Forum Index
»
Preschool and Daycare Discussion
National Archives CDC in College Park
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| Anybody have any info on this center? |
Anonymous
| Bump |
Anonymous
| anyone? |
Anonymous
| I'd be willing to talk with you about it privately if you post an email address. |
Anonymous
|
Bumping this now that my child is no longer there. We had a really negative experience with the infant room there. After telling us during a tour that they follow the individual babies' schedules, we discovered that the caregivers had a very rigid daily schedule that they try to get all the babies to follow in order to make it easier for the caregivers. Babies are all fed at the same time. There obviously aren't enough hands for this, so they would put babies in swings and then prop bottles on stacks of blankets in infants' mouths. They wanted all the babies (even babies as young as 3 months) to take one nap from 12 to 3 every day. It seemed like every time I picked up my child, regardless of what time of day it was, all the babies would be parked in swings or bouncy seats. They combine the infant room with the toddler room for much of the day to cut down on the number of staff they need. As a result, teachers would often be completely busy with active toddlers, and it seemed like no one was ever holding the babies. The main teachers in the room were better, but they arrived very early and left for the day at 3:00. So from 3:00 to 6:30 when the center closed, the infant room was staffed by surly teenagers. Even when parents were there, they would just be sitting talking to each other about their weekend plans or whatever while completely ignoring the babies. When my husband or I tried to ask questions about our child's day, we would get shrugs or one word responses.
I really struggled with wondering whether my expectations were too high and whether these things were typical of all infant daycare. Now that my child is at another daycare that is absolutely wonderful I can say emphatically that the things that I witnessed at Easter Seals at National Archives were unacceptable. Our experience there also made me really question the value of an NAEYC accreditation. This accreditation was a major selling point for us in choosing this center, but in the end, it meant nothing in terms of assuring that our child was well cared for. |
Anonymous
| Where are you now? I'm curious because I'm looking to leave my current daycare and I'm in the area. |
Anonymous
Our new daycare isn't in the area. We were there because it's close to my office, but the new daycare is close to our home. |