We are so thankful for the positive, loving, enriching experience my daughter had during her time…read moreat DCLC. The two most important factors I was seeking in a childcare/preschool environment for my toddler were 1. a place that she was excited to return to each day, and 2. a director who had excellent communication skills and knew what they were doing. I found that DCLC exceeded all of my expectations and at the most reasonable price in the area.
We could tell from day one that DCLC was a special place as they took extra steps to ensure a smooth transition during our first week. Alicia (the owner/director) and her staff are some of the most clean/organized, kindhearted, intelligent people I've ever met. My daughter learned, among other things; manners, her body parts, counting, the alphabet, sharing, painting/coloring, and hit so many other wonderful milestones during her time there - things that I was too exhausted to teach her at the end of a work day. In addition to everything they taught my daughter, they were also incredibly helpful to me as a parent when I'd inquire about local weekend activities, toddler sleeping habits, how to enforce good behavior at home, food questions, etc. I felt 100% comfortable and confident with them as my main resource for general parenting questions because they were up-to-date on the newest educational/behavioral training and had many years of experience.
During the first of this winter's blizzards when DCLC (which follows Newton Public School closings) was closed, Alicia sent out an email that morning to all parents with several ideas for indoor activities that we could do with our kids - it was so thoughtful and helpful, and I remember thinking to myself "wow, she really truly cares about me as a parent and my daughter as her student, and wants us all to have an easy fun day today."
There was zero staff turnover during our time there, DCLC follows very clear and simple policies standard for most local daycares/preschools, and we found the other families to be as equally pleased as we were. The care, attention, and curriculum that we found with DCLC is unmatched by local daycare centers, or any other in-home daycare programs we could find in the area. The experience we had was top-notch and really hard to find elsewhere, and, having recently moved away, we miss DCLC very very much.