Hi,
I am looking to send by 2 yr 3 month old to early preschool or day care since I am returning back to work.
I have 2 options of good day care kids r kids in flower mound which is new, clean and has online viewing option.
It's has 11:1 kids to teacher ratio but I felt the teacher is less incline into kids and kids may get bored quick.
And primrose at old orchard, this facility is old and lil less clean and does not have online viewing option but has lots of good review abt kids and teacher interaction and kids to teacher ration is 8:1.
This being said I am really hesitant to leave my kid in day care since he has been with me all this while.
Please member provide your feedback good or bad abt institute in case if u have any experience.
Ok, today we had a discovery day scheduled at primrose. I was excited and so was my son. I left him at 9 am at school after his breakfast. Well when I left him there most kids looked normal and were eating snacks and doing fine. My son went and sat with them he was offered snack too. My son yet doesn't know to drink directly out of cup, he uses straw to drink water or milk, and I informed the same to the teacher and handed her my sons water bottle for her to remind him to drink from it.
Now I get back home ( I am currently SAHM and going back to work in few weeks) after 2 hrs around 11 am I went to check on my son. All kids are playing outside in play area and today the temp her are 45 -50 but sunny yet cold and windy, apart the playground was all wet since it was raining yesterday. And kids were playing, there pants were all wet so was my sons ( this shocked me). Most kids were having runny nose and no one was bother to clean them . One of the teacher was changing diapers and other was looking at kids who were outside.
Then after some time they were asked to move in for lunch ( they did not ask kids to wash hands neither they did), here now they put the laptop On put some cartoon and keep it above over something so kids are distracted and so that they can arrange plates and food for lunch (understood and completely fine for 5 -10 min though no screen time for kids under 3 was claimed). All kids along with my kid sat for lunch ( my kid eats lil slow). No one is monitoring them while eating. I move out now to call my husband and sit in car for 20-30 mins.
Later I just step inside and plates were all removed and few kids were taking nap some were playing. Two more kids along with my son was crying. I jus watched over him from far went over there and saw his hands and around his mouth there was pizza sauce and he was not even offered water. I jus pick him up and brought him home.
Contemplating n returning back.
11 : 1 is nuts. they have to legally have aid's or teachers helpers in for that age group. make sure you don't mistake "new" for cleaner. it just means the walls and floor are brighter lol. the online viewing thing is cool but also a possible stresser for you as you will be constantly checking it.
I don't live in your area but I am familiar with both chains. I have experienced and heard less good about various Kids R Kids facilities in the Houston area. In contrast I have experienced and have heard almost nothing but good about various Primrose facilities in the Houston area. Consistency to me means the chain as a whole has a clear vision and the people in place to achieve that vision. BUT any daycare is only as good as their staff so the reputation of the chain is only part of the equation.
The first thing I would recommend you do is read the reviews of the daycare facilities as determined by inspectors who work for the state of Texas. Each licensed facility is subject to random inspections. The inspection reports are what you need to know also. We toured a few daycares that looked amazing. However, when we read the inspection reports we saw consistent, big issues which to me indicated leadership and quality issues at those places. If the leadership isn't any good, the staff will struggle and the children as well. Don't go by appearances alone.
https://www.dfps.state.tx.us/Child_Care/Search_Texas_Chil...
Once you have a few facilities in mind with great reports, go on a tour. On a practical note go during the day and observe these facilities. Go more than once if that is what it takes. There are differences from morning to afternoon; in the afternoon the kids tend to be tired and ready to go home. They are a bit harder to manage in my opinion. Contact each facility so you can go when the kids are awake; going during naptimes is not very helpful. Seeing the staff in action is the only way to make a real determination. Remember any daycare is only as good as their staff. Pay attention to how the teachers act. Do they seem frazzled? Overwhelmed? Calm? Happy? Cheerful? How do the kids seem? Are they mostly happy? Lots of crying from lots of them? Crying is to be expected but most of the kids should be happy.
Going back to the state’s inspection website, reading the reports is a bit overwhelming at first. On the first page you can read three important things: 1) general facility information (top); 2) inspection details (middle); and 3) deficiencies (bottom).
At the top you learn the following: how long a facility has been open; how many children they can accommodate; and if they have needed any corrective actions and/or been temporarily closed due to violations. For me if the facility can accommodate more than about 200 kids I get nervous. If they have received any corrective actions or been temporarily closed, I am done looking at them. There have to be rules for your search and those are some of mine.
In the middle you can learn about the inspections. You can see how many inspections they have received in 2 years and then click on a link to read the details of those inspections.
At the bottom you can learn about their deficiencies. You can see how many they have had and the severity of those deficiencies. Don’t necessarily panic if all of the deficiencies are “high”. You can click on a link to read the details of those deficiencies.
I looked up the Kids R Kids you mentioned. The facility is new and has only been licensed since 2013. So far they seem to be on track to do well because in 16 inspections they have only had 4 violations in 2 years. The other thing I note is the school capacity. They can handle 320 children which is a lot in my opinion. I would be concerned about the student to teacher ratios which is a consistent complaint I have experienced and heard about this chain by the way. Next I read they have had 16 inspections in 2 years. Those inspections deal with background checks and/or records keeping and occur in both operating years, 2013 and 2014. For me those are not deal breaker type violations on the surface but it would cause me a concern because it indicates to me they are not taking care of their internal workings which are designed to help protect the children. Finally I read the deficiencies of which there are 9; 7 are high and 2 were medium. Those deficiencies, though, worry me when I read the details from the link. The last deficiency was a background check issue. The ones from the summer of 2014, though, raise major red flags for me – prohibited punishments, oversharing information with a parent, responsibilities of caregivers, and placing children at risk. The last few go back to the background checks and records keeping. At this point this facility would have some hard questions to answer from me.
Next I looked up the Primrose you mentioned. They have been licensed since 2005 which is solid and they only accept 175 children which is a good thing in my opinion and experience. They have had 6 inspections in 2 years and 6 deficiencies. The 6 deficiencies are as follows: 5 from July 2014, pertaining to training, background checks and (more seriously) safety in the infant room. The baby room had crib mattress safety issues and prohibited equipment in the cribs. The last was from June 2013 and pertained to fire inspection permits. I already feel better about this facility based solely on their reports.
PM me if you have more questions. Daycare searching is a stressful undertaking. My kids have been in daycare for two years and I have been pleased more than not. A great daycare is your ally in raising your children and there should be an open dialogue in place to assist this process. Good luck.
If your gut instinct is saying that a teacher is less inclined to engage with the kids, absolutely listen to it. I agree with the other posters who encourage you to place more weight on good reviews from parents and not be distracted by the new floors, etc. I would pick a proven good place with some wear and tear that has enough staffing.
Good luck with it! Leaving your youngster for the first time is a big thing, and just know that s/he will be fine.
Go observe both of these before you make a decision. Being an active and involved parent is a good thing.
I'd go with the one with great reviews and higher interaction with the kids.
We learned through gymnastics classes that newer/cleaner doesn't amount to much. The fancy gymnastics place had very high turnover and a rotten owner. Our daughter ended up much happier at the older, smellier gymnastics place where she didn't have a new teacher every few weeks.
I agree with the other poster. The online viewing option can prove to be a real distraction when you're trying to work. Last thing you want to do is get caught viewing it all the time when you're supposed to be working.
Child to teacher ratios are important. I would tend to go with a program that has happy parents and families. While I would encourage you to think of preschool as a time for your son to be interacting with other kids (and not so much the teacher), I know from personal experience as a longtime preschool teacher that 1:11 is a LOT for one adult for that age.
In Oklahoma the 2 year old ratio is 8 kids to 1 teacher. I think 11 to 1 is way too high.
