Does anyone have their children in any of these daycares? I am going back to work at the end of the month and I have to make my final decision about care for my 2 month old. Can you please provide your recommendations? Thank you.
I will say that my boys attend Peter Pan Preschool in Naperville and I love it. They are a small group of daycares/preschools vs. a large corporation like Kindercare. I have provided therapy for kids in early intervention in Kindercares and some are fantastic, some not so much.
My older son attended Peter Pan in Westmont from Aug '08 - June '09. During that time he was in the toddler and 2 year old classrooms. We had a very good experience there, and he often asks me if he can go back to his Peter Pan school. Although he was not an infant, he did have some experience with the infant teachers, Susan and Kelly, and I never had any issues with them. They were very caring and interactive. He also was taught be Miss Gauri and Miss Stacy, and LOVES them both. They did many activities with the kids, although I agree that letter recognition was not one of them. That doesn't seem to have impacted me son, though, as he knows all of his letters right now and is in the beginning stages of reading (before his older cousin who DOES go to a preschool that teaches letters.)
The only problem that I ever had was once a teacher put my son in time out before he was 2 years old (against DCFS guidelines). I mentioned this to the director and she reprimanded the employee who did so (this teacher is no longer working there.) Another issue was that oftentimes when I picked up my son his hands were dirty, like they had not been washed after playing outside. I mentioned this to the director in my exit letter, and she did write to me later to apologize and promise that she'd make sure the teachers were doing a better job in this area.
The turnover of director and teachers that we noticed was for various reasons. One teacher got a job as a nanny and another left to return to school to complete her degree. 1 of the teachers did send home little cards to the parents to say goodbye.
Overall, I would choose it again, as I always felt confident that my son was well cared for and in a safe, well structured environment. Definitely take a tour and ask if you can contact other parents who currently have their children enrolled...both in the infant room and in the other rooms. Good luck!
I don't know if you are set between the two of those daycares, but my kids go to the Village Children's Academy in Westmont (Odgen and Cass). I absolutely love the staff there. My daughter has been going there since she was an infant (she's now 5). Not only am I happy with the staff, they are also the cheapest center I have found. They are super flexible and accomodating. I would highly recommend you check them out.
(They also have a center in Hinsdale, a few blocks from downtown, I believe)
My daughter attended the Peter Pan daycare for about a year and a half. I love several things about it and was not a fan of a few. There was A LOT of change going on there right before we left and I saw several parents pulling there children. They lost a director and 3 teachers (all from the 3 year old program) in a matter of a month. I believe they have lost 1 or 2 more teachers since them. Basically as a parent we were told they were gone with no explanation or anything. This made me feel uncomfortable like something was going on.
My daughter had a problem with a little girl there and I don't believe it was handled correctly. It got to a point where my very outgoing girl who doesn't have a shy bone in her body would cry and run behind my legs and hide when I dropped her off and she saw this girl. I ended up have her moved into the next classroom to separate the girls as I felt I wasn't getting the help I wanted.
I was surprised that at 3 years old they were not teaching the letter recognition or sounds. I never saw a worksheet or anything with a letter on it such as an art project etc. As I was leaving they were getting a new 3 year old teacher (ms. mia) who I liked. She started implementing letters into a curriculum which was a start but we ended up moving so I pulled her from the school.
There is a new director and many new teachers and I can't say much about them. I just know what I saw with my daughter. I think there are some great teachers who care alot about the kids.
I would suggest gong in there with your 2 month old and see how they interact with her. She what they do. I found this to be best when I am looking at daycares.
Good luck!
