Experience with Bright Horizons Crystal City
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Anonymous
| Can someone with a very young child (like, <6 months old) comment? I think the place seems great for older kids, but I am not sure whether it's a good environment for little ones who aren't mobile, and who need more attention and shouldn't be left to cry. |
Anonymous
The ratio for infants is 1:3, so the caregivers do the best they can, but the infants do cry sometimes. You are going to see that in any group care facility, unfortunately. I think group care is best for older babies who can engage more, so if you're concerned about someone not holding your child all day long, then probably a nanny is best. |
Anonymous
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I am pregnant and am on the waitlist for this center, but I would like to comment on the price issue that was raised. I don't know where people are getting thier info, but the BH in Crystal City is definitely NOT the most expensive BH in the city/DC. It's kinda in the middle/lower end. Covington is $2200 a month, and the IBD and East End ones are around $1900-$2000. The cheapest ones are the ones in the FDIC and Fingerprints, and those are in the $1600 range. In any event, if you were looking to get your baby on there (or any other BH center), good luck. The average waitlist time for infants is about 12-18 months, as long as 2+ years in some other centers. So, if you want to get your baby in, you better get on a waitlist as soon as you find out you are pregnant!
All that being said, I have been very impressed with the BH centers I have toured (probably 8 or 9), and when compared to some of the independent centers around here, they are worlds apart. The BH centers are super clean and of adequate size. If you go with a BH in the city, most of them are indeed underground, but there are a few above ground that let in light. The center directors have been very imformative and seem on top of things. All the kids looked pretty content, and their needs were being tended too. I look forward to enrolling my child in one of the BH centers when it arrives. |
Anonymous
Could not be more true. |
Anonymous
I realize that this post is almost a year old but I was struck by what you said. You are right, daycare providers will never interact with your child the way that you and your family does. He will cry and that is just a fact of daycare. And as far as the diversity issue, most teachers and assistants in BH centers in DC are of one race. |
Anonymous
I totally agree too, they lost my paperwork numerous times. Really incompetent. |
Anonymous
| We are at a different BH in Northern VA but we also have experienced UNRESPONSIVE management and high staff turnover. Not only is it high turnover but the providers get shuffled around different classes all day so there is no continuity of care. Fortunately, we're easy parents and DC's providers have been very good which is why we stayed. The facilities are clean. However, we've been very dissappointed at the poor customer service and lack of interest by the management staff. |
Anonymous
| Just an FYI, I don't know what changed recently but we got an infant spot @ BH Crystal City after only 2.5 months on the waiting list. Made us a bit leery actually... |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
| I was the poster who stated I was offered an infant spot after 2.5 months on the list. We received one offer of a spot in early November via email from the director - that email said 6 infant spots were available. Then, after we declined, we got an email from someone else a few weeks later stating they were interested in opening another infant room and were trying to see if people were interested. So, if you have been on the wait list I would DEF call or better yet, stop by in person! They never ever return phone calls. |
Anonymous
| When I was touring the center a few weeks back, they mentioned opening another infant room, so perhaps that could be the reason for the extra spaces? They might have said something about how they had put the opening on hold until a teacher came back from maternity leave though. If you are on the waitlist, I don't think a call would hurt. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| Fascinating. They opened an infant room back when my daughter was an infant a few years ago. We were luckily able to find spot at a cheaper & more convenient daycare, so we turned the spot they offered us down. They obviously kept us on file though - we got a call sometime in the last few months offering us a spot at the daycare. I figured they must be having trouble filling spots... |
Anonymous
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We are a former BHCC family in the infant room there. I'm not surprised that there were spots that opened sporadically. BHCC has a large infant program with three rooms. In our year-long tenure in the infant room, we saw a ton of infant turnover because people moved their kids to other facilities (usually due to price). I was told from BHCC teachers that it is the second-most expensive center in the DC area, and that a lot of parents will start there with their babies, but will switch them when a more affordable BH spot opens up. Many BH centers offer discounts to certain government employees or corporate relationships, but BHCC does not, so the babies will move to centers that offer discounts.
We were very happy with BHCC and would recommend it highly for infants. But, we too had to move our child to another less expensive center when DC #2 was born because we could not afford $3900/month for childcare. |