Please do not send your child to this facility. If he or she is already under their care, please pull out your baby. I understand the appeal of finding a local, inexpensive daycare, especially without family nearby, and I understand the guilt of changing daycare facilities and disrupting your child's routine, but do not risk the well being of your child.
My son attended Play N Learn for two weeks, two days a week between 9/10/2014- 9/18/2014. On the first day, Wednesday 9/10, we were concerned when my husband who had never met anyone at Play N Learn picked up our son without anyone asking for his name, nevermind his identification. I mentioned this the next day and the staff was very apologetic, saying their policy was to take IDs, although, again, they never asked for copies of either mine or my husband's.
On the second day, Thursday 9/11, when I picked up our son, he had a series of four bruises on his face, two on his forehead and two below his eye. I understand that children are clumsy and get bruises, but considering the location of the bruises and that the group of children his age was only about three children, I expected the staff to write some kind of incident report to relay what happened. When I asked about the bruises at pick-up, neither the staff member/ teacher nor the owner had any idea what happened. They apologized but didn't follow up on the incident.
My husband and I contemplated pulling him out after the second day, but the staff--primarily the teacher and the owner--was very apologetic and we thought we would try for a second week, bearing in mind we were unable to find alternative childcare on such short notice. Our son returned to the center on 9/17, but by then we had lost our peace of mind and began to look for another center that could take him. Since we had already paid that week, he went again on 9/18, but I took off work and pulled him out after just 2.5 hours.
Seeing as our son is only 17 months and unable to speak, we were hoping for more formal communication about his day and for a system in place to protect him from strangers coming to pick him up. I spoke with the staff member about my two primary concerns on Monday 9/22, and later that day I received an email from the Director (the owner's daughter) whom I had never met. I responded to the Director with my complaints and the reasons we were pulling out our son.
On Tuesday 9/23, I received an incredibly aggressive ten-minute phone call from the owner in which she did not let me speak, but proceeded to attack me as a mother ("What kind of mother are you if you had concerns about your child's safety and you let him back in here?"), to dismiss the bruises as "marks" and claim they were a result of my son standing at the base of a slide as another child slid onto him, to accuse me of judging her staff who she has already reprimanded for making her "look stupid," etc. I eventually had to hang up the phone although I wish I had recorded the call to show how abusive she was. I cannot believe that this woman is running a daycare and my heart breaks to know there are still children under her care.
My son just started at a new daycare and they let me stay with him in the playroom as long as I wanted, then watch him on camera on the first day. He was happy when we left him and happy when we picked him up. The new place gave us a detailed written account of his day and even though he cannot tell me about it himself, there is a tangible difference in his demeanor at home. Parents, we already carry so much guilt when we leave our children with strangers. Your peace of mind and the safety of your child is worth paying a little more each week. Please pick a new daycare.
Note: I also wanted to add that when I went in to pick up my son's things, I noticed he kept grabbing pills from a pencil holder which was littered in multi-colored prescription pills. I can't even fathom what other hidden dangers are in this daycare. read more
