My daughter is finishing up her first week at La Petite and, so far, I am raving about them…read more
My little girl is about to turn 3, and this is the first time she's been in any sort of preschool environment. Up until now, we've been fortunate enough to have my husband or I staying with her. But, with my husband starting a new job, we weren't able to make it work anymore. I found La Petite through a corporate partnership with my job, and I toured a couple of the facilities in the area before settling on this location.
At a trial day at one of the other locations, my daughter came home and told me "I cried because I missed you and that made my teacher mad. She said 'NO NO'." Now, I'm sure that the teacher wasn't yelling at her, necessarily, but I didn't like that my daughter perceived that as the reaction to her being upset, so we decided to keep looking.
After her first day with Ms. Ashley, she didn't have a single bad thing to say. She did tell me "I cried because I missed you" and I asked "was the teacher nice?" and she said "Oh yes, she made me happy". She went on and on all that afternoon about all the fun things she did throughout the day and all her new friends. Ms. Ashley made me a laminated scrapbook with a bunch of pictures from her first day and answered all my questions, all while juggling 10 toddlers. During a break, she gave me a personal call to update me on how the day was going, which made an amazing impression on me. I had called several times to check in throughout the day, and the fact that she took the time to call me personally was really, really appreciated. She told me that my daughter didn't want to nap, and that she kept asking to have her back rubbed, so Ms. Ashley told me "...So I rubbed her back for about 5 minutes and she was out like a light". She took the time to give my daughter the personal attention that she really needed on her first day away from her momma and daddy, and that is so special to me.
The morning drop off is still a little tough, but Ms. Cyndi, the director, does a great job of calming her down and settling her in. Also, Cyndi is always happy to keep me updated or go check on my daughter when I call throughout the day.
I can't explain how tough it is to go from knowing what's going on in every moment of your child's life and being in control of her entire day, to putting all your trust in someone new. Everyone at this location has made us feel welcome and safe. They keep me updated and answer all my questions. I have walked in at random times throughout the day and never have I seen behavior from the teachers that made me feel uncomfortable. I'm excited for her to be in this new learning environment and I couldn't be more pleased with our experience so far. I would highly recommend this location to anyone!