normal" development, and who have needs that fall outside her narrow comfort zone.
Child Works has some upsides--the children are physically safe and the schedule provides routine and consistency--but I cannot recommend it based on the controlling and closed-minded attitude of the director. read more
