Bright Horizons at Bellevue

This is not a family-​style daycare that most of us want for our children — its goal is to provide «family solution» for busy parents, which sounds fine when that’s what you need and the location works for you. We decided to give it a try.
1. Teachers: The teachers we interacted with at the Bellevue Bright Horizons were very kind, but there just wasn’t a lot of attention paid to what children want or like. Circle time was mechanical with no involvement from the uninterested toddlers. Daily reports were written in boiler-​plate. Why do they bother sending the daily reports if there’s no personality, no reflection of the lives of the children? Every day they list a book they read, a song they sang, and every once in a while a picture they painted. Our son, nearly every day, «liked playing with friends outside» or «liked stacking blocks.»
The photos on those reports were the only clue showing that they were, in fact, up-​to-​date, but the children never seemed happy or engaged. At other daycares our son is one of the happiest and most flamboyant children you’ve ever seen, constantly gleeful and excited. In pictures from Bright Horizons he seldom even smiles.
2. Speaking of happiness, this was the most unhappy place I have seen. As you pass through the hall, you get brief glimpses into each room through the glass doors. There is always at least one child screaming right up against the door, and I have never seen any teacher pay them any attention, whether in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening. Our son began his childcare life as an infant, and we know him to be an independent child; in his other experiences with new childcare he opened up to the place immediately. For more than a month at Bright Horizons Bellevue he still cried his heart out when we dropped him off. Bright Horizon’s stated philosophy is that crying is evidence of «separation anxiety,» an excuse to get parents out of the building so they were not around to «distract» the children.
3. Hygiene and communication about outbreaks of diseases. Two months into our enrollment, our son came down with Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease. Prior to this, we only received one two-​sentence email stating its presence in the classroom, with no clarity how long it had been going on, how many children were infected, and whether this was a daycare-​wide phenomenon or a only for his classroom. We called when he came down with it, and the response was indifferent. The infection was horrific for all of us – he was covered by painful blisters, and when those were finally dry his skin sloughed off and he lost his fingernails — he was out for more than two weeks.
We never received a phone call or an email about him during the whole time he was sick. When we finally returned, after more than half a month, we received no recognition that they even realized that he was sick. We were greeted by his main teacher with this: «How was your weekend?» Oh, never mind. That was $ 800 we paid for the luxury of staying home sick with a thoroughly preventable disease.
I still can’t figure out how many children in that room took ill, but at one point only two children were shown in the pictures, so it seems likely most of them fell ill to that dreadful disease at one point or another. A few of them would be one thing.

Son has been attending since 3 months old. Review is pretty much based on infant room.
Pros: clean and inviting and safe. Daily communication with emailed newsletters.
Other Pros:
–mandarin !
–direct deposit for monthly statements
–The child to teacher ratio.
–computer checkin/​checkout automatically emails you and spouse so you are alerted anytime someone does anything with your child. Just another safety precaution that I appreciate.
–Ability to store car seat in a special cubby all day.
–teachers that know babies ! Mariya and bistra are seasoned pros and have helped me when I ask questions. (is it normal if he wants to drum on everything? Is it normal he won’t do sippy cup? How come he won’t nap at home like he does here? Etc.) for the record, him being here has helped tremendously with eating on his own (pincer and sippy cup) I’m certain if he wasn’t here he would have been an extra month or so before eating on his own. The teachers sit at the table and eat with the babies
–the art studio. David is always setting up one grand project after another. And is a huge Seahawks fan so there’s always lots of activities for little 12’s. Can’t wait till my son can participate in this program when he’s older. I’ve also seen David playing checkers/​board games with the older kids and he’s even juggled subbing in for a teacher a couple times.
–encouraging front desk staff. Every day you are greeted. And there’s lots of emails sent which I love because I can barely remember anything before I get home. There’s construction emails and menus sent from the director so you constantly are in the loop.
–healthy food — chef on site. Although I haven’t seen a huge variety. But this is where I learned my son had a love of tuna casserole !
Con:
–parking !!! And construction have made some
Drop off/​pick up days a nightmare. I wish teachers would be forced to park off site or in upper lot so parents who have to lug heavy car seats with a 15 pound plus baby inside don’t have to walk far. Also– there’s always a delivery or field trip bus or gymnasium equipment unloading happening in the first few spots. Would be nice if these along with the fish tank cleaner man could park a few spots back vs taking up prime real estate.
–Con:drop in kids/​backup care program
I love the Microsoft back up care program. I’ve used it. (but for someone to come to my home)
But what I’m not a fan of is the Amt of drop in kids because it throws off the whole schedule/​balance of the classroom. I’ve encountered one too many times where I’m dropping off or picking up and one of the teachers has said «sorry — we had a drop in baby today so it’s been a bit crazy». This means more attention on a crying baby and less on my son. It also potentially means no newsletter going out. Or a new virus spread. My son was sick A LOT. And a lot of the times I wondered if it was a drop in baby who actually started spreading it around the class. For the days when I did keep my son at home, i sometimes didn’t let the teachers know because if I did — then I know they’d land a drop in baby last minute so instead I gave them a bit more quiet for the day.
Con: price. It’s pricey. But compared to if I had a full
Time nanny available 6:30am-6pm it’s not that pricey. But the price does go up every year. So don’t be fooled and think it’ll be cheaper when they get older.
Con: germs. It’s daycare and it’s everywhere. I wish though there were a bit more steps to eliminate outside germs besides the shoe booties. Maybe a pen attached to each clipboard so we’re not all sharing one pen with no hand sani nearby?
Or make car seats stay outside classroom instead of being able to place on infant eating table. Or sanitize the checkin /​checkout computer.? Just a few extra precautions in place would be nice.
Con: school closures on days when my office is open. Make sure to double check the days off because there’s days like mlk etc that I’ve had to take off work since the school is closed in observance of pretty much every holiday. They also have some early closures during like thanksgiving /​Xmas.
Overall, recommend but have to take away a full star because of the construction /​parking situation. It’s such a problem that we considered moving to another location but didn’t want to leave behind the familiar faces in the class.

My wife and I found out she was pregnant in November of 2013, with a due date in the beginning of July of 2014. One of our first thoughts were, we need to make sure we have 3 day a week day care taken care of. My parents live in downtown Bellevue, and my wife works in downtown Bellevue as well, so we wanted to make sure we got our girl into the downtown Bellevue location. I called them right away, and went in for a meet and greet (they suggested this) on December 17^th, 2013. When we left, we were very impressed, and decided this is where we wanted to put her, even though it was more money than competitors. They asked for $ 150 deposit for the spot. The lady that day told us «For an October 1^st, 2014 start date, with a deposit, you will get in no problem, just call us and check in every few months». We thought we had the issue addressed. In April, I called them to check in, and make sure we were still on track. I was told, yes, there was nothing to worry about and to call them when the baby was born.
Our baby was born on July 2^nd, which we were very excited about. Once we got home and settled down, I decided to just make sure our spot was good, and fill in the day care on when we needed to start (my wife is taking 12 weeks off). I called them on the morning of July 14^th, and told them we had our baby, and we were still OK with an October 1^st start date if needed, but ideally we could start the week before (or I had to take a week off work).
The lady who answered the phone was very polite and said the director would call us back. The director did not call us back, but sent us an email, stating that there was no longer a spot available for us. Not only was there not a spot available on October 1^st, but there «most likely» would not be one until May of June. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t be able to pay for the price of Bright Horizons without jobs.
I would strongly encourage anyone to consider other options that have a more personal interest, and a higher level or professionalism. I am not sure what we could have done differently, especially since we gave them 150 dollar non refundable deposit more than 10 months prior to our start date.
Now we are out 150 (non refundable deposit… least of our worries), no day care to send our girl to, and we are 10 weeks out from my wife having to go back to work.
I have to assume what happened is, another party was able to fill the spot prior to us, thus affecting their bottom line. It is very evident to me, this center’s only priority is profits, and not the interests of families and their children.

My daughter attended this BH for about six months when she was two years old. We always found the rooms clean, and the teachers friendly and forthcoming.
Our only complaint would be the cost, (thus why she’s still not at this BH,) but it isn’t outrageous for similar centers in the area.
Parking can be an issue in the evening during busy pickup times, but you learn to work around it.

My son has been going to this daycare center since he was 13 months old and has been with BH for almost a year. I choose this location over the BH at Summit because of the outdoor playground area. This center offers Mandarin program (from what I remember the Summit location doesn’t). The art program is inspiring and fun. This particular center even has a kid rock climbing wall in the gym room! Every once awhile the center invite parents for a special event night which they provide «dinner» (ex: pancake, egg casseroles, wraps, fruit salad, etc). Staffs at the center are nice and approachable. Most of teachers are experienced but they might not as attentive as one might think. The teacher to student ratio is 1:7 for toddler and 1:5 for preschooler. Yes, they do get busy in the class. Do expect to see diaper rashes for your child once awhile because their dirty diaper didn’t get change in time. Also, do expect your kid have the experience to taste their own snot because teachers can’t keep up wiping the running nose. One thing that bothers me the most is the meal. For breakfast, if you miss the 8:30/8:45am mark, your child may not have any food to eat because either the teacher didn’t save it or there aren’t just enough food left to serve. The tuition cost for infant /​toddler is over $ 2000 and starting pre-​k is roughly at $ 1700. Not all BH are equal. The one I’ve visited in AZ all teachers are either working towards or already have a child-​education degree. This BH center doesn’t seem to emphasize much on the education level for the staff. My overall experience with this BH center remains positive given the teachers I have for my son are pretty decent. Other parents have told me they are disappointed with the care this center provided for the amount of tuition they charge. :-\

Great school that has a caring and friendly staff. My little one has been going to the school for over 6 months now and we couldn’t expect more from the staff and curriculum. The only knock is that the parking lot sucks. Getting in and out of the school can be rough during pick up and drop off times. I think it is a minor hassle since I am able to send my kid to a school that has a language program, art classes, a huge outdoor play area.

When I was looking for a childcare for my daughter, I toured quite a few different schools and the one that stood out head and shoulders above the rest was Bright Horizons at Bellevue! During our initial tour, my daughter was so excited about her «new school» that she wanted to join her new friends right away! She LOVED it! The classrooms were wonderful — so full of energy and smiles. I was very impressed with every facet of the school, right down to the little cubbies! It felt like a home away from home and I couldn’t register my daughter fast enough. Knowing that my daughter is in such caring and loving hands while I’m away from her makes me and my husband so happy and secure in our choice!

My son is enrolled in the Two’s program twice a week for a few months now and so far it’s been a great experience! This is his first time going to a day care /​early preschool program and he adjusted within a few weeks. His teachers have been so patient and caring towards him, which has helped him feel comfortable and enjoy his time there. I like their daily class schedule — it’s a good mixture of activities. They also write down all the activities the kids did in class that day, as well as some personal notes about how my son did, what and when he ate and how much of it. Whenever I pick him up from school, he’s always smiling and having a fun time with his other classmates.