Hi potential parents.
First off, 3-stars isn't 'bad' it just means it was o-k by the end of the day.
I came from a MUCH more expensive program before Kindercare (with live video stream of my kiddo all day!) so I felt spoiled. But I had paid to feel spoiled.
As a former childcare provider, current teacher, and mother, I'm probably a more informed and aware childcare consumer than most. I'm also MUCH more realistic.
This Kindercare site provides service for a diverse range of children, given it's location. Some of the children who go here likely have high-stress living circumstances. In THAT case they may not experience a lot of routine or have boundaries and expectations that make everyday at a childcare and learning center run smoothly and without incident for ALL children there.
I can't say I did hear about a handful of troubling incidents, but I never felt that my concerns were ignored. I purposefully kept a very open dialog with my child's teachers and the site administration so I never felt 'surprised', by much.
When we left the program it was in part due to planning to leave for summer break and alternative in-home family care options in the fall AND how a breakdown in communication made what I considered a non-critical situation into one that felt unnerving.
About our time here....
The good: my son is a bright kid. I don't mean just an early learner, I mean BRIGHT. And he always had something to say about the social and academic aspects of his pre-K day. His then-teacher (Miss Gretchen, we miss you!) was wonderful with him. Patient, caring, and motivated to give them a lot of opportunity to learn about their focus topics He would come home with all kinds of information courtesy of Miss Gretchen. He STILLS talks about how his misses learning there. I felt the KindCare Pre-K curriculum was very relevant for local district Kindergarten curriculum.
The okay: On the social side, my son's peer group was pretty rough and tumble. My son isn't a wimpy kid to say the least, but he started here when he was 4.5yo, so at a very still-physical time of development. We had to use a behavior chart at home to manage his physical responses to others, and after a month he'd dialed it way back. TALKING WITH his teacher everyday helped me monitor things and have conversations with him at home about problem solving. Beyond that, my son liked his friends and especially liked seeing some at his new school in the fall. There were a couple of kids he routinely complained about and that segways into the ugly.
The ugly: Managing preschoolers has got to be one of the most difficult, thankless, dirty, reward jobs EVER. I've worked with every age, grade, and ability over 2 decades, and preschoolers are like energy thieves. Plus they can be very naughty as they test out every possible angle for getting away with things. This is where having a well trained, well compensated, well supported, well STAFFED, staff matters. For the most part I felt this KinderCare covered those bases within the restrictions of the general corporate mandate. But because they service a number of children who likely live in unsteady situations (which often promotes all kind of behavior issues ON TOP of being 2-5yo), well, this can cause problems. And it did. A handful of times kids managed to hide away and behave inappropriately with each other; whether is was hitting or showing private parts, etc. This actually surprised me given their fairly strict protocol for not letting kids be in the bathroom together AND reporting every little incident ( I had a stack of incident reports for my son a mile high for every little scratch, etc). But still kids just do things. I accept that. I accept that I cannot protect my child from every annoyance in the world so I talk to him about how to deal with it and process it. Th UGLY here happened when communication between staff during transitions broke down so things weren't followed up on or communicate with each other or with the parent (in this case) the way it should have been. This can be unnerving and reassuring to say the least. I have been on the staff side of these situations before and they are horrible. But not as bad...never as bad as the parent feels.
I had a very frank conversation with staff and administration in the lead up to our ending our time at this KinderCare and I felt heard and well-received. I also knew I was moving on.
In total, most days here were a 4 or a 5 star experience for me and my child. But it is always the small handful of 0 or 1 star days that people want to focus on.
I think you are likely to have an o-k to good experience here depending on how you approach interacting with those who you are trusting to care for your child. If you never talk to them or read the daily notes or talk to your child, but then one day something is 'wrong' you will feel far less likely and able to move through the issue if you have no rapport with your provider. read more
