University City KinderCare

Safety for my child is my top concern as a parent.
My second concern is that my child is cared for and loved when I am not available.
My infant daughter has been with KinderCare University City for almost a year now and I can honestly attest that both of my concerns have been quelled.
She has been loved and cared for by this team of wonderful ladies and my concern for safety is non-​existent.
As a parent I am greeted with smiling faces coming and going. I highly recommend this place.
The reason I did not give 5stars is due to the monthly cost. It’s not cheap and I feel the staff should be paid more for the wonderful care they give.
I’m trusting these women with my child who is priceless. These terrific women should be paid better.

Think twice before enrolling your child in this preschool/​daycare. Unprofessional staff with communication issues.
We prefer a female staff to take care of our daughter for obvious reasons. So before enrolling, we specifically asked the director if they had male teachers/​staff. The director confidently said «no, our staff are all female». Everything seemed great so we enrolled our child. A few months later, we were shocked to find a male teacher in our child’s class. They had lied to us. We asked another teacher to confirm. She said «he had been working here for many years. He helps out and occasionally takes kids to the restroom, but doesn’t look». We were shocked to hear this! Just because he takes our child to the washroom and doesn’t look is not right. We have our own personal set of values and culture and Kindercare did not respect that. They didn’t even bother to tell us the truth. Its like they wanted to say anything just to get our child enrolled.
Another incident occurred during picture day. First, we never authorized Kindercare to have a third party take our daughter’s picture. Well they did it anyways, but no big deal. After the pictures were taken, we noticed that our child’s clothes were changed. My wife and I were furious. How could they change her clothes at school without our permission. I mean this is unheard of. A normal school would not do this! We spoke with the director again. She said you enrolled just after the notices were sent out to parents. And that teachers were present when the children’s clothes were changed. Its like they have an answer for everything. We told them not to take her picture again. The director agreed and understood our concerns. About a month later, we found out that there was another picture day and I never saw a sign or got a notice. What a surprise. Thanks for the heads up.
Our daughter eats well, especially when she runs and plays. We were surprised to notice on many occasions she would come home hungry. After asking her, she would reply «they don’t have lunch, only snacks». In the beginning, I specifically asked to feed her vegetarian meals, but there were a few times that they fed her beef and chicken meals. I know this because we always asked what was for lunch. Its like they don’t care or don’t want to listen to parents. Come on! get your act together.
In the end, We were angry, frustrated and fed up by our experience here within 4 months. We took our daughter out and found another place that is much better. We trusted these people with our child and they lost our trust. This was our experience. Now you be the judge.

November 2015 update
The community manager below claims that I was able to speak to someone and address my concern. Not true. A couple of weeks after posting this review I got a call which reached my voicemail. It was one of the managers. I called him back same day and left a voicemail asking to reach me. Never heard back. So my concerns are not addressed and I don’t think they will be addressed. Meanwhile my son has found a wonderful Montessori that he happily looks forward each day to.
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July 2015
This is the letter that I just sent to the Regional and District Manager. it explains how crappy this place is. I will post an update once I hear back from them.
My recommendation is to keep your children away from this place. Some teachers are good no doubt but several others are cold careless people who treat this like any other job where its OK to slack at.
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After 2 weeks (of which my son attended just 4 days) at this KinderCare location, I decided to cancel my enrollment. However as leaders I think its important I bring to your notice my concerns and reasons behind the dissatisfaction. So far I have spent $ 830 with this center and this is the detailed summary of the care that my son received:
Day 1 (M): Welcome staff makes parents feel great. Amazing sales personnel. Some teachers welcomed my 18 month old son, and he was positive and happy overall. We leave for the day. End of day my son is hysterically crying. We blame it on separation anxiety and staff tells us yeah he will need time to adjust.
Day 2 (W): Son does not want to be here, which we expect but deal with positively. Staff outside was very welcoming but as soon as we step in the toddler room teachers don’t even notice him. We get a welcome but the kinder who is supposed to be cared for, no warmth his way. We leave and then I check back again at afternoon since I work nearby.
I see kids sleeping and teachers chit chatting while the kids are asleep. Calming ambient music is played but where’s the common sense to maintain silence?
End of day note reads he slept for 20 mins only. I can accept this. What I cannot accept is…
… My son at the end of the day was very very thirsty. he got anxious on seeing water (I have never seen him this anxious for water). Which made me wonder if he had been kept thirsty all day. I couldn’t even bear the painful thought that an 18 month old, who cannot say any words yet is kept starving for water. I asked the teachers what happened here and the answer I got was we give water at meals and we have a water spout. Really? Water Spout?
Is it reasonable to expect from an 18 month on Day 2 to independently operate a water spout and figure out that he is supposed to sip mid air?
Day 3 (Fr): Warm welcome for parents cold welcome for kid again. End of day Notes poorly written missing details. When I ask how he has been doing, the answer is oh he is great having fun. But all of this just seemed fake.
Following week my son falls sick… I can accept this… It’s a daycare and his immunity is still building… he recovers by Thursday.
Day 4 (Fr): Wonderfully warm welcome by staff outside. When we step in the toddler room, the teacher is with 4 other kids but no acknowledgement or welcome to him that he is back. What happened to projecting a cheerful positive environment? My son starts crying as soon as he realizes he will be put through this ordeal again. We stay with him try to console him, there are 2 teachers in the room. Nobody offer any indication of them caring about what is going on, they are running around doing their own thing while the 4 kids in there are playing with toys. My son now throws up… the teacher’s next remark is not of concern asking us if he is OK… the remark is to move him away from the carpet.
My wife and I spend the next 10 minutes cleaning up the floor and our son… change him into new clothes… while the 2 teachers do their own thing. We had to ask them to come help and take him. Why can nobody welcome an 18 month old?
We still give this a chance and go to work… end of day we come back and see our son crying. We wait and observe whats going on. We notice that he is crying alone for about 5 minutes and there are 4 teachers in the room. None of them bother to soothe him. When we step in and ask why is he crying, one of the teachers is all caught off guard and mentions «because we changed rooms». We look at the end of day note and I can present it if you’d like… there is no mention of the amount he ate and how much he slept. We ask and the answer we get is «I don’t know». My son is anxious again and needs water… which is when we decided that we cannot continue this cold careless attitude that some teachers are exhibiting at this center.
Is this level of care OK? Now I’ve been asked to pay for 2 more weeks, so I would end up paying $ 1660 for 4 days. How does this make any sense?
Please advice
A father

For some reason, Unilocal decided that my review was not «helpful» and has kicked it into a section that cannot be seen easily by others. Perhaps it was because my settings still listed me as living in Brooklyn. Anyway, trying again to post my positive experience with UTC Kinder Care.

I’ve been very happy with Kindercare for several years now. I have a 3 year old son who has been at Kindercare since he was 9 months old and an 8-​month-​old daughter who has been there for about 2 months. I really love the teachers and feel very comfortable with leaving my kids in this environment. I think they really have a good handle on child development and have been very proactive about introducing my older son to new challenges as he becomes ready for them. They have helped him grow in every way: social development, learning to walk, potty training, numbers/​letters and, now, reading and writing. If you spend more than a few minutes watching the teachers in the 2’s classroom (Ms. Candace and Ms. Olivia), you’ll realize that they should each be making a million dollars a year. I would highly recommend this Kindercare center!

I’m playing the single mom role, while my husband is stationed elsewhere and I’m in law school. This center has the greatest staff! They are always there to help me out for whatever it may be during and after care hours! I love that my school age child is safely taken to and from her school while the younger sibling is taken care of as well! This center also provides military subsidies which makes it much more affordable for multiple children! My kids have never been in a center for over a year and my kids are going onto 18 months here! Its not always easy taking care of multiple young kids, it can be trying on the patience and a true test of character and this center has some of the best staff working with my kids!

My daughter was crying everyday while going there and would sit by herself in the corner crying when I would come over to pick her up. She was constantly getting sick there. The building is old and not ventilated properly. Always smells there. Staff was nice, but most teachers don’t even have associates degree. For what they provide it is way overpriced. There are way better and cheaper schools like Eastgate Christian School and Lighthouse Preschool.

After our experience with Kind care, I agree with the saying all that looks good doesn’t necessarily is good. When we visited their facility, it was very impressive and the admin staff was very friendly, open to answer questions. However enrolling my son based on this external factors was very big mistake. My son had miserable days here. We could sense that he was not happy with the setting. Why I say this is because of the conduct of the teachers. I saw 4 teachers in the class always however none of them welcomed or said hi to us or my son whenever we dropped him at the center. They wanted us to leave asap as if they were hiding sth. The toddler room had weird smell which my son used to get home too. Idea of having separate play area for each class is nice but the base was cemented which could easily hurt the child if he or she falls down. Finally one word of advice: each child is different and the you– the parents can take the best decisions about their children but plz do reconsider your decision about this center if you want a daycare where your child feels like going and teachers feel like playing with their own kids and not doing a 7 – 8 hour job.
Thanks

Took a tour only — so take this for what it is. I was not impressed with the facility regarding younger kids (was checking it out for my 2 year old). Room where this age group was smelled dank and unpleasant, ratio seemed too low for this age group as well. Lastly — saw a 2 year old that was having trouble adjusting sitting by herself and crying. I was only there for 15 minutes, so I don’t want to judge too much, but ugh.
For older kids the indoor area seemed better (and no smell) and the outdoor space was nice and big, but looked like it lacked playthings. Saw some kids outside and they were mostly milling around on a concrete area.
A friend has her 5 year old in the Eastlake KinderCare and they LOVE it — for the price I expected more from this place.

I am a single mom who wanted to believe that this place was the best place for my 8 month old son. He was there 2 months. On the second day he was there– he came home with pink eye and a cold which turned into ear infection after ear infection. His Doctor even asked how sanitary this place was to just have the repeat infections, from only beng there. He really was only there a handful of days and out sick the rest of the time. He cried so much– the ratio from caregiver to child seems like it makes sense until you walk in at any given time to see children crying all over the place. THey never went outside to play as they promise you will happen. If you want your baby held, nurtured and loved– DO NOT TAKE THEM TO KINDERCARE– for the amount of money you pay to trust them with the best interest of your child, they should be a better establishment. I do not recommend this place to anyone. He was there 2 months because I am not from San Diego and had to take time off work to find a different home daycare for him for half the price a lot more attention and half the sickness.

This child care facility is really great. Our almost 3-​yo son has been there for a month, and after the typical rough adjustment to being in daycare after being at home with a nanny his whole life, he now loves it. His teachers have been so supportive, taking the time to have long discussions about how to help him settle it better, even bringing in special toys to help him feel at home (Miss Jessica in particular). They allowed him to bring his special toy to school, which dramatically helped him feel at home. Now he is happy when I drop him off and when I pick him up! He has made friends, learned songs, and comes home talking about what he learned about (spiders on Thursday) and what he did (lots of sliding outside on the playground). I love the daily progress sheets that document how much he ate and slept, how many diaper changes he needed, and a summary of what they learned and did (learned about soil and water, flowers, songs, etc.). I also really liked being able to choose additional classes/​activities for him to participate in — he loved music class with Miss Luna.
Our 11 month old is also at Kindercare, has been there for two months. I was already familiar with how the infant room was run because our older son was there from age 11−12mo (pre-​nanny). I really like how systematically they run the infant room. It is a totally safe environment, so my son can have the run of the place. He has his own crib where his blankie can be placed, his own cubbie for clothes, his own diaper changing basket, his own refrigerator shelf for his bottles, and his own clipboard where all of his feedings, diaper changes, nap times, and other particulars are recorded. The staff is nice and friendly, even though they are quite busy with the little ones! It took him about a month to settle in so that he didn’t cry when I dropped him off. But whenever I would peek in the window to check on him, he would be happily playing away, even though when I actually opened the door he would burst into tears. He loves his mommy! His caregivers always keep me up to date on how he is doing, which is really nice.
I recommend this KinderCare for anyone who wants a safe environment for their little ones, and who need to be able to drop off and pick up very early and very late sometimes — this was one of the only places that could accommodate a before 7am dropoff (1 – 2 times per week for us) and after 6pm pickup (rare, but happens). The price is right for all of the bells and whistles this facility has to offer. The center director Miss Beth is fantastic, so go talk to her!

My daughter attended the center for three and a half weeks
By the end of the first week she started being very fussy about even going to the car in the mornings. Her cryings never stopped in the mornings and in the evenings when i used to pick her or drop her off .
I discussed it at the end of the second week with her miss and the center head– Beth.
One day I bought her some cookies and was surprised to see her eat all of it and ask for more. She was very hungry.
The center does not give my 18 month old any snack or meal after 2:30 pm. I pick up my child at 6:00. My daughter was always crying for food and hungrily gobbled as of she was starved! Beth was not easy to talk to and very indifferent to my concern. My daughter started hating to go to daycare on the mornings and started crying as soon as I turned my car on. All this has stopped at the new child care and she waves me bye from the 3^rd day on in the mornings at the new center. The new center is half the cost of kindercare, I see my child is happy, well fed, learning new things and I am not rushing to pick her up because she might be hungry! Very happy to stop kindercare for her.

Kindercare abides by the 12:1 student/​teacher ratio for 3 year olds which is a shame. Even though this is a minimum requirement for California, Kindercare should staff more appropriately for this age group. As a result, the children are playing in multiple group areas with one teacher oversight. It was not enough structure for my child and others who exhibited aggressive behavior. The teachers do the best they can. They can do better if the school would change their policy and invest in appropriate staffing levels.

Wonder why no review for this yet? Their customer service staff is excellent. I visited this school briefly and the room seems good but air is not great as windows are closed. Convenient location. Quite expensive rate.