DAYCARE IN NW(PALISADES)

[Anonymous]

Hi does anyone know of a good in home daycare in the Palisades area of NW DC. Thanks

[Anonymous]

Tita's, off of MacArthur Blvd., near Arizona Ave.

[Anonymous]

Tita's???? Do u have any other information like the name of the daycare..etc.....

[Anonymous]

Oh, sorry. Tita's Home Daycare. When I looked, she was licensed. That is all the information I have, although I have heard good things about from some of the neighborhood people.

[Anonymous]

Oh thanks alot do u know exactly where she is I know u said Mac Arthur near Arizona......I just hought you might know the exact address...thanks again

[Anonymous]

We looked in to Tita's in home daycare and she sounds really lovely (sadly won't work for us due to some logistical issues). Her address is 5310 Macarthur Blvd and she is licensed in DC. She does 8 hour days (i.e 8a-4:00pm or 9a-5p) and she has plenty of help. They have music and preschool prep for the older kids. Her phone number is: 202-436-6618. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Thanks alot

[Anonymous]

Anyone know if she has space for new infants? Or have comments regarding this daycare?

[Anonymous]

I would not put my child there - needless to say, I do now have first hand experience. Visit and take a look, meet the people and decide what works for your family.

[Anonymous]

can you explain why you would not put your child there? anyone else have first hand experience (pros or cons?)

[Anonymous]

Bump

[Anonymous]

Any other comments/experiences with Tita's?

[Anonymous]

bump

[Anonymous]

Ugg sorry so long. A couple years ago but a neighbour Recently asked me my experience so i figured id post. Hope this helps anyone in general looking into care, especially first timers, even if this daycare isn't your choice. Trust your gut.

Great referrals from neighbours w great kids but...

First impressions... Old broken toys didnt appear to have much ed value. Place is in the basement of macarthur rowhouses and i just got a wet, stale vibe from it and it was carpeted which is good for babies little knees but gave me a yuck factor. I dont spend a lot of time in my basement and i dont want my child spending 8.5 hrs a day in someone elses basement.

Small outdoor courtyard= not appealing.

Hard to coordinate a visit w Tita.. She sched several times w us but failed to show and workers wouldn't let us in, telling us babies were napping. Ok I get that, I wouldn't want unknown strangers disrupting my kids if they were there but bad communication between them, unprofessional and made our spidey senses tingle that maybe they didn't really want us to visit. They made us feel like it was somehow our fault and first impressions are hard to suppress for us.

Later dh and I compared notes w our drop off and pickup (split it because they were clear that it was an 8 hr day 'but longer was ok, but you'd pay more') so one dropped the other picked up and there were at least 9 babies and toddlers that he saw on drop off and only one care worker, and he was there for a few minutes without seeing anyone else. Tita finally made one visit to meet us and rushed in dressed to the nines but implying she was working that day in the daycare because a worker just left, but our gut was that this was 7 babies/toddlers to the only worker we saw that day... Benefit of the doubt (never a good thing when it comes to other people and your kids) but we decided to take a chance and see.

Had my child there one day a couple years ago so things may have changed;i dont even know if it is still operating. We had dc there one day and refused to go back. Could not understand the careworkers (one may have had a stroke slurring her words)and wouldn't you know it, every time we called for an intro or to coordinate a visit, she answered the phone (wtf?) not her fault but good communication is a must. Thought we'd get to understand them better as we got to know them over the next few weeks.

Showed up the first day to get dc (6 month old) and firstly I saw dc from across the room and I've never seen dc's face like that before or since. Just drained, blank, tired w drying tears. And as I moved to get the baby I kept being blocked by the worker I couldn't understand who i finally pieced it together she was basically saying it is to be an 8 hr day only (dropped off at 8 and was hauling to get there by 430) and I've have to pay extra etc etc. this wouldnt have been a problem; there were other children there but the care worker had her jacket on and holding her keys and ignoring the babies and sorry, but if I'm paying you, you need to be interacting with my baby. 4 babies at this time to one worker.

I finally got past her as she kept blocking me...And the first thing I see is feces very apparent on the shirt, sleeve and back of dc's pants. I pointed it out and she tried to ignore me until I asked for our change of clothes so I could change and clean dc myself. Without apologizing-and I know, poop happens, can happen to anyone but like I say, this was obvious, she did the bare hand sniff test ( i was so worried about communal hygiene and future food prep at this point!)just grabbed dc roughly out of my arms and did a quick non gentle change, clucking and sucking her teeth. I watched her, thinking oh god this is what dc has dealt with all day today...

I held in my rage. I left that day w no report on dc's activities/naps/interactions/milk intake/etc. i was told nothing, though i asked...the only thing I knew for sure when i left that day was that they were all about chasing every last dollar because I was 30 min over (guilty enough, thanks new mum returning to work and all) and that dc had at least one bowel movement because it was on the clothes. She insisted on loaning me a thin blanket for the trip home from some other child (again, good to know that parents may or may not be aware that they are loaning personal items especially in a soiled situation).

I was so quiet and must have appeared upset so I think she was trying to appear caring but I saw her when I came in and she wasn't worried about any of the babies when I walked in so it was very disingenuine. I left and felt like Id scarred my child. Obviously dc is fine but I couldn't have my baby there again. Bad first impression on every count.

Hubby and I exchanged notes. I'm not a super emotional person, especially on a phone call but I began to cry describing dc's face to my hubby. When he got home he shared the ratio issues he saw and the way they tried to hurry him on the drop off. Again tita didn't pass on that we were starting so hubby was outside knocking for 20 min before they let him in...it was so weird.

The kicker: we lucked out and the pt nanny we'd had covering with us was suddenly able to work more of the days we needed. When dh came the next day to pay and cancel our spot at tita's she hovered as he gathered dc's things. She then pats his back and says (in front of other parents, no less) "it's ok. Not everyone can afford us." in a pseudo comforting way. He said calmly 'oh no, it's not the money. It's the quality' and paused in case she wanted to explain anything. She said nothing. He left and later that day she called and asked ' I want to know why...' and he was going to give full feedback. He started with ' my wife was quite concerned yesterday with the lack of interaction and there was feces on dc's clothing-' she interrupts "oh ok bye bye" and hangs up!

It gave me a right mind to call and let her know our choice was to pay 15G more a year for our nanny for quality care and a schedule and communication that suited us and to tell her I wasn't a princess first time mum who was upset her little prince had a little poop on him. I'm sure she lied to herself and convinced herself it was as simple as that.

Please just trust your gut... As a first time mum I felt maybe I was being oversensitive but we are so glad we decided to make other child care choices. Nanny/family member or daycare or sahm whatever you decide, just trust your gut. The little things add up. It's such an important role: I don't believe you are just putting in time, but really helping create a little person and I needed to feel that from our child care.

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for your feedback, it was really helpful