Kindercare

Dawn5481 · September 2014

I know each Kindercare is managed individually, but does anyone have any experiences using them for child care? Specifically, I was wondering about newborn/infant care. I have a tour scheduled for tomorrow, but I was just curious what your opinions are. I'm completely distraught about leaving an 8 week old in the care of someone I don't know next month when I go back to work.

msdrdg · September 2014

DS has been in Kindercare since he was 11 weeks old. The teachers at ours love him like he is their own. He is now in their Pre-K program and one of his infant teachers still brings him her Grandson's hand-me-down clothes. It is more expensive than other programs in my area, but they are wonderful with him and love him and he is thriving there.

sharksfan · September 2014

My son was in Kindercare for about 2 months before I found out that he was being severely neglected. He was sitting in his own filthy diaper for hours; they only changed him just before the normal time I picked him up. They were falsifying the paper that said when changes were happening. They were feeding him someone else's bottles, and they were giving his bottles to someone else. This was all discovered when My ILs picked him up for me a couple days and were there earlier than I usually got there. When I approached the director about it, she said "I was hoping to get this resolved before you found out. Give me some time; I'm working with the teachers. " I pulled him that day.

That being said, I know people that have had great experiences at different locations. It really does depend on the staff.

74dragonfly · September 2014

My DD was at Kindercare from age 13 weeks until she turned one. There were 8 babies and two teachers, sweet older ladies from Eastern Europe. They were very loving. I feel they really cared about my child. That said we transfered out age 1 because I HATED the 1 year old teacher. she spoke very broken English, could not say my daughters name right and I could not get past the idea of having a person who spoke English poorly being responsible for my child at at time when their speech is exploding. Also the ratio got crazy: 12 kids/2 teachers 12-18 months and then 14kids/2 teachers at 18 months. That seems like way way too many especially when the kids have diapers still. We moved to another center at one year and loved it.

Sorry for the novel, my advice is this: if you like the teachers in infants give it a try. It is hard going back to work but my daughter LOVED watching all the other babies. Today at age 5.5 she is very social.

In general i think you can find good info on particular daycares on Yelp/web and by talking to other Moms. also check out state licensing boards to see if they have violations.

personally i prefer daycare centers over in homes because I like the fact that it is dedicated daycare facillity, it is well monitored, there is more than one teacher on site. If one teacher is sick they find a teacher, not you.

I am also a huge proponent of being on a few waiting lists so that if you want to switch somewhere you can. It is always good to have options open.

aglenn · September 2014

It's going to totally depend on the individual center, and there are huge differences from one to another. We looked at KinderCare but ended up going with Bright Horizons because I just felt it was a better fit for us.

In general, no matter what your day care situation is, my advice is to take the tours and spend some time in the infant room(s) of your top picks. A lot of my concerns were eased by just seeing the teachers in action and how they managed the classroom.

nanabanana06 · September 2014

My daughter went to Kindercare from 3 months to 17 months. The only reason we stopped was due to me losing state daycare funding. That was when I became a SAHM. However, I always liked their center. The teachers were always very nice and really cared for my daughter. The structure was perfect for her as well. She loved going and playing with all the other babies. The 1 year old room was very nice as well. It was still structured, but it was great for her. They always had outdoor play twice a day, story time, arts, and sensory activities. Plus lots of unstructured play time. They really worked very hard to make sure that the babies transitioning into the toddler room was accustomed to the new schedule as well.

Really, my only complaint was their food. They were part of the state food program. So, much of what they fed I wouldn't feed my kids. However, they worked hard to make sure that she still got the food I wanted her to eat.

Dawn5481 · September 2014

sharksfan said:

My son was in Kindercare for about 2 months before I found out that he was being severely neglected. He was sitting in his own filthy diaper for hours; they only changed him just before the normal time I picked him up. They were falsifying the paper that said when changes were happening. They were feeding him someone else's bottles, and they were giving his bottles to someone else. This was all discovered when My ILs picked him up for me a couple days and were there earlier than I usually got there. When I approached the director about it, she said "I was hoping to get this resolved before you found out. Give me some time; I'm working with the teachers. " I pulled him that day. That being said, I know people that have had great experiences at different locations. It really does depend on the staff.

Wow. I'm sorry you went through that. How exactly did your IL find out about the diapers and records? Were they varying the times they picked up?

tamaraaaa · September 2014

Agree with all others, they all vary... Tour each place if you can. We weren't crazy about any of the day cares in our town until our very last one that we never even planned on seeing. Our "top choice" quickly became our last, and you really can tell a lot just in the small time you are there.

lildevil968 · September 2014

My DD went there from the time she was 7 wks old till she was 3 months old. I was on the waiting list for DC on base, and Kindercare was my only other option. I like the other PP had a problem with them letting my DD sit in a dirty diaper all day. I couldn't figure out why her diaper rashes where not clearing up, after all these prescriptions, and changes in diaper ointment. I took her back to the pedi, and the pedi told me to start marking her diapers to see if the daycare was changing them. I took a pen and started marking the inside of the leg band of her diapers. When I picked her up the first night, she had the same diaper on as when I dropped her off, and it was very wet. It wasn't just wet diapers, it was poopy diapers as well. This happened for 3 more days, and then I brought it up to the director. The director told me that if I didn't like it, I could take her somewhere else, so I did.

Dawn5481 · September 2014

lildevil968 said:

My DD went there from the time she was 7 wks old till she was 3 months old. I was on the waiting list for DC on base, and Kindercare was my only other option. I like the other PP had a problem with them letting my DD sit in a dirty diaper all day. I couldn't figure out why her diaper rashes where not clearing up, after all these prescriptions, and changes in diaper ointment. I took her back to the pedi, and the pedi told me to start marking her diapers to see if the daycare was changing them. I took a pen and started marking the inside of the leg band of her diapers. When I picked her up the first night, she had the same diaper on as when I dropped her off, and it was very wet. It wasn't just wet diapers, it was poopy diapers as well. This happened for 3 more days, and then I brought it up to the director. The director told me that if I didn't like it, I could take her somewhere else, so I did.

Well, that's nice and horrifying. What a smart thing to do in your part though. I wouldn't have thought to mark the diapers.

sharksfan · September 2014

Dawn5481 said:

sharksfan said:

My son was in Kindercare for about 2 months before I found out that he was being severely neglected. He was sitting in his own filthy diaper for hours; they only changed him just before the normal time I picked him up. They were falsifying the paper that said when changes were happening. They were feeding him someone else's bottles, and they were giving his bottles to someone else. This was all discovered when My ILs picked him up for me a couple days and were there earlier than I usually got there. When I approached the director about it, she said "I was hoping to get this resolved before you found out. Give me some time; I'm working with the teachers. " I pulled him that day.

That being said, I know people that have had great experiences at different locations. It really does depend on the staff.

Wow. I'm sorry you went through that. How exactly did your IL find out about the diapers and records? Were they varying the times they picked up?

Yeah, after the first time they picked up and he was in diaper that was soaked through his clothes despite the fact that the form said he had just been changed, I spoke to the director and started dropping him off in a different brand diaper than the ones I provided them. For a couple days, they showed up at random times and always found him in the same diaper I dropped him off in, despite several supposed changes. That's when I pulled him and spoke to the director.

Want a personalized experience?

Kindercare

Re: Kindercare

Choose Another Board

Search Boards