If you want the best for your kid, then this is the daycare for you…read more
We have a 4 year old and a 2 year old at Champs, so we have become familiar with their different classrooms and teachers in the year or so we've been there. I don't want to knock the other daycares in Brickell because they are fine, we toured them all and even had the 4 year old in one for a while, but Champs is absolutely on a league of its own.
The first thing I'd like to mention is that Champs will give your little one the most important thing they need in their lives at an early age, lots of love and affection. The teachers at Champs have become family to us, at this point it feels like I'm dropping off my kids at grandma's house where a team of loving aunts are waiting to pour affection on them while my wife and I are at work.
Ms. Isabel does a fantastic job running the school, she's on top of absolutely everything, she's kind, thoughtful, prepared, hands-on, and intimately familiar with every child like they are her own. She's also constantly updating us and sharing pictures through the Dojo app. Ms. Cuca has been amazing at showering the girls with love and distraction those tough mornings when they are sad to stay at school.
Ms. Ana, Ms. Yeni, Ms. Carmen, Ms. Lisandra, and Ms. Maria are spoken about in our home the way we speak about family, we are incredibly grateful to this fantastic team for taking care of the two most important things in our lives all day, we drop off our girls every morning with peace of mind that they are in the best possible place they can be outside our home.
Both our girls have also thrived in their development, regularly my wife and I notice and are impressed with the new skills they are learning and we give all the credit to this wonderful team. Our four year old has been able to write her own name for almost a year now, she can identify the first letter of any word she's given, as well as write any word we spell for her. Our two year old is communicating at least 6 months ahead of her age, and both girls have developed wonderful social skills and manners, showing lots of care for others, sharing, and love being helpful and kind to others. We also love that Champs doesn't use screens to distract your children, instead they play music, read, go to the playground, do Yoga, and other activities all day.
One thing you might find off-putting is that they have one (and sometimes two) teacher planning days a month on average, while this may seem inconvenient at first for us working parents because we have to find care for our kids that day, they are actually a blessing. They use these days really well, our kids are constantly doing really fun, educational activities, they decorate for the different seasons and holidays, and a lot of the activities are holiday-themed. The teachers all seem very happy as well, one of the biggest issues we had with other daycares is that our daughter kept getting new teachers every 4-6 months because the turnover was ridiculous. At Champs, all but one of the teachers has been there for years and years, that speaks volumes about about how they are treated, and I cannot stress enough how important this stability is for children. There is nothing worse than when your kid bonds with a teacher and they are suddenly gone from their lives because they switched jobs.
We also have become good friends with some of the parents at Champs, we'll sometimes have dinner together after picking up our kids, or we'll hang out on the weekends. Miami is not great at promoting a sense of community like you get in smaller towns, but Champs has provided that for us.
I really cannot recommend Champs enough to every parent, our kids are there because friends we trusted recommended it, and in the year+ we've been there two other friends have also put their kids there on our recommendation. It's one of those places that you know is a loving, welcoming, special place as soon as you walk in.