Waverley Square Daycare

We are very pleased with the level of attention both our children have received at WSDC. We have a child in the infant room and one in Pre-​K. The infant room is stocked with stimulating toys and activities, and the teachers do an excellent job with managing their daily schedules while incorporating new and different sensory activities on a daily basis. Their level of involvement goes far beyond what I’ve seen at other daycare centers I have found the staff to be very accommodating and helpful when I’ve had questions regarding my child’s development and needs.
As for the Pre-​K room, all I can say is that my daughter looks forward to playing with the other kids and teachers every day. Regularly she tells me about something new she learned in class, to me that says volumes about how well the Pre-​K class is organized and the quality of the staff.

I feel compelled to comment on the care at WSDC after seeing a recent review with what I feel is a vastly inaccurate portrayal of the infant class. Our daughter attended Waverley Square in Lexington for about a year before we relocated and had to pull her out. She began as an infant and received absolutely excellent, attentive care from her teachers and was given opportunities to grow through sensory, creative and gross motor activities. The other poster had concerns re: sanitation. The place is cleaned every night and I was never concerned — at all — with the cleanliness of her space. (I should also add that a hyper-​sanitized environment is actually not considered healthy if you look at the research, so if I was him/​her, I’d consider that to be a blessing if there were indeed a few germs around).
The situation regarding an unlocked church door with access to the shared hallway was accurate but not unknown to parents who chose to send children to WSDC and was consistently monitored by staff. We felt comfortable with the setup and security.
I can also speak to our experience in that our daughter went through a period similar to what the poster described — crying, resistant and generally anxious about the separation after having been at WSDC for some time. This was not due to the care — it was due to a natural developmental period for her that passed.
We were more than pleased with her infant care at WSDC. As she moved into the toddler room, we had a bit less rapport with the teachers and there was an unfortunate period of turnover that made our communication more challenging. However, the Director and Assistant Director were always responsive to our concerns and always put the children first.
When you choose a daycare, you are entering a relationship. You need to assess your needs and what the center provides for your child socially and environmentally before you enter the relationship, as the poster clearly had not done. And, as with any good ongoing relationship, it requires managing high expectations on both sides, good communication and a general desire to mutually provide care. After all, your kids can be with his or her provider more than they are with you, and those providers are other humans. You have to work to ensure you are co-​parenting your children effectively and remember that they are also caring for other children and must do that effectively also. If you can’t handle that, you should consider a nanny or a lifestyle change that allows for one parent to keep the child at home.

My son attended WSDC in Lexington from when he was 3 months through 6 months old (and then I ultimately decided to quit my job to stay home). Waverley was one of the only daycares that was able and happy to accommodate my unusual schedule of part time, afternoon care. I needed 12:00pm-5:30pm three days a week and they were more than willing to help me with this. Every time I called to check in on my son I was able to immediately speak with the assistant director who was more than happy to fill me in on how he was doing and would always let me know I could call at any time! We were in a jam on a day he didn’t attend and I called at 8:30 that morning and they were happy to let us have him come an extra day. The ratio in the infant room is small and he got undivided attention and was able to stay on a schedule that worked best for him. He loved the other babies in the room and really enjoyed playing with them. I’m a (former) childcare administrative professional myself and have a high standard of childcare. Which was exactly what I was looking for when I found Waverley! It was a great experience for us.

The review below is for the Infant class staff, as well as the management.
I do not usually write reviews because typically reviews have already been provided and it would be redundant. But in this case, I see very few real reviews that bring to light the problems at this daycare.
We could not wait to get out of there. This daycare has a long way to go before they’re comparable to other schools in both their ability to care for the babies and the professionalism of the staff.
The staff refuses to enforce removing of the shoes policy. Parents stroll in with their filthy outdoor shoes, walk all over the floors where my baby and others’ babies (including their own) are crawling and picking debris off the floor… and put it in their mouths! This is a sanitation and hygiene issue that we brought to staff’s attention but nothing was ever done about it. They don’t even have a sign or disposable booties for parents to wear. They all walk in and do not remove shoes. Disgusting!
SAFETY RISK: They constantly leave the doors wide open so ANYONE can enter off the street and access the infant room! There are combination locks but they have one design flaw… the door has to be shut! The daycare is attached to a church so the church staff is given the passcode. I don’t care if Jesus himself wants to enter… no one, except for daycare staff and parents should be allowed in! We live in a world where you can’t be too careful, and leaving the doors wide open is not acceptable.
We feel fooled by the management and staff, who initially seemed cooperative, understanding, and generally nice. Shortly after we started there, our concerns were dismissed and we felt they were defensive and disrespectful towards us. Especially one particular infant room caretaker who consistently defied our instructions and suggestions on caring for our baby. She was confrontational and rude!
They have a poor organization for feedings and sleep/​nap. Babies are all put down for a nap and fed at the same time. Naps are in PITCH BLACK, which really ruined my son’s night time sleeping. It was horrible. Babies played in the dark if another was sleeping. Very poorly structured. They don’t know what they’re doing and do not understand infant sleep patterns and basic needs.
The list of grievances goes on and on… if I think of more, I’ll add to the review.
The infant room staff will make OK babysitters, but for 2K a month, they’re not worth it!
I hope this helps even one parent to not make the mistake we did.

My daughter started at Waverley Square Daycare when she was 2 years old and I couldn’t be happier with her and my experience there. She not only was taken care of well, she also evolved tremendously in the time she’s spent there. She loved her routine and always had a big smile when I dropped her off in the morning, and was always happy and well fed when I picked her up in the evening. She went there all five days full-​time for three years. She is now a 2^nd grader and is among the best of her class as far as her reading, math and social skills go. Monoshini’s ability to connect with the kids in the daycare was astonishing. My daughter loved all her teachers at the center and talks about them time to time to this day.
The kids are given activities to do through the day, and she always came home with a piece of ‘artwork’. The teachers are great with their communication about her activities, social behavior that day and anything that’s needed for the next day.
Monoshini is a genuinely honest person, and very easy to communicate with. Thank you for being there for us and being a great part of my daughter’s life during her early developmental years!

this place gave me a wonderful impression when I went to visit it, but along the way, i became fully disillusioned and disappointed. There were a lot of changes that happened as soon as we joined, and right after my first visit, and it seemed that they just can’t get it together. Very disorganized staff and leadership. A month later, we are still waiting on our deposit balance back, promised to be sent to us 2 weeks ago. If you have your child on a specific schedule, don’t count on them to follow it, regardless of what they say. Most concerns I’ve brought up were met with passive-​aggressiveness, excuses, or something just not helpful, and with time, i just lost all the trust. Also, there is no guidance for new parents.
And do not expect for them to take care of your child’s things — it will be lost, destroyed, used by other kids; this includes diapers you must bring, wipes you must bring, utensils, bibs, toys, sheets, also all of this you must bring. When we were leaving the place, a crib sheet lost a while back never been found, and it took us a while to get our bib back (ikea full cover bib with sleeves, awesome thing, I just dropped it off, so I wanted it back). When we finally got it back, it was crusty dirty, ripped on the bottom — how were they not embarrassed to return a brand new bib in this kind of condition, i have no idea.
We left because my daughter increasingly started to hate coming there, and bawled her eyes out when I was dropping her off. And she is the most adaptive child otherwise, very social and outgoing. I don’t know what started happening there, but she just wouldn’t want to stay. As soon as we took her out of there, it NEVER occurred again — she is happy and waves bye bye to me at her new place.
They are pretty good in keeping your child alive, and the gross motor room is great for kids on a move, so if you don’t have much expectations beyond that, it’s worth considering it.