Kidz Academy

My son is now almost one year old, and when he started at Kidz Academy he was about 4 months old. I was terrified to leave my son with anyone but me — how would they know what was best for him? Won’t he be scared of all the new surroundings? I gave it some time, faced my fear of returning to work, and let Kidz Academy work their magic. Not soon after, my son started to recognize people and grew to love the staff. Now that he is almost a year old, he actually recognizes the staff that has been with him since he was 4 months old — and he is so attached to them! It makes dropping him off every day even easier, knowing he will be loved and cuddled almost as much as he would be if I could have stayed home with him.
I was particularly touched when Kidz Academy put together a special remembrance for parents who lost one of their children unexpectedly, on what would have been the child’s first birthday. The director, Alicia Wayne, truly goes out of her way for all the parents and children. I have seen her (and other staff members) working long days (10+ hours) and their positivity never wavers. I always get a smile and a summary of what my son did that day at the end of every day.
No daycare is perfect, but Kidz Academy is about as close as it gets for me. They send home a sheet of what he ate and did for that day, every single day. They also send cards and gifts on special days (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, baby’s birthday and milestones), they are extremely interactive with all of their kids and have special areas for the Infants, Wobblers, and Toddlers to play. They also do a monthly date night for parents where the facility is open until 9:30 pm on a Friday night, so parents can sneak away for a few hours and have dinner or do something fun.
The only feedback I want to give them (and any daycare provider) is to remember to be super supportive of breastfeeding moms — I was unfortunately not able to keep up my supply when my son started at daycare due to the lack of nursing/​physical contact during the day, and I would send about 25 – 30 oz of breast milk (typical consumption for a 4 month old) but was pressured by some of the staff to bring more, as he consistently ‘seemed hungry’. I will say that my son has a HUGE appetite, but I think sometimes its easy for childcare providers to confuse hunger with boredom or a myriad of other things babies go through when they are that little (teething, colds, fevers, growth spurts, neediness, etc). Just a reminder for new moms and daycare providers to keep this in mind — its such a struggle for working moms to breastfeed and anything that supports and fosters that on an ongoing basis is extremely helpful for both mom and baby. (Plus, breast milk has been shown to protect infants from colds, flus, and other diseases, which are easy to contract when in daycare for the first time.)
Overall, I am so pleased with Kidz Academy, and I would recommend it to ANY parents looking for a full-​time daycare or preschool program. They also offer a discount for local employers and I believe they have a promotion running right now for discounted care for the first few months. If you have any questions about my experience with them, I’d be more than happy to answer them for you! Send me a message on Unilocal and I will get back to you.
Thank you Kidz Academy for treating my son like he is family!