Daycares in Mars/228 area

cbmp06 · May 2013

I have SAH with DD for over a year now and am finally going back to work, and while there are lots of good things about it, I am SO nervous to put her in daycare! It's just been me and her all this time. So if anyone could recommend some good daycares in the Mars area (close to 228) I'd be grateful. I am going to be looking into A Rising Star Childcare this week so if anyone has experience there let me know!

FreshBakedBrownies · May 2013

I toured Little House Learning Center in Mars when I was looking for daycare. A friend of mine sends her 4 kids there and likes it. They were a little far for me. I ended up picking Allie Alligator Learning Center in Warrendale, PA. If that's an option for you, I could tell you about it.

Daycare is tough on moms, easier on the babies I think. It was hard for me to think about missing a moment with my son. Also knowing that there will be times that they cry or need something and may have to wait, since there isn't a caregiver for every baby!

Good luck on your search. For a 1 year old, try to focus on all the wonderful socialization and variety of activities she will get to do.

tapa81 · June 2013

ss456:
I toured Little House Learning Center in Mars when I was looking for daycare. A friend of mine sends her 4 kids there and likes it. They were a little far for me. I ended up picking Allie Alligator Learning Center in Warrendale, PA. If that's an option for you, I could tell you about it.
Daycare is tough on moms, easier on the babies I think. It was hard for me to think about missing a moment with my son. Also knowing that there will be times that they cry or need something and may have to wait, since there isn't a caregiver for every baby!
Good luck on your search. For a 1 year old, try to focus on all the wonderful socialization and variety of activities she will get to do.

I'm interested in learning more about Allie Alligator if you are willing to share your experience there. Thanks!

FreshBakedBrownies · June 2013

We selected Allie Alligator based on convenient location for us, but mostly for the calm organized feeling we got on our tour. Many of the other places we saw had little separation between groups of kids or lots of adjoining rooms. These places were noisy and felt overwhelming to me. Allie Alligator has separate rooms. They were also very willing to use my son's cloth diapers, which was very important to me.

We're in the baby room now, but if your baby is 1 year old an able to walk for her main mode of transportation, then I think she'd start in the next room. In that room, I hear they start getting outdoor playtime.

Things I like:

1)They will follow whatever schedule I prefer for feeding my baby. DS eats on demand, not by a set time schedule. They are fine with my glass bottles too.

2) He has his own crib and likes the variety of bouncers, swings and play mats they have.

3) The daytime workers are very nice and DS seems happy to go to them.

4) Each day I receive a sheet that says when he ate, how much, diaper changes, etc.

5) They accepted and use my cloth diapers.

Things I don't like:

1) Like any PA daycare, they have 1 worker per 4 babies. I know that means there will be times my son will need or want something and have to wait.

2) Due to long hours 6:30am to 6pm, the main daycare workers are not there all day. There seems to be a shift change for the afternoon around 4 or so. For the last couple hours, younger high school students take over. They are perfectly nice girls and like my baby, but don't have all the details about how my baby did the entire day.

3) The go home sheet doesn't tell me the fun things my baby did during the day. It says when and what he ate, when he napped and details of his diapers. I want to hear about the new toy that made him giggle, the smiles he had, if he cried when he woke up from his nap, etc. If I pick him up early enough when the main workers are still there, I can ask them and get these details. If I pick him up later, the younger girls that take over often just don't know.

What else do you want to know?

tapa81 · June 2013

ss456:
We selected Allie Alligator based on convenient location for us, but mostly for the calm organized feeling we got on our tour. Many of the other places we saw had little separation between groups of kids or lots of adjoining rooms. These places were noisy and felt overwhelming to me. Allie Alligator has separate rooms. They were also very willing to use my son's cloth diapers, which was very important to me.
We're in the baby room now, but if your baby is 1 year old an able to walk for her main mode of transportation, then I think she'd start in the next room. In that room, I hear they start getting outdoor playtime.
Things I like:
1)They will follow whatever schedule I prefer for feeding my baby. DS eats on demand, not by a set time schedule. They are fine with my glass bottles too.
2) He has his own crib and likes the variety of bouncers, swings and play mats they have.
3) The daytime workers are very nice and DS seems happy to go to them.
4) Each day I receive a sheet that says when he ate, how much, diaper changes, etc.
5) They accepted and use my cloth diapers.
Things I don't like:
1) Like any PA daycare, they have 1 worker per 4 babies. I know that means there will be times my son will need or want something and have to wait.
2) Due to long hours 6:30am to 6pm, the main daycare workers are not there all day. There seems to be a shift change for the afternoon around 4 or so. For the last couple hours, younger high school students take over. They are perfectly nice girls and like my baby, but don't have all the details about how my baby did the entire day.
3) The go home sheet doesn't tell me the fun things my baby did during the day. It says when and what he ate, when he napped and details of his diapers. I want to hear about the new toy that made him giggle, the smiles he had, if he cried when he woke up from his nap, etc. If I pick him up early enough when the main workers are still there, I can ask them and get these details. If I pick him up later, the younger girls that take over often just don't know.
What else do you want to know?

Thanks very much for the information! I took a tour on Friday and liked it but just wanted to know how happy others were with the center.

I also liked the calm, organized feeling but wasn't sure how much of that was due to the fact that it was 8am and maybe all the kids weren't there yet. I also liked that they seemed very accomodating - and it's good to know that they really are and that's not a sales pitch.

I'm glad you told me about the shift change. They never mentioned that to me. I did ask if they consolidate kids/teachers as kids leave towards the end of the day, and they specifically said that they don't do that in the baby room...but never mentioned that the main teachers leave and highschoolers come in.

They also told me that they have a one star rating, which was a little concerning to me, but they said that was due to the fact that they have only been open for 3 years and that they are not eligible to get a higher rating yet. I want to do a little more research on that, because that seemed a little odd to me.

Thanks again for sharing your experiences at Allie Alligator!

leighkinpa · June 2013

Little House Learning Center! We absolutely love them. My daughter is in the toddler transition room and will be moving to the 2 room soon. I only know the teachers in the transition and 2 room, but they are so friendly, caring and our daughter is so happy. They do lots of activities and keep the kids busy, provide meals, regular assessments of verbal/gross motor/fine motor/communication skills and I could go on about them. Let me know if you have a specific question.

I toured Allie Alligator and it was adorable. However, a close friend worked there and ended up leaving because she did not think they were very well managed. PP obviously has first hand knowledge though and we did not end up selecting them.

leighkinpa · June 2013

leighkinpa:
Little House Learning Center! We absolutely love them. My daughter is in the toddler transition room and will be moving to the 2 room soon. I only know the teachers in the transition and 2 room, but they are so friendly, caring and our daughter is so happy. They do lots of activities and keep the kids busy, provide meals, regular assessments of verbal/gross motor/fine motor/communication skills and I could go on about them. Let me know if you have a specific question.

I toured Allie Alligator and it was adorable. However, a close friend worked there and ended up leaving because she did not think they were very well managed. PP obviously has first hand knowledge though and we did not end up selecting them.

I wanted to add information about the shift changes since I saw your discussion above. At Little House, its similar. They have 2 main teachers assigned to each class (head teacher and assistant) so one of them is there all the time and they straddle the shifts. Then, there are floaters that are there to help during the day and they are pretty regular. There are probably 4-5 teachers that my daughter has a relationship with on a regular basis. Our take home sheets tell us details about nap, diapers, meals and also a note on the back about what they did that day.

FreshBakedBrownies · July 2013

I wanted to add an update on Allie Alligator. I realized it was bothering me to not know more details on how my DS does everyday. They were more than accommodating to now add notes to the back of his go-home sheet with the details I wanted.

emsperling · August 2013

The Kindercare In Seven Fields Has A Really Good Infant And Toddler Room. The Ladies Have Worked ThEre For Ten Years. There Are Only Eight Babies Per Room And At Least One Teacher Works The Open To ClOse Shift, So Theyre There At Pick Up And Drop OfF. ThEre Is A New Director As Of January Who Has Been With Company For Over 5 Years...She Is Pretty Good.

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Daycares in Mars/228 area

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