US KIDS daycare experience?

[Anonymous]

Has anyone ever used US Kids daycare? (Their sponsor agencies are Treasury, DOJ, Vet Aff, and the Exec Office of the President; located at 1425 NY Ave NW but the entrance is on H). We are considering this program, but I would really love candid feedback from anyone with experience with them. Any other recommendations in that area of downtown would be useufl as well. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Bump

[jdcgroves]

We used US Kids for a short time and my daughter was miserable. We started her there when she was 14 months old and left shortly afterwards. Could be partly that this was her first experience with a daycare setting, as she had been at home with a nanny before US Kids. But we couldn't bear to see her crying all day and miserable, so we took her out and moved her to a different, smaller daycare center, where she was very happy.

[Anonymous]

I had my daughter there for a short time when she was 2.5, and was generally OK with the program. There were some things that did bother me, however, and I pulled her out as soon as I had an alternative.

1. They don't have an outdoor play area, so when they take the kids out, they walk them to McPherson Square Park or Lafayette Park - neither of which are particularly kid-friendly parks. Otherwise, they would take them for walks in the neighborhood. I really didn't like the idea of her walking around holding onto the rope - it made me really nervous.

2. I'm not a purist, but I was not happy with the amount of sugar being given to the kids. They had ice cream every week (it seemed like it was nearly every day) and I saw an open bag of tootsie roll pops near the diaper changing areas, and assume that they gave it to the kids as a reward of some sort - my current daycare gives the candy to the parent.

3. The kids watched videos - This really made my mad. I don't pay a daycare to sit my kid in front of a TV set - they should be busy with activities, not parked in front of a TV. My current daycare has NEVER parked my kid in front of a TV set.

4. They pretty openly celebrated Christmas - which goes against NAEYC guidelines, and in an area like this, really ends up excluding some of the kids.

[Anonymous]

To the folks who responded that they took their kids and moved them elsewhere, can I ask where you went? I am currently looking at daycare options and would prefer recommendations at this stage...

[Anonymous]

Hi, I saw the post about the amount of sugar at US Kids. That surprises me as I just took a tour there and got the lunch and snack menu and it looked very good to me. There is not ice cream on the menus at all. Can you tell me how long ago this was?

[Anonymous]

I was the sugar poster

This was last year (Dec 06 - Feb 07).

The sugar isn't on the menu, but on the afternoon walk, it wasn't uncommon for the teachers to take the kids to McDonald's for an ice cream cone. It also wasn't unusual for them to give them ice cream as a treat. She was verbal, so she'd either tell me that they took her for ice cream or I'd walk in to pick her up while she was downing a bowl of it.

My husband talked to the director about it, and that afternoon, when I picked my daughter up, she was eating a cookie while the other kids were eating ice cream, because the teachers felt bad that we were depriving her of what all the other kids were getting. It's kind of like the Christmas thing - if you don't give any of the kids something, there won't be those who are left out because they can't participate.

I remember picking my daughter up one afternoon after having the conversation with the director about keeping the sugar to a minimum, and my daughter telling me that she had had ice cream that day.

Another thing that I just remembered bothered me - my daughter was in the downstairs area, but the room where the strollers were kept was next to the toddler room. The teachers in this room started offering my daughter a cup of snacks (crackers) when we left in the afternoon. She began to expect this ritual, and asked for crackers every day. One day, the teacher snapped at me and told me that they didn't give snacks to kids who weren't in their room. This really hurt my daughter's feelings, and was unnecessarily harsh and unfriendly - they were going to deny her the 10 cent cup of goldfish when they started the ritual in the first place?

[Anonymous]

I realize this is an old post, but just curious what parents are saying now with the many changes since 2008.

[Anonymous]

We have been there since April 2008 and we love it. My son has done so well there and we really like the teachers and level of learning that he is experiencing. The director is wonderful. You can talk to her and the teachers about anything.

I don't know what the sugar post is about. If they have ice cream it is for a special event or something, it is not as a snack.

They do not watch videos at all. They sometimes watch a movie related to a book when they go to the library but they do not watch tv in the classroom.

I am very happy that we are there. Especially since I found out that the other school we were going to choose in our neighborhood people are very displeased with and people are taking their kids out of. I have no complaints with US Kids.

I feel like when my son goes to kindergarten he will be well prepared.

[Anonymous]

My child has been at US Kids for about 8 months, and we couldn't be happier. It's a great center.