opinions about kindercare - Page 2

[Foobar]

I use a different center for Goo. Here's what I did.

I visited Kindercare and two other centers. I had done some research and narrowed things down to those centers (In my area, I don't trust home day cares. It is so scary what I read in the news!)

In the centers that I visited, the kindercare looked nice, but then I asked people how long they've been working there, etc. I was shocked at the turnover. Also the director was in heels and a suit.

The place I ended up going with (Mulberry) the director was in jeans and a T-shirt. When we went to the infant room, she interupted the tour to handle a baby who wouldn't calm down. She put the kids in front of me and I loved to see that. The way she did it looked natural and not at all staged. The staff in the infant room had been there for 9 or more YEARS.

Now, all of the 2 and under staff knows my dd and will say hi and goodbye when when go in.
My job was to find the place I felt comfortable in. I think these things vary by center...

[momof1baby]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents in here. My DD was in a Kindercare and we both loved it. She was in the infant room and she was soooo attached to the wonderful teachers there. They were so good to her. The director was great (every daycare I researched I walked in unnanounced) she took me on a tour and answered all my questions right then and there.

It was almost time for DD to move to the stepup room and my nephew had been going to another center (Bright Horizons) across town that my sister could not stop raving about. So, I checked it out and decided to move her, 1) because it was cheaper, and 2) because in the toddler room they did more activities with the kids then at kindercare. But, if for some reason this new center did not work out, I would send her back to Kindercare in a heartbeat.

One thing I did find out by switching is that DD's new school is accredited. Apparently it is very hard for a school to get that. Kindercare was not accredited, nor were any of the other daycare centers in town. Something else you may want to look into if the home daycares don't work out.

Good Luck, I know how difficult this is.
Vanessa

[sadean]

I sent ds#2 to a KinderCare center in Michigan for abot one year (from 3 mo to 15 months. I was not completely displeased, but there were some things that distinctly annoyed me:

1) Higher than I like turn over in "entry-level" staff. Most were education-major college students doing their semester of field work. So 16 weeks and gone.

2) Big use of swings for the babies, especiall at "snack" time. Very regimented "babies get held for x amount of time unless they are crying". Well, even a non-crying baby needs love and direct attention. I didn't like that older babies were put in swings to drink bottles.

3) ALL babies must be eating solids by 6-7 months (national center rule) and they neddled me into submitting and bringing "food" for him to eat (never mind that he was chubby and beautiful on bm alone and my doctor was of the opinion that solids before 12 months are worthless).

Some good things (because there is almost always SOME good ) :

1) They were supportive of my bring bm for him to eat and they didn't act grossed out by it.

2) It was right next door to where I worked, so I went everyday he was there (2-3 days per week) and nursed him at lunchtime.

3) They accepted my vax waiver (well, they had too, but i wasn't given grief about it).

We left that center when my job ended. Hope my POV helps.

[MaShroom]

thanks, *every* pov helps. this is a big decision.

wasn't aware of the solids at 6-7 mos rule. that's kinda' dumb.

this thread has given me some great ideas about what i'm really looking for rather than what i thought i was looking for, if that makes any sense. would elaborate but nak.

[hampson_123]

Updated responses needed... Kindercare Bellevue WA?

In reading this thread from 4 years ago I have found the information very useful. I have a 6 month old that may be entering a Kindercare in Bellevue/Issaquah WA.

I would like to hear experiences people have had with Kindercare as well as any reccomendations to day care centers in the Isaquah/Bellevue area.

[hampson_123]

Kindercare Bellevue/Issaquah WA

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[nextcommercial]

Just looked and this is a really old thread. LOL I should pay more attention.

[aywilkes]

Go to NAEYC's website

For the OP, I used to begin my search on the NAEYC website. I know that no place is perfect and that Naeyc accredited places can also be bad, but child care centers that go through this accreditation process are seeking a higher standard - supposedly. I have been overall satisfied with the 2 places that my son attended over the years that I discovered on this website. I think it is naeyc.org.
He also went to Kindercare and I didn't like it for the kids younger than my son based on what I say - that is younger than 1.5.

[Mama2Bug]

I used to work at a KinderCare, as a lead teacher for the 2s and 3s as well as for the school-age, after-school class. I worked some of the time as an assisitant in the infant room as well. I was there for almost 3 years. (I quit when I got married and began a family.)

I would never send my daughter there. I will break down the basic reasons:

-The center is NAEYC accredited, but that doesn't mean that it is always run by those standards. There is a mad rush to get the center "up to speed" for about two weeks before NAEYC sends a rep to look things over. None of the changes and improvements ever lasted for more than a few months after the inspection.

-Routines and structure are extremely rigid and heavily enforced by KinderCare management. Staff is left very little wiggle-room by management to bend the "rules." A teacher who is "too soft on the kids" is considered not in control enough and is usually sent for more training or demoted to assistant. Naptime is heavily enforced. (They claim that your child will be allowed "quiet activites" if they aren't tired, but I never saw a teacher permit this.) Children are not allowed to rest before naptime, nor "over-sleep." Diaper changes happen at the same 3 or 4 times every day, regardless of when the child is soiled. The same goes for potty breaks. Children were often not allowed to get a drink unless it was snacktime or lunchtime. There were not often cups available for them to get drinks themsleves at the sink, and there were no water fountains. Lunch and snacks are served at the same time each day. If your child isn't hungry, that's fine, but they won't be given anything later.

-Special needs are often mocked and not carefully attended to, unless they are life-threatening, For example, the child with a peanut allergy would be watched carefully at meals. A vegetarian or vegan child, however, was often "accidentally" given meat or dairy. Special vegetarian meals tended to be a peanut butter sandwich and whatever the side veggie was. Every. Single. Meal. Parents were not permitted to bring special food for their child. Another example- one child in the center was very allergic to mosquito bites. They gave her hives. She was supposed to have bug repellant applied before going outside each time. This only actually happened about 30% of the time.

-There was a lot of shaming for a child who had a bathroom accident or was not perfectly potty-trained by age 3.

I worked with some wonderful teachers who did the best that they could within the guidlines, but there was only so much they (and I) were permitted to do. I don't think the kids were very happy, especially the littlest ones.

[Ape94]

When my oldest (now turning 4) first went to daycare, we started out at Kindercare when he was about 3 months old. And while there was only one specific incident that happend that really didn't set well with me, I just never felt it was the *right* place for my son. The one incident that I am referring to is when they accidently gave him another baby's bottle (of formula - and my son was 100% BF). But besides that it was just a bunch of small things. I didn't like the 8-2 ratio, I hated the size of the room....it just seemed too big to me for such small babies. I didn't like how the cribs/food prep/changing areas weren't gated off from the play area, so you'd have older crawling and walking babies playing around the cribs when other kids were trying to sleep. I didn't like how babes were stuck in swings, bouncer and exersaucers for hours a day. And the older babies would get stuck in a highchair with a handful of cherios or other cereal just to keep them quiet. I just never felt like the people there were really caring for my son.....it was more like they were just doing what they had to do to get through the day. We ended up moving to a new place about 6 months later.

[ck1220]

Do Not Send Your Kid To Kindercare!!!!!!!!!

If you are thinking about sending your kid(s) to kindercare, please read this message!!

Today was the last day at kindercare for my daughter who is 31 months old. She’s been going to this kindercare (Wildflower Lane KinderCare 150 South Wildflower Lane Schaumburg, IL 60173) since she was about 18 months. Of course, when we first send her there she cried for a few days. However, she seemed to enjoy going to this place after that adjustment period was over in a few days. Teachers also told me that they liked my daughter a lot and she’s happy there. I was happy to hear that my daughter was adjusting well.

Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t totally incident free. Some girl scratched her face so deep that I can still see the scar after 6 months. I called the teacher and asked what happened, all she told me was that some girl scratched her face but she couldn’t tell me who it is. Fine! Then it happened again, another scratch on her face just a few weeks after the first one. And this time, teacher told me that my daughter scratched her face while she was sleeping. WHAT A LIE!! Come on. I’m not unreasonable person. I’d understand if this was a small scratch. This was another very deep scratch. It was the kind that would last even after you grow up. I was upset but since my daughter didn’t show any resistance going to this place, I let this incident pass.

But recently, my daughter would start crying and saying, “I don’t want to go to kindercare” every time we drive up to kindercare. At first I didn’t pay too much attention as kids tend to want to stay at home with their mom any way. I did stop by kindercare and spoke to her teacher several times. Every time, she’d assure me that my daughter is playing well and that she’s a happy kid. But I started pay more attention when her crying lasted more than a week or two.

And today, we finally got an answer. My mom was dropping my daughter at kindercare when she, as usual, started crying and begging my mom not to send her to kindercare. She usually still leaves her at the kindercare but today, for some reason, she decided to stay for a little while longer. It was a sunny day so kids were playing outside. There are 2 teachers and more than 15 toddlers in the play area. It’s clearly hard for these 2 teachers to pay good attention to all these kids at all times. My daughter was talking to this little girl and they must’ve had some kind of conversation between them. The next thing my mom saw was that girl slapping my daughter’s face as hard as she could. The way she slapped my daughter and that girl’s demeanor was almost unimaginable for 30 months old toddler my mom said. Since my mom doesn’t speak English that well. She just told that girl to stop it and came back home with my daughter. This is the same girl who scratched my daughter’s face twice before. And teacher also told me previously that this girl have problems with other kinds as well.

As soon as I heard this news, I went back there. I insisted that my daughter be placed in different class and that she not have any kind of contact with the other girl. Amazingly, I was told that they can’t guarantee that. Also, they couldn’t kick the other girl out of kindercare. Even though she obviously has a violent temper for a 30 months old baby and that it’s known to them that she has problems with several other kids.

It was so disappointing the way they handled this case. They would let incident like this keep happening as long as they make money. If this was one of the teachers kid, do you think for one second that they’d tolerate this kind of behavior? I don’t think so.

Think hard and long before place your kid at kindercare. They don’t care about your child’s well being. They don’t care if your child is scared, stressed out, or sad. As long as they put their 8 hours, they’re done.

[erinsmom04]

My DD has been with kindercare for a year now... I have loved it.. there has been only 1 teacher that left since we have been there, so the turnover in her room has been just the 1, but she left to go out of state... I have had no issues and the director and ass't directors know me and my child and know her name (which I was worried about being in a big center)... I think another to look for in a center is NAEYC accrediation. That is National Association for the Education of Young Children. my Inlaws both worked for the state dept of Education and told me to look for this feature in any center... and our kindercare does have it.. if you have any questions, let me know..

[cycle]

I work for a NAEYC affiliate and the people in my organization who work directly with the centers call Kindercare's the KFC of child care...:

I think there may be exceptions and not all of them would be included in that bunch but the overall opinion is not great.

I agree that in most cases NAEYC accreditation is important but the factors that I have seen that are important are many that have been mentioned; staff turnover, director owns the center, how the staff is compensated, etc. I ended up switching my son from a NAEYC facility to a "non" NAEYC center and we are both much happier. There is a lot of rigidness in the daily schedule that is not always the best with NAEYC accredited facilities. I think the most important thing is the staff and how the interact with the children, do they really enjoy what they are doing and love the children, do they respect the children and the parents. I felt such a positive vibe when I walked into my son's new center and it just felt right.

[mowilli3]

I have not used KinderCare, but a work colleague uses them and absolutely loves it!

I have recently withdrawn my DD from Angelic Care, and if someone asked about them, I'd have a pretty strong opinion as some of the pps do here. But I have to say that she enjoyed it for a time and thrived there when her teachers were good. The problem with child care is that you have to constantly reevaluate how it's working for your child and family. But that's like everything from your job to your internet provider. It requires at least an annual evaluation.

I have visited 3 Knowledge Learning Corp facilities in the past couple of weeks. I there is very little alternative where I live. I live near downtown DC where almost all licensed facilities are centers with NAEYC accreditation. You really don't want to see the other ones. Because of income inequality, there's some really bad stuff going on for childcare here.

I learned one thing, no one is going to love your child as much as you. But the other thing is that there are some really good and involved teachers. If you can get one for just a year, that's worth gold to your family and child.

Here's what I saw at the KLCs I visited. 1 I thought was excellent and I went to visit it again. The next couple of visits made me feel that outsiders were not really welcome. I can't describe it, just that they weren't as hospitable to us as they were on the tour. I also didn't like the way they herd all of the twos into the bathroom at the same time to do potty/diapering. The biggest thing for me was that the classroom that my DD would go into had 13 kids. It was just too big for her and me. I guess the deciding factor was that none of the teachers talked to each other. I found that a little odd, esp in the infant room where the kids can't talk. They need to hear some talking during the day.

The second one I saw made me mad. They were very rigid with the pottying and the director insisted that peer pressure would make my DD potty learn. Maybe I have a problem with following the pack, but I didn't like that philosophy. It feels to controlling. The other thing was that the teachers in that 2s room acted like they did not want to be there. When the kids made their own free play with "bears that were for counting," the teacher called their creative game, "a silly game." I stepped in and encouraged the game. I would be there doing that sort of thing often.

The last place felt good to me. There was plenty of light. The director was friendly and seemed open to parent lead pottying. I only asked, "How do you handle potty learning." The classroom was small and the kids all seemed happy. The children were racially diverse. The infant teachers were old women. I liked their comfort. The staff had been there a while, 6 years for the director. The only thing I didn't like was the structure, but I'll take structure and stability over stucture and demoralized workers.

I guess the thing I take the most comfort from is that parents have much more influence over our children's development than childcare. I encourage free play at home all day. We might do some art. Everyday we go outside to explore and run. But there's plenty of time to just play and be at home. So as long as DD and DS are happy and enjoy their center, we'll be there. When we get troubling signs like with DD a month ago, we'll pull them out and reevaluate again. Soon enough we'll be dealing with schools. Also as the children get older, we'll be able to teach them coping skills to handle whatever bothers them.

[mommak1]

We use an independent center - not a franchise/chain. I wouldn't have thought much about differences between chains and independents, but not that I've been there, I've realized that I really like the fact that it's independent. All of the policies, procedures, standards, etc. are set by an owner/director who is there in the classrooms everyday. She sees what works and doesn't work for the families in this center and can make changes accordingly. I love that because if anyone has questions or input about why things are done a certain way, she has a clear answer to the question - it's never "Well, that's the way corporate decided it works best overall." She is not contricted by rules that might work better for another center but are not a good fit for the families in her center.

Just something to think about.

[madskye]

My daughter's been at the Kindercare in Belford, NJ for almost two years now. I love it. My daughter loves it.

It is a franchise, and the two women who run the center are great. In two years, we haven't really had any issues--and they've really given me a ton of help.

I don't remember anything about a solids rule when she was younger, and the staff at our center is extremely accomodating about carrying out whatever instructions you leave, as far as food or schedule.

They've had a lot of turnover, but it seems like there are two kinds of workers at our kindercare--the older women who are more "in charge" of a room for years, and then we have a lot of younger women getting their early childhood education degree. The turnover hasn't seemed to impact my daughter yet, and it has supplied us with a nice list of babsitters!

There is another kindercare a few towns away from us, and it doesn't have a great reputation. I think it really varies from center to center. I just had a really good feeling about my center as soon as I walked in, plus I had recommendations from people that I knew. When Donna walked me around, the kids came up and hugged her, and I liked that she wasn't some scary administrator. I think I visited three times before I signed Madeline up, just to get an idea of what it was like there.
I'm very happy with my Kindercare.

[woobysma]

Originally Posted by hampson_123

In reading this thread from 4 years ago I have found the information very useful. I have a 6 month old that may be entering a Kindercare in Bellevue/Issaquah WA.

I would like to hear experiences people have had with Kindercare as well as any reccomendations to day care centers in the Isaquah/Bellevue area.

Is it the one in Factoria? I don't have any experience with them, but you might try the "find your tribe" area and ask there - it's seperated by geographic region, so you'll find more Eastside mammas.

[melissabel]

I haven't had a chance to read through all the replies so I apologize if I am repeating what others have said.

I currently work as a Infant head teacher at a child care center and have worked in child care for years and different centers. Although I have not worked for Kindercare, I have worked for another "chain" day care, Bright Horizons and I have to say that I am not a fan of these for-profit child care centers. I have never heard many good things about these places - childtime, tutor time, etc.
salaries tend to be low, high staff turnover and rigid policies. The best center I worked out was a not for profit that a corporate, employer sponsored child care center ( although children from the community were welcome to attend).

Since KInderCare is chain/ franchise, one center may be very different from another. With Bright Horizons, some centers were NAEYC accredited and others not.

I would recommend checking out centers that are NAEYC accredited at www.naeyc.org (its nor perfect but its a good start) and if its a not profit or affliated with an organization whose main goal is to just make money, that is a good sign

Good Luck!!