Short Stuff

We are so happy every day that we found this gem of a little daycare!
Our daughter has been attending Short Stuff Lincoln since the beginning of July. She is a toddler and this is not our first daycare.
All of the teachers and the director clearly love working with the kids. The kids feel safe, secure, and loved. Our daughter learns new songs weekly, never cries at drop off, loves the field trips and outings to the park and playing with her little friends.
This center does not employ a completely separate administrative staff– everyone, including the center director, works with the kids– but while that might mean fewer or slower responses to inquiries for tours for prospective parents, it means that the director is working directly with the kids and teachers to fully understand and make all decisions based on what is best for the kids. The focus on the kids’ well-​being and happiness shows every day. We have never been happier.

We were so excited to check out Short Stuff when we found out that we were expecting! It is located just a few blocks from our home, so we thought it would be incredibly convenient to bring our baby there. Before reaching out to them when we were about 12 weeks along, a friend warned me that they aren’t good about getting back to parents. She said she’d sent countless emails and left many messages, but never got a single response until months after her baby was born, when they’d obviously made alternative plans. The individual she talked to apologized for their lack of response and said they were doing their best to improve the situation.
Starting in December of last year, I began trying to contact Short Stuff. I initially sent an online inquiry on the website. When no one got back to me, I sent another online inquiry and then went ahead and filled out an online application. Then I started calling… and calling. Finally on my fourth attempt over several weeks, someone answered the phone. The individual I spoke to stated that he had gotten only one of my many messages, but did not apologize for no one calling me back. He took down all of my information and said someone would call me back to let me know a time I could come in for a tour. That was two months ago, and I haven’t heard a thing since.
We checked out 5 – 6 total daycares and comparatively, not one of the others did not get back to me within 24 hours. Having your first child is a stressful process, as is looking for a daycare. It doesn’t seem appropriate to further complicate the process by making people have to stalk the daycare to get a call back. Utlimately my husband and I decided that if Short Stuff did not have enough respect for their parents to even return a phone call, then it was likely a red flag and we needed to take our business elsewhere.

My daughter has been at Short Stuff Montrose since she was 10 months old. She started in the nursery and then moved to the Toddler room. The teachers have always been wonderful. I drop her off every day knowing she is spending time with adults who love her like family, and friends that she loves be with both in and out of school.
School is how we refer to Short Stuff because the amount of knowledge my 2 year old gains is immense. I constantly find myself wondering if all this knowledge is normal at such a young age. Her verbal skills, her creativity, and even her manners overwhelm me. I attribute that to the staff, the creative lesson plans and the involvement of the parents.
I worried when we starting her in daycare that they couldn’t possible provide her with the care I could, but in fact it’s quite the opposite. I feel she’s developing and learning more than I could ever teach her and I’m a better mother to her because I am able to work during the day not worrying if she’s unhappy or bored or being mistreated.
Short Stuff is a second home for her. She spends her weekends talking about her teachers and her friends and even gets excited when we drive past the building. I’d imagine if she were writing this review she’d give it a 5 as well.

I find it interesting that the only people who have reviewed Short Stuff, have ONLY Unilocaled about Short Stuff. Hmmm, something smells fishy.
As a parent who used to send her children to Short Stuff, I feel the need to warn anyone about exploring this poorly run daycare.
First off, let me just say that SS has a knack of hiring awesome, caring and nurturing teachers… and then mistreating them until they are fed up and leave.
When I used to ask for lesson plans, because they are not provided to us or posted in the classroom, to find out what my 3 yr old was learning about, no one really knew who was supposed to be creating them. I spoke with the Owner at length about the fact that everything rolled downhill and he was ultimately responsible for the lack of structure and organization in the company and sadly he just turned it around and blamed the teachers. He either blamed the fact that they are young and inexperienced or would just call them incompetent. It was infuriating, to say the least. He always told me how great things were at his Montrose location and promised to forward me emails of their awesome lesson plans, but nothing ever materialized. All of the girls told me they had repeatedly asked for job descriptions and direction from Management but no one ever followed through on implementing true Standard Operating Procedures. No one knows who to talk to about what. Parents are uninformed as to what their children are learning about in the toddler/​mixed age class. Because there is no Director over each center, things are simply unorganized.
I can’t tell you how many times I showed up with my children to find new teachers, without any communication from Mgmt about the change or to introduce her & share with us what her background was. I was leaving my child with a total stranger. This happened regularly as it was a revolving door of teachers who were tired of being disrespected and treated poorly. During our 1.5 yrs there, my oldest had about 10 teachers.
Just last week 2 teachers gave their 2 week notice. When they arrived to work on the following Monday, they were blindsided to find out they were not on the schedule. This was a vindictive act by the Owner to prevent these teachers from being able to say goodbye to the children and parents they loved. The Owner does not realize that the children are the ones who suffer the emotional damage by not being able to say Goodbye to the teachers they love, adore and trust each day. It’s simply not right to rip these kids hearts out in this way.
Then as a follow up to the above vindictive act, SS sent out a new parent teacher handbook prohibiting any teacher from babysitting for the families on her personal time. How ridiculous. Again, the owner is completely oblivious to the fact that in allowing the teachers to babysit, it strengthens the bonds between teacher and child/​parent, which can only help in lenghtening the tenure of each teacher. It only helps SS, but the owner wants to avoid «Favoritism».
At our new preschool, we have Moms Night Out, Dads Night out, etc. where parents and staff go out to socialize with one another and bond. The Owner encourages this as she has nothing to hide and knows the closer the staff is with the families, the more open the lines of communication will be. Quite the opposite at SS where the Owner does not want parents and teachers communicating.
I’m happy to tell you that the loving girls who cared for my kids at SS are still in their lives and will remain in their lives. That being said, since my kids started a new preschool, the positive changes are unbelievable. My 3 yr old, after only 3 weeks, was spelling and writing his name. I get daily and weekly email updates from my kids teachers, text messages throughout the week and tons of pictures. I now feel 100% informed.
Bottom line, SS is fine for the care of babies but once your child moves into a toddler room, the «curriculum» leaves much to be desired.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. In our case, it takes a committed and loving team of daycare staff.
Our son has attended the Short Stuff Lincoln location since its inception in August 2011 and I can honestly say that we couldn’t be happier with the care, attention and education he has received over that year-​and-​a-​half. The staff is friendly, caring and loving for our son. They treat us like family and are genuinely excited to see him each day.
I have several friends with little ones attending other daycares in the area. They pay significantly more and are less satisfied overall than we are. Honestly, we’ve felt lucky to be a part of the Short Stuff family for as long as we have.
I would unquestionably recommend this daycare to anyone.
And for anyone who may be put-​off by the former staff member’s comments… be sure to consider the comments of ACTUAL parents who have been there since Short Stuff began, before you trust someone who mysteriously only lasted six weeks. Just saying.

My daughter has been at Short Stuff for past 1.5 years and we are so happy with the care she receives. She adores her teachers and the staff. The teachers do a great job of knowing each child as an individual, while building a wonderful classroom community. She has learned so much since she has been there, and their curriculum keeps her challenged. At 18 months we are always so ecstatic to see what she comes home with; she has learned to count to 5, sign multiple words, and sign a variety of songs. They do a great job making sure the kids get outside everyday, and truly care about the development of the whole child.