Today's Child in Media, PA I have worked in childcare for 8 years now. This was the absolute worst childcare facility I have ever worked at. I stayed for 9 months because I got attached to my children and their parents. When I got hired, they didn't even interview me. They threw me in a room that was dirty in every way. It smelled like animal poop because they had 2 ginnea pigs cooped up in there. It was dark and unorganized, things not labeled, toys thrown everywhere. The children's cubbies weren't labeled and changed every day because kids got thrown into different rooms. They never trained me or guided me to a schedule or routine, in which I eventually made myself. I never got an employee handbook or was explained any of the benefits. I took it upon myself to change rooms, organize, clean and label everything. Brought in new toys, made a parent board and schedule, had progress reports and lesson plans - which lacked the materials because they never accommodated me, took them on field trips, risked my life being on ladders to take down old decorations and dust the 4 inch globs of dust, etc - I ultimately got very involved with my classroom, kids, and parents because I am extremely passionate about my job and am pursuing to better myself in this field. I felt like I had no support from my other co workers and even boss. My boss by the way is not equipped to be a director. Yes, she was nice, but had no clue what was going on. Teachers kept to themselves and were uninviting and greedy. With the 9 months I was there, AT LEAST 13 teachers quit. Because of the chaos. Parents dropped their children. Some teachers who did get hired were incompetent - Never took the kids outside, took multiple smoking breaks to where they reeked of cigarettes, were always on their phones, didn't know what a curriculum was, etc. Teachers were "supposed to" to clean the classrooms and bathrooms but there was never a vaccume or proper cleaning supplies to do something that was not our job. Kids would get rashes from the dirty carpets, they didn't keep soap or toilet paper in the bathrooms because "kids made messes with it" (if they were being supervised it wouldn't be messy) teacher had to make "bathroom baskets" that were kept in the classrooms. The teacher bathrooms were also a disgrace - They were shared with parents and men and at times I'd be going to the bathroom and a man come in and go next to me. Not ONCE since I've worked there did they have a fire drill OR lockdown drills. Again, I did them myself with my kids once a month. Especially now a days... You could yell my code word "peanutbutter" and they knew to shut the lights off and hide in closets quietly even knowing we don't have locks on the doors. Neighbors near the school even called the cops on my boss because they stopped seeing kids line up outside for drills. My boss well aware of this her response was being mad at that neighbor. The playground is meant for school agers - Being that the school used to be The Blessed Virgin Mary Elementary School - Monkey bars and rock walls 10 feet high. The gravel mats ripping off, kids tripping. Some people even vandalized the rock wall saying things like "fuck the population" "fuck trump" etc and my 5-12 yr olds would read this - After complaining to my boss several times about it. I, and other teachers, were left out of ratio ALL OF THE TIME. We got lucky if we had another teacher with us. Sometimes I'd be left with 25 school agers, some with autism/behavior issues. At times I'd be drained and asked if they could take certain children from me and they didn't empathize or care. Kids that are dangerous to me and others - punching, biting, cursing... They never took their "3 strike " system serious so I wrote everything in a journal in case things got legal. I also took initiative to get my CDA and go back to school. They not once congratulated me or offered me a raise or even did my 90 day review/assessment. They NEVER admired the work I put into the kids and classroom. They never respected it either. I'd be out sick or on vacation and leave what needs to be done as far as the learning activities I had planned for my kids and it'd still be sitting on the desk when I got back, my room trashed instead. The center was almost closed down because they failed to report child abuse in which they are mandated reporters. Police came and everything. I'm surprised it's still open. I feel bad for the kids - I remember when i got hired they said 3 teachers in my place left in a span of a few weeks because my room is tough. So the kids had no consistency before me. And never had a consistent assistant teacher for me. Do not send your child to this location. And do not work there. As for me, on to better things. read more

My son has been going there since he was 4 months old, he is 18 months now. I couldn't be happier that he is there. The infant and toddler teachers are wonderful and they know my son well enough to know if he is being picky that day or it is something he truly doesn't like. My husband and I have dropped by occasionally to visit and we were always happy to see him active (except at nap time) and eating well. They are reinforcing table manners in the toddler room (using fork and spoon, staying at the table to eat, ect) and we have noticed a positive change. He has made friends and his social skills are where they should be. I was also impressed that we were given a survey to understand where our child is socially, emotionally and physically. It is designed for early intervention should it be necessary. An example of one of the questions was, "Do your child walk unassisted?" While we were sad to see some teachers leave, my son took the summer off and when we came back there was a different teacher in the toddler room, he loves the new ones too. They are able to keep up with my toddler. They are very organized in the toddler room and it is kept very clean. Every evening when I pick him up, one or both teachers are cleaning. Oh and they provide diapers and wipes! read more

I went to this place as a young child, though I'm not sure which location. However, let me state that this place has been horrible since at least the 90's. The teacher's had a tendency to lie and exaggerate to make themselves look better. In looking back at old notes they had written my parents I noticed several times where the teacher left out serious details in those notes. Some examples of that are: One time I refused to do a math sheet because I had already done a few weeks prior and they did not include that in their report only that I had be a "disruption". Another time I was scolded for not putting my hand down and telling the teacher I had something important to tell her. That important thing was that another student sitting near me, who had some serious temper issues, had brought a switch blade into class. An additional time during nap time I woke up because I was cold and the teacher refused to let me have my additional blanket during nap time and had me man handled out of the room for being "disruptive". Another thing is that the teachers will take your child's possessions (though it may be for a good reason i.e. Crayola non-toxic markers that the other kids used on their skin before snack time) However, they will not give them back to the child or the parent at the end of the day and then eventually claim they never had them in the first place. Another time while attending this place I was coloring in some pictures of fish and another child (the one that had brought in the knife later in the year), in a fit of rage, tore it up, then the teacher literally did nothing. She let the child go around the room tearing other children's stuff up. They did not at any point bother to remove the unruly child to a hallway or anything in an attempt to calm him down or prevent him from upsetting other children. And lastly, while attending this sad, sorry excuse for a kindergarten another child was constantly chasing me around the playground demanding that I kiss him. When the teachers were told about this they laughed and said "oh, how cute." I did not want to kiss this boy and because of their callus behavior I developed some serious psychological issues from the incident because the boy wound up forcing me to kiss him. This place has never been a good place for children and based on other recent reviews it still isn't. ~Amy Thompson read more

The staff inside the center are great childcare providers and truly care about the well being of students in their care. However, CORPORATE operations are a disgrace. Worst company I have ever decided to spend five years of my life with. If you want to send your child to a corporation who's intentions are NOT in your child's best interest, then Today's Child is for you! In the Summer season children are kept in classrooms WITHOUT adequate air conditioning or access to cold water. I have photo evidence of being in a classroom reaching 88 degrees FOR AN ENTIRE SUMMER! Kept on floor with NO working water fountain and corporate REFUSED to provide a refrigerator when asked SEVERAL times. Corporate doesn't care. If they cared the situation would have been resolved from the previous Summer when we were in the SAME CONDITIONS! In the Winter season it's freezing in classrooms. Would have to be moved to different parts of the school just to be warm. Again, nothing done by Corporate. During my 5 years of service I received ONE 13 cent raise. That's right folks: 5 years = 13 cents! As a parent you will be expected to pay for snow days even when the center is CLOSED due to the weather. But, the real kicker you ask? You pay for snow days but the teachers are NOT paid for snow days. So where is your hard earned money going? Good luck finding out. This company treats their employees like trash. Pure trash. I am disgusted and embarrassed for being apart of such a toxic company. Please do NOT support a company that only cares about one thing...NOT your child and NOT their employees but THEIR bottom line. read more

I have two children who attend. My 6 month old loves the infant room! They provide the diapers, wipes, and formula which is a big money saver. My 3 year old is very advanced he knew his colors, numbers and letters by age 2!! The center has alot of family nights which is great to talk to the staff and get to know them more! I highly recommend Today's Child. read more

I have 2 sons that attend this location, and from day 1 I felt comfortable leaving my children in their care. The staff is very caring and welcoming. The teachers update me on my children everyday at pick up, they truly care about the children. My 5 year old will be well prepared for Kindergarten in September. My 4 year old comes home and tells us one fun/cool fact that he has learned from Ms.Joanne. Since being at the Media location my sons have learned so much in a short amount of time! read more

HORRIBLE MANAGEMENT!!! While the teachers are great and truly care, management is outright terrible. There are constantly too many children in a room in the early mornings (exceeding state-mandated student to teacher ratios). Corporate management neglected to timely install air conditioners in the buildings until May, so staff resorted to squirting kids with water bottles on 90 degree+ days (only window units needed to be installed; an entire system did not need to be turned over, so poor planning was the only reason for the delay). Daycare management also REPEATEDLY had to search for my son's medications, as there is no standard location for medication. This lack of organization resulted in them telling me I had not left the medication there, so I was forced to rush out of work to give him much needed medication for an allergic reaction (which they had on-site, just misplaced!!!). Additionally, the tables in the classrooms (where the children eat) are consistently unclean, have food residue and other sticky mess(es) prominently displayed. I also witnessed staff repeatedly using cell phones when they were supposed to be watching children. But if you're still interested in this place, note that management will state that a toddler-appropriate playground is their "goal". It's been their goal for more than a year and a half, and there is no set date for completion. If they advise you that it's going to happen, make sure to get it in writing with repercussions if they don't. Have corporate authorize this as well. I can't say enough bad things about this daycare. I recommend staying away from this place unless you're absolutely desperate! read more

My son has been at Today's child Media for about one year... he has learned so much through play with friends! His current teacher has so much patience and compassion with the children... he comes home talking about her, his friends, playing in the gym and on the playground! read more

The worst decision we made as parents to date was putting our daughter in this place. She stayed for one week before we could transfer her to an actual daycare with standards. Day one I dropped her off around 9:45am and get a phone call around 2pm from the director of the center asking if we were going to be bringing our daughter in that day?!!!! So my child was in their care for 4 hours and they didn't even know it. When I picked her up that night she had a red bruise/rash on the whole lower part of her back, as if she fell on something - they claimed it was from picking her up? I pick her up 100s of times each day through the 11 months she has been here and have never left a mark like that on her. We still do not know what it was. (This was just the first day) 0 cleanliness - the parking lot is littered in cigarette butts and packs all the way up to the door.. And they had no booties for the infant room Wednesday - Friday. So, people were walking through all the littler in the parking lot and then tracking it onto the floor my child was crawling around on. Laziness - instead of interacting and letting the children play on the floor, every time I walked into the room all the children were restrained in some form - bouncer, jumper or just sitting in the high chairs, while the teachers are doing god knows what. (Probably smoking and throwing their butts in the parking lot) The one afternoon I walked in and my daughters bottle was on the floor and she was in the jumper, I picked it up looked at the teacher and she says, "oh she must have thrown it." Oh so you gave my infant a bottle in the jumper when your own rule book states children under one are to be held when having a bottle?? 0 respect for your things - they went through 65 wipes in one week, which is pretty impressive - averages to about 3 wipes every time they changed her. But the real thing I was angry about was them throwing away all the disks for the dr brown bottles (teacher admitted to throwing them away) and then I was informed that I am responsible for lost or stolen items as it states in their handbook (because clearly, they follow all their own handbook rules) I demanded my $50 registration fee back to replace them and for the rest of their BS we put up with all week. The Media director called the overall director who told them to give it back - they then told me I had to come back the next day to get it. When we went back the next day they refused to give the registration back and handed us a replacement pack for the bottles.. At least it was something. 0 security - there is no system to getting in the door, you ring a bell and wait for a teacher to leave her children to run and open the door and then run back to the room. I was let in by multiple people who had never seen me before and they didn't ask why I was there, just ran back to their class and left me unescorted in a daycare to do whatever I please. They have a door girl in the afternoon who colors and opens the door, asks if she knows you and then goes right back to coloring. Are the children safe from intruders? Absolutely not. I recommend never sending you children to this incompetent place. read more

My daughter spent 1 month there and that was 1 month too long. Her first day we brought her and no one knew she was starting, there was no bed for her, no cubby for her and no apology from management. My mother went to pick her up one day and the teacher in the room was sound asleep in a chair while the kids were playing. The carpets were so dirty that I had to throw socks away and the teacher actually asked us to file an official complaint because the management wouldn't listen to the teachers requests to have the carpets cleaned. The office staff was terrible and unprofessional and the facility was unacceptable. It should be shut down immediately. read more