A Child's Space

Recommends

Orange123

Joined 2 years ago

Best DayCare EVER!. I've seen numerous daycares and this is by-far the best!!! The teachers are so great in communicating with the children and giving them the love they need to grow and blossom!

They also provide an amazing curriculum which allows the children to think creatively and explore their artistic abilities.The kids always learn new materials in such fun and exciting ways that they don't consider it "work", but rather FUN!

The ratio is fantastic! At previous daycares,the teachers could never spend time working with the children one-on-one because there were too many children in the class that they were responsible for. However, at A Child's Space, the staff is able to spend time with a child one-on-one and give them the attention they need! You won't be able to find a better ratio of staff::children then here!

Also the webcams are amazing and crystal clear!! The parents are able to watch the webcam during the work day and continue working worry-free knowing that their child is safe and having fun! The security system is very strict, making it a VERY safe place!! Living in the downtown area, they take safety very serious, which I find to be a huge pro! Parents are given their own codes to enter the building, keeping family in and strangers out!

This is an amazing environment, it truly is "The happiest place to Grown and Learn!"

Doesn't Recommend

AshleyTony

Joined 2 years ago

We love the teachers..but can't stand the director. Pros:

- We love the teachers. Our child had been since she was about 9 weeks old. There are a few teachers there that she loves. Most of them interacts with her and has provided her with a safe and warm environment to play and grow. When she first started, there was only one occasion in which they forgot to feed her (it was the last feeding- we could not figure out why she was so upset when we picked her up until we ready the feeding schedule) however since they moved that teacher out of the room, she is doing great now. The new ones are excellent and we feel sooo much better that they're caring for her.

- The facility is pretty decent - clean and roomy- We've tour many daycares before settling in for A Child's Space- this facility seems to be most clean and inviting

-Webcam- it helps when going back to work full-time because we can keep an eye on her on the webcam

Cons:

- We have very high standards for the care of our child but we are also understanding. There are mornings when there is one teacher for 4-5 crying babies. We would have to stay with the baby until another teacher comes- however we understand that people sometimes have trouble gettign to work on time- it's the city!

- The director! She is sweet and friendly but we have come to learn not to trust her. We had negotiated a rate with her for the baby to stay at A Child's Space. She neglected to tell us that they were planning to raise all rates anyway. So a month after she has agree to give us a tiny $50 discount on tuition, we receive an email that new tuition rates will be going up $150 more than the original rate! We asked her about it and she said it applies to everyone and our discount do not apply any more. She was very carefree and acted as if she didn't care if we stayed or not.

- 60 days notice to cancel and we do not get the deposit refunded- it's applied to the last month. 60 days is a long time and most daycares in the city can not hold a spot for you for that long so you are forced to give up the deposit if you need to move your child out sooner than 60 days! also- would you really want your child to stay at a daycare that you don't want them to go to for an extra 60 days?

Overall, for ACS if you want good care for your child, then you will have to deal with management and poor business practice.

Doesn't Recommend

Chi876

Joined 4 years ago

Negative Experience. I do not recommend this daycare. The infants were not interacting with each other or the teachers and it seemed that they were not being stimulated as much as they should. In addition, when we attempted to get our deposit back, we were met with resistence uncharacteristic of childcare givers.

Recommends

chicagomomma

Joined 4 years ago

Great Loving Daycare. I don't typically like to write good reviews for places that I prefer to keep incognito, like our daycare or our pediatrician, or my hair dresser as I prefer that these places not get busy, but I am making an exception. There were several reasons, why I originally chose this daycare:

1. 1:3 in the infant room and low ratios for the older children (this low ratio is unheard of for the majority of the other daycares I toured),

2. webcam (also unheard of for the other daycares I toured), and

3. location (near work so nice).

4. Allow you to come and go as you please. I often went during lunch to feed our baby and I could not believe that other daycares would only allow you to come during pickup and dropoff times.

Our child has been with the daycare for several years now and things have gone along pretty smoothly. I keep the webcam up and running in the corner of my computer at all times so I know exactly what is going on most of the day. When issues do arise (and trust me they do anywhere, but I know about them due to the webcam), I have no problem discussing it with the director and I have found her to be nothing but accommodating which really puts my concerns at ease. Granted, most of the issues that have come up are minor (i.e. pacifier being used outside of naptime) but they are important to me and director has always addressed it and made sure it was corrected within a day.

The teachers are loving and nurturing, which is nice. They often try to get us involved in their daily activities and take the time to tell me how my child did during the day so I don't feel like I missed out on anything.

Overall, I have been very pleased with the daycare and my child's development. My child loves all the caregivers and all the other kids and often talks about them outside of school. I am dreading the day that I have to take my child out of this great environment and into a public or private school as I feel I am so involved now in the day to day activities (with the webcam and daily updates), and once my child is in big kid school, I feel I will not be so involved.

Recommends

Csull

Joined 4 years ago

Great Daycare. My child was at this facility for 3 years. I have had all positive experiences. The staff is very nurturing, friendly, and compassionate. I hate that we has to leave because we were moving out of state. I watched my child grow and blossom!

Recommends

Loolady10

Joined 4 years ago

The Happiest Place to Grow and Learn!. Friendly, inviting, and professional. This child care facility is of the highest quality. Very accomodating to parents needs (i.e. special diet concerns, breast feeding, etc.) Plus the security is very comforting (webcam for parents, key card entry). Everything in the school has a child focus. I would best describe the atmosphere as, friendly and professional. It's a place parents feel happy to leave their child.

Doesn't Recommend

momof2downtown

Joined 4 years ago

Don't even give it a shot here!. We have given this place numerous chances because we could not get into the other daycares in the area and then eventually did not want to transition our kids. However, we've just about had it at this point, and want to make sure other parents dont make the mistake. Yes, there are some pros. Some, and I stress, some of the teachers are really good. But some of those good teachers left, and also, some were initially assigned to one room and then moved without any notice. It speaks to their disorganization. Other teachers were more like caretakers, who would feed and change the babies. But overall, after many issues with organization, payment (being over billed numerous times), poor communication between teachers and parents and director we decided to move our 2 kids from here. In the end, we realized that as a relatively new place run seemingly by one disorganized director who does not have the education necessary to run a childcare facility, we were not willing to stay. Whenever we had issues we'd try to talk to the teacher or director, and were always given a great answer. But then there was no follow through. Their documentation of the children's daily activities (feedings, changing, napping) was very sporadic, so we never really knew what happened there during the day. Yes there is a webcam, but its not that great. You only know where your baby is and don't know for sure if the baby is sleeping or not since the resolution is not great. There were times our older child stayed in a classroom with much younger children because the facility (and director) did not anticipate the transitions for all of the kids. They still are figuring out the process of transitioning kids from one room to another. It was sad really since our kids got attached and liked their friends. Other reviewers said that the bad reviews were from uptight parents, but I know many parents in my older kids class aren't happy but just don't want to move their kids either. Its a place with alot of problems. If you don't believe the negative reviews, think about it this way -- other daycares in the area have long waiting lists, but here there is none, and the rooms all are not filled to capacity. In fact, the infant room only has 5-6 infants and accomodates 12. That should say something. The last thing I'll say is that after we'd decided to leave, the director (not the teachers though) became increasingly rude and unprofessional. It got so bad that during our last phone conversation about a minor fee, she hung up on me. Please heed the advice of so many negative reviews of parents who have removed their kids from here.

Doesn't Recommend

magda123

Joined 5 years ago

Poor. After just a month we decided to withdraw our daughter from this facility , but you have to give 60 days notice to get your large deposit back. Our baby was fed late on multiple occasions ? when we asked why she was fed 1 hour and 45 minutes late they said they ?were busy?. We witnessed a hungry baby cry for half an hour before it was fed; babies are strapped to bouncy seats for much of the day and often fed in them, the ?teachers? change during the day so when you pick up your child the teacher can?t tell you about what happened in the morning. On multiple mornings we witnessed one teacher with more than 4 babies. We would tell the owner who would send in another teacher. One time the owner was not there and we had to go into another classroom and pull that teacher away to go to the infant room. One parent told us how he witnessed a fire drill occurring one day when the owner was not there that resulted in untethered toddlers wandering the sidewalk and wheels on the cribs used to transport the infants falling off. Despite the owner?s assurances, the teachers do not appear to be adequately educated, for example one teacher stated that our 6-month old should be walking. They are poorly organized and the facility often appears rather untidy and dingy. For example, we still get emails from the organization and we still have webcam access despite withdrawing our daughter some time ago. It often took multiple requests in order to get simple administrative matters taken care of, such as asking for monthly invoices. The owner can be very smooth and gives off a false aura of being in control, but she made us a lot of promises that she did not follow through on.

Recommends

acadvk8

Joined 5 years ago

Nothing's perfect, but this one is really good!. Nice location. Well organized, clean inviting environment for children with very committed kind and friendly staff. Strict policies, but most are in place to protect the children, which are clearly the focus of the family owned managment that seems to be involved in every aspect of the business, which I find a positive factor.

Comfort and individual attention for each child's needs, interests and abilities are what we enjoyed most.

Good overall security is in place, parents key in a code that allows access and we are also able to view the center, children and staff via a web-based camera system. You can call in to your child's class at any time during the day and see how they are doing. Tours are scheduled in advance, so outsiders who drop by to "take a look" are not allowed inside, which I feel very good about! A Child's Space holds nice events for parents, staff and children to help reinforce a great sense of community. It would be great if they had more parking, during drop off and pick up, it gets really tight in that area.

I would definitely recommend A Child's Space.... It stands up to many of the best places that I have seen... quite well.

Make an appointment.... and judge for yourself.

Recommends

smoys

Joined 6 years ago

great day care. This is a great day care. We put our daughter in at three months and she has significantly developed physically and intellectually because of their constant attention and stimulation. We visited two other daycares before this one, and yes we may have waited a few long minutes for them to open the door and even when they opened the door they didn't let us in, BUT that is to say they are cautious. Why would you want them to blindly open the door to strangers? Because it is a downtown area, you never know who's lurking around. We don't even open our door at home to strangers, so why would you want them to do it? The other two daycares blindly buzzed us in. In one, we had to fold up our stroller and it took us about 5 minutes to get to their office . They didn't come out to greet us or to see who they buzzed in. What's the point of the buzzer? That was strange and very risky. The staff at A Child's Space are super nurturing, caring and friendly. The parents always smile and greet each other. The activities are great as well. All this and they have webcam. You can totally watch your child all day long. We are planning to move out of the neighborhood in a few months, but we plan to keep our baby at A Child's Space because we love it and it's still close to work.