I don't often write Yelp reviews, but I have been so happy with Tujunga Family Daycare (TFD),…read morefollowing a great deal of anxiety with finding care providers, I hope this helps other parents in a similar situation.
My 2 year old son has been going to TFD since the beginning of 2025 and I have been overjoyed by his progress with developmental milestones, his excitement towards Katrina, and her general professionalism and support.
Developmental milestones & learning: My son comes home every day with new phrases, songs and skills that he has learned. Katrina offers fun, stimulating activities that are practical for my son's social and cognitive development; such as "cleaning", "cooking", "sharing", gardening, boundaries with other children, improvements with separation anxiety, and nap/ quiet time, just to name a few. As a psychologist, I'm very impressed with her skill set and the progress I have seen with my son. Additionally, due to mine & my husband's work demands, we have struggled with incorporating potty training into our schedule and Katrina took lead on teaching our son potty training. He, after just a month, will use the potty (at home and in public) on a regular basis and, more recently, had BMs in the potty as well. This was a very intimidating process for us, I really don't know how we would have achieved his level of success without her help.
Cleanliness & quality of equipment: Another quality that attracted our family to TFD is the cleanliness, brightness and colorfulness of the facility. The interior, exterior play area, and garden were all well maintained for easy, safe access for my son. The equipment had no damage and there appeared to be a lot of thought in the quality of toys in the facility. I especially enjoy the garden where my son can eat food straight off the tree, like tomatoes & grapes. It also exposes my son to other natural life, such as caterpillars that he saw turn into butterflies. This is particularly true when compared to the other Daycare facilities we had toured that had toys that were old or damaged, environments that did not offer as much unique stimulation, and visible dirt on the interior floors. Shockingly, some of these locations had higher tuition rates.
High needs child: My son has a rare eye condition that requires he wear a glass contact lens, an eye patch and special glasses. This was all a new experience for Katrina and she was quickly on board with learning about his needs and offering monitoring when he is in her care. He likes to pull off and throw his glasses and eye patch. She has quickly reapplied a new eye patch and prevented his glasses from getting misplaced or damaged. He has also managed to pop out his glass contact lens and she worked with us on learning how to reinsert the lens and has immediately notified us when it has broken (not from a lack of her oversight, it breaks under our care as well). All of this has assisted in his consistent treatment to prevent him from losing sight in his affected eye, which I am beyond grateful for and I know he will appreciate as he gets older. I have also had the pleasure of meeting Katrina's husband, who is a pharmacist, which offers a unique reassurance due to his awareness of other harm that my son can be exposed to that my husband and I had not considered.
Availability & cost: With the potential of spontaneous crises as a mental health provider and my husband's inconsistent schedule working in TV, we have had to make last minute requests of extended hours. Katrina was graceful and reliable in providing care beyond her regular hours. The added cost was very minimal, and well worth the stress management it offered. Particularly when compared to finding a last-minute sitter. Beyond the price of extended hours, the tuition fees are well worth the benefits my son has gained since attending TFD.
We chose to have our son with a nanny for the first 2 years and had I known the level of cost savings, developmental success, and general joy my son would have had with going to TFD, I would have taken him sooner. I plan to bring our next child (I'm currently pregnant) as early as 6-months old, and I'll be excited and confident with the growth my 2nd child would have under Katrina's care.