After 20 years of being a stay at home mom I found that I needed to return to work. I worried about leaving my children with the right people who would support my values. This facility has earned a bad reputation lately. The last director was a nightmare. However, things have completely turned around under the leadership of the new director. She's upbeat, loves children and goes over the top to be helpful. Teachers have gone from stressed to positive, and do an amazing job with my 2 kids. They find fun and creative ways to engage the kids and teach them important social skills. The new cook there makes delicious food that I would want to eat. My kids come home cheerful and kind, and use important skills they learned from great teachers. My life is 10x better knowing they're in good hands and I can go to work knowing that one area of my life is well taken care of. read more

I have been very impressed with the loving, caring, and patient care the teachers and staff have shown my 11 month old daughter. My baby has thrived with the social interactions with other kids. She also enjoys fun activities that are organized weekly, specially water day.  My daughter really struggles with naps and the tenderness and patience the staff showed her when she is having a full meltdown is really impressive.She is particularly fond of their director, and many times you would find my baby snuggled up in her arms. It was the only way she would sleep in the first few days! The entire daycare staff has been really organized and taking all the necessary precautions to ensure the safety of the students during COVID. They are truly doing a really great job, especially considering the current circumstances. We have had a great experience, thank you KinderCare! read more

Gig Harbor KinderCare - Child Care & Day Care Near Me - Gig Harbor, Washington

Kindercare had been awesome and the staff are great, my daughter has been there since she was 3.5 months old, she lights up when she sees her favorite staff members. The staff there work really hard and I feel she is well cared for. Ms. Savannah in the infant room is the best! read more

We've been a Kindercare family for a few years now and we love it. My son (who is 5 now, in pre-k, attending KinderCare since age 2), has had fantastic teachers from the start: Ms. Aniscia (the new director! so awesome), Ms. Nikki, Ms. Stephanie, Mr. Liam, and Ms. Cailie are all wonderful. The one time I had a problem, they took care of it right away. My son is always happy when I pick him up, he's never said anything negative, and he's right on track, academically, to start kindergarten next year. He can spell his name and basic words, he's great at counting in English and Spanish, he's really good at art and some elementary math...all thanks to his own hard work and the great people at KinderCare. There are always fun activities and events, even during the coronavirus crisis, and they're pretty on top of safety, health, and sanitation. All in all, I definitely recommend this daycare center and I hope any negative reviews from the past won't deter you because things have only improved here and it is truly a great place for kids! read more

My daughter will be 6 in October and still attends this daycare. We absolutely love it. The staff is always friendly and try to do their best. They always have fun activities planned for the kids like the librarian comes, reptile man, magician and things like that. My daughter loves her classmates and teachers. She's never said a bad thing. read more

Our son has been in KinderCare here for about 1.5 years. He has done really well, and I have been so impressed with how they have adapted to all of the pandemic challenges. There were struggles with staff turnover, as has happened everywhere during the pandemic, but the teachers they have brought on have been fabulous. There has also been consistency where it counts, in the director and assistant director. My son talks about his teachers and friends every night. We are allowed back in the building now, and I always find it clean, with a happy vibe. My son happily guides me to his cubby, and then waves goodbye for the day -- his comfort and confidence there speak volumes. Thanks for all you do! read more

I have never been so disappointed in a daycare facility. My daughter has only been attending this facility for 3 months. In the three months she has gone here she has been bitten by the same student 5 times. I have asked that the other student be removed from her class which they would not do because they said "it's developmentally acceptable for him to bite". Since they won't remove him I asked my daughter be moved temporarily to a different class just to mitigate the issue which they agreed to. I thought this was happening but it turns out it was not. My daughter was bit again except this last time no one reported it to me. The only reason I found out about it was because I was giving her a bath and saw teeth marks and bruising on her back. When I addressed them with the situation they said "if she doesn't cry how would we know she is hurt". My response to them was why wasn't anyone watching this specific child if you know he is a biter? They had no response and gave me the option to either withdraw my child from the facility or keep her in the class with the biter. The icing on the cake was when I went to pick her up from school the day after the biting incident and her hair was completely plastered to her head and she had white crust all over the right side of her face and in her ear. I asked what happened and the teacher replied with "I think she dumped yogurt on her head". I said "you think?!? And if so why didn't anyone bother to wipe it up?!?" No response. She sat with crusted yogurt all over her head and face for over 2 hours. I would not recommend this particular center to anyone. It seems that their priorities are not exactly straight. Your child may neglected and it seems they would rather keep students that are physically harming others over someone who is not. The only reason I gave them 2 stars instead of one is I did like my daughters morning teacher but she was only there for half of the day. read more

Gig Harbor KinderCare - This is one of the bit marks my daughter encountered at this facility. No one reported this to me. I only found it while giving her a bath. - Child Care & Day Care Near Me - Gig Harbor, Washington

See all

My kids had been going there since they were babies. It was my only choice at the time of a daycare that opened at 6am. Management and staff turnover is high. My youngest was having some behavioral issues and despite saying they had resources to help me/ her. They Didn't use them and chose to send her home on days she was acting out. This was VERY disruptive to my husbands and my work schedule. We just finally switched to another daycare that is wonderful but now they are telling me that my daughter is VERY behind and not where she needs to be for kindergarten in a few months. I would give KinderCare a negative score if I could. They are awful! read more

This Kindercare is absolutely terrible and unprofessional. Please do not trust your child going here. My baby was supposed to start care at the end of the month. Two weeks before care, Director stated the start date has been pushed back to March. I start work soon and had to scramble to find another childcare, which is hard to do in Kitsap County. Director stated their computer system didn't show a baby leaving soon, and now a few families start date has changed. Lastly, I know this was a sign for the good. The facility smelled like baby poop. When I completed my tour, I noticed some of the kids were dirty. One class was very loud and the teacher was on her phone. PLEASE BE AWARE!!! read more

Let me begin by giving you a little bit of information about my situation. I am a single mother of one 18-month-old boy, and I recieve no child support from my son's other parent, no cash or food assistance from the state, and no other means of financial help. I do, however, recieve child care assistance through the government, because I would be unable to support my child and I without the Childcard Subsidy Program. Back in December I went back to work after being a stay-at-home mother for the beginning of my son's life (I have since found myself single and have moved my son and I in with my parents). When I first contacted Gig Harbor KinderCare, the school director, Brenda, impressed me very much with her enthusiasm, kindness and ability to address every concern I had about the facility. I was feeling confident about my child's first daycare and she eased a lot of my worries. My son was scheduled to begin in the beginning of January, as I had started working at that point. Once that time rolled around and I called Brenda to confirm that my son would be good to go, she informed me that she no longer had room for my son, and delayed his start date to the beginning of February. At this point, I chalked it up to an honest mistake and figured I should have been more diligent in calling her to ensure he had a spot. When February rolled around, after working for an entire month without child care and flying by the seat of my pants, spending my entire paychecks on paying a babysitter $10/hr, I met with Brenda to finish up some paperwork before he was due to begin the following week. As I was in her office filling out paperwork, I noticed that the forms I was signing already had a different child (with the same name as my son) written into them. I told her that she had given me the wrong packet, and she exclaimed "Oh my goodness! I must have been speaking to two different mothers and thinking they were the same person! You must have been so excited to get him started on Monday!". My son's name is fairly uncommon, so at this point, though somewhat annoyed, I gave Brenda the benefit of the doubt and wrote the mistake off as an honest one once again. I did begin to question, once leaving her office, why she immediately prioritized the other child over mine. Perhaps because the other child's parents were paying privately; a luxury I can not afford. Being that I utilized my mother for babysitting during the weekends when she was not working, she was reasonably irrate when I told her the news, and called Brenda for some clarification about why he was not starting. Brenda informed us that my son would without a doubt be able to begin at the beginning of March, so another month went by of scrambling to find childcare at the last minute. March 13th was the date we were given for him to start, and on the Friday before, I decided to call Brenda one more time to ensure that my son would be clear to start on Monday. Once again, Brenda informed me that she would be unable to take my son due to a lack of space in her classrooms and some construction in progress on the building. She even made the remmark "Your mother is not going to be happy with me!". She was right about that. Why was all of this information not communicated to me when it was first realized? Why was I being promised something three times over when she was unable to keep her word? I began to feel that Brenda's attitude had changed from warm to condescending. My mom called Brenda, rightfully irrate, and asked her once again what had happened. She made rude comments to my mother over the phone including "Who even IS this?" and "Well I'm TRYING to help you." She gave us the next start date as March 27th. As a family who prides themselves on being kind to others and not complaining unless absolutely necessary and justified, the fact that my mother called the Regional Director of KinderCare speaks volumes. My mother voiced her concerns both on the phone as well as in an email written to their corporate office and so far she has yet to recieve a response. I feel that Brenda's behavior as someone in charge of running a business has been careless, unprofessional and predjudiced against my family because we are receiving assistance for tuition. My son will not be attending this facility now or ever. read more

I am so thoroughly impressed with this Kindercare. My daughter recently started daycare for the first time in the toddler room she just turned one a few days ago. She immediately screamed because I was leaving her but Rae her toddler teacher immediately picked her up and started giving her a tour of the room to distract her and keep her interested. Throughout the remainder of the day Kaylee the assistant director emailed me pictures of my daughter having a good time throughout the day so that my mind was at ease. Every time I called to get an update for my daughter I was given positive reports. At the end of her first day the teachers had already observed enough about my daughter to realize that her favorite color was red something that I have never known. They noticed that every toy she played with was red as well as a red ball that she refused to leave at the daycare and kept with her all night long which they had no problem with my daughter taking home to keep her happy. Each day that we have come in since the first day her teacher has been there to greet her so that she is able to make a positive transition. I feel like I'm leaving my daughter with family because of the way they interact not only with me but definitely with my daughter. They are so open so loving and so caring. I can't wait to see the growth that my daughter is going to have over the years. I plan to keep her here until school Age Care. I would definitely recommend this day care for anybody looking for a family but professional environment. Not to mention the fact that every teacher made sure to acknowledge my presence when I walked into the daycare regardless of if they were working with my daughter or not read more

Like many of you parents out there I chose KinderCare Gig Harbor because it was one of the few without a long waiting list, seemed to have great age based segregated classrooms and according to one of the lead people there, it followed all ratio regulations by law if not had more than enough teachers with kiddos and was military approved which is, "a difficult achievement to get". This place is NOT worth any of it and I was fed a bunch of lies. My son started in July 2016 with 2-3 days a week. I really enjoyed his primary teacher, she was very thorough, professional, attentive and observant. My son also felt the most at ease with her and she was able to get him to eat. At this point my son was 18 months and in the Toddler A classroom, I WAS TOLD HE WOULD STAY IN THIS CLASS UNTIL HE WAS 24 MONTHS, HE DID NOT. What I quickly realized is even though the director said they dont go beyond 12 kiddos on average in a class, in actuality there were up to 22 full time kiddos assigned to each class with the ideal that they arent all going to come everyday and that the person sitting at the front desk or in the office with the door open accounted for part of this 1:7 ratio for multiple classrooms, because you only have to stay within hearing distance, right? Wrong. Even then there were many days where I would walk in, with no one at the desk or in the office because they had to help with an incident or cover for a lunch break in another classroom, or simply weren't there, and my sons teacher would have 12-16 kiddos on her own. I would have to sit and wait for enough coverage to come before feeling safe dropping off my son, because of this I became in the habit of arriving 30-40 minutes earlier than necessary to insure I was not late for work. Almost every time I went in there there was one teacher trying to change a diaper and the classroom was falling apart kids were dragging and beating up on each other and there was nothing that teacher could do because they were so UNDER-STAFFED. There were many times when either my mother would go to take him in for me on an early work day or I would and upon arriving and seeing the mass mayhem and under-staffing would turn around and take him home (and if it was me, call-out from work due to unsafe childcare conditions for my son that day and lose a days pay). In between November-December 2016 I was told to be excited my son was preparing to transition into the Toddler B classroom with the older kids because he was ready early at about 19 MONTHS, NOT THE 24 MONTH AGE I WAS TOLD. When I asked why so soon, they said its not too soon at all its what they had intended all along and they had to many kiddos enrolled that were younger than him to allow him to stay in that class. THEN CAME THE SLEW OF INJURIES. MY JUST FRESHLY 2 YEAR OLD HAS HAD 9-10 SEVERE INJURIES AND INCIDENT REPORTS TO ACCOMPANY THEM, ALMOST ALL IN THAT TIME FRAME OF NOVEMBER 2016 TO MAY 2017. This classroom had such an intermixing of 17 months to 3 years + that not all knew how to communicate and get along and the teachers-being understaffed and very....lets say distracted were unable to control and engage them all. What's funny is the whole reason I chose this place to begin with is because of the very well defined and common sense division among the children to prevent this very scenario but their thirst for profits has overcome their tiers for success. There were many times I would come in and see 3 teachers chatting at the front desk with double to triple ratio amount of kiddos in their classrooms and only one teacher remaining, so when they'd see me they'd rush back into there classrooms. They also had a cox-sickies (hand,foot and mouth) outbreak they knew about on a Wednesday with 8-10 known cases and didn't notify anyone until late Monday! My son has had two severe bites on his cheeks, one severe bite on his stomach that he STILL HAS BRUISING FROM, two bites on his hands, 3 severe and deep scratches (that I had to request an incident report for upon picking him up because they didn't even see them) THAT HE STILL HAS HEALING, has had 2 forehead contusions with abrasions, ONE IS STILL HEALING AND HE NEEDS TO BE MONITORED CLOSELY FOR and has been pinched so hard it has left long lasting marks then bruising. I understand accidents happen, but THIS many in such a SHORT period of time is EXCESSIVE. At 23 MONTHS he was advanced to the Toddler C class WITH MOSTLY 3-4 YEAR OLDS. Anytime I would ask him to be removed from the classroom of the child who was biting him, their excuse would be its ALWAYS a different one. Every time I would ask why no one was watching him they would say, I was on lunch so I wasn't here and I don't know. On his latest injury he hit his head so hard it left a large bump and abrasion. I was not called for this injury as is legally required. He was then allowed to sleep less than an hour later, for 3 hours undisturbed and no one in his family was notified until 7 hours later. WE ARE DONE! read more

See all