Beach Babies

Beach Babies is very proficient and well run daycare. Laurie, management, is extremely professional and responds to concerns (email and in person) quickly and with thoroughness. We had one or two hiccups when we started but they were resolved within 24 hrs of being brought up. The staff is friendly, kind and caring. My son enjoys every day he attends and always asks to go to «school». The only concern I have is the amount of sickness that has presented itself with my son. Granted, it could be an absolute fluke, we still seem to come home ill (cold and cough) every other week. Mind you, this has been a ferocious flu/​cold season. Perhaps a coincidence…

My daughter was 21 months when she first started attending Beach Babies, she was only going twice a week to start so it wasn’t the quickest transition for her. But the teachers were extra kind and patient and after a few weeks she was totally acclimated. She now looks forward to going and when we pull into the driveway she yells, «school!».
I love that they send home a sort of report card every day listing what she learned, what and how much she ate, how long she slept, when she pooped. And whenever I drop off or pick her up none of the other children are ever crying and the other kiddos in her class always say hello. I can tell that they’re all having a good time and are treated well.
The facility is well organized and clean and there are proper gates, latches and locked doors in place so no one falls astray. But really, it’s all about the staff, everyone is really smiley and nice and I feel no worry when I drop off my child each morning. My daughter has particularly taken by a specific teacher and I’m glad she has her for comfort when she needs it.
The place isn’t cheap but what childcare is these days, it’s major convenient since all meals and diapers are included in the fees. I don’t have to worry about packing lunches or bringing diapers when I’m already rushing to get out the door. AND they serve healthy, well rounded meals. You won’t see any fried foods on their menus which is so great.
My experience with this place has been nothing but positive, would totally recommend you visit for yourselves.

My husband and I feel so lucky to have found Beach Babies for our child. Our little boy has been attending since he was an infant. Every time I drop him off I rest easy knowing that he is in such good hands. The center feels safe and nurturing. The staff are very conscientious but also loving. He is learning so much and getting such great social interaction. I really feel that Beach Babies has had a very positive influence on his development. It’s a great daycare center and I would recommend it to anyone!

My son has been at Beach Babies for two years. The teachers are great… very loving and caring. The directors are always responsive and accommodating. We have been so impressed with our son’s growth and all that he has learned. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack are provided. BB is one of the few daycares that provide benefits to their teachers so this results in low teacher turnover.

We have our two children enrolled in Beach Babies– our daughter is 2 ½ and our son is 11 months. They have each attended Beach Babies since they were 4 months old. We cannot speak highly enough about the teachers, management, programs, and facility. Since they have been enrolled (which has only been since fall of 2013), the security system and entryway have been upgraded and renovated, a gorgeous new building has been constructed and opened for the older classrooms, carpet and shelving has been replaced on a couple of occasions, the infant playground has been remodeled, etc. The facility is extremely well kept and you can tell it is a priority. The teachers are very knowledgeable about child development, and they take the time to answer any questions you have. They also offer great advice which we welcome– I’m pretty sure they know much more about babies and toddlers than we do/​did as new parents. The staff goes above and beyond to not only build relationships with the children they care for, but also the families. Several of the teachers are our go-​to sitters on wknds and evenings, and our kids love them. The daily curriculum and activities keep our toddler learning and entertained all day, and our son is engaged and active in the infant room as well. It is with complete confidence that we drop off our most prized possessions every morning, and at the end of day, our older child is bubbling with stories about what she did that day, both have stacks of artwork and projects to bring home, and both are happy. Yes, it’s expensive. We believe it is worth it.

We’ve had our 2 kids at Beach Babies for 2+ years (older one) and 7 months (younger one). We love it and the kids seem to love it. I’d highly recommend Beach Babies to any parent.

My wife and I have had our daughter here since she was an infant (2012). You could not ask for a more caring staff. You get what you pay for as simple as that. We understand and agree with their rules completely. Very secure place professionally run in different classes depending on age. Beach Babies is very balanced between play and academics. Your child will learn valuable skills and positive character.
Laurie and staff are very open to parents needs. Take it from a parent who’s child has been attending for 3 years. It’s a great place and will make you feel as worry free as is possible for parent of a young child.

My daughter started at Beach Babies when she was two years old. This was her first daycare/​school experience And it was absolutely wonderful. She had a tough time at the beginning since she had only been cared for by nannies before, but the teachers helped get her adjusted quickly. The facility is clean and all the teachers are so sweet. Our daughter did art projects all the time; we had to dedicate a full wall to her creations. She made great friends and I, in turn, met some wonderful moms who became my friends. We are moving and thus had to say goodbye. On her last day she got A booklet with pictures of her playing with friends at the school as well as nice notes from the teachers. Thank you Beach Babies for taking such good care of Claire! We will Miss you!

I have a toddler with high-​functioning autism, who is literally one of the sweetest children in the world. The only problem my child has in class is a tendency to isolate unless regularly prompted to join the group. I called Beach Babies to schedule a tour in order to see if it might be a good fit for my child. During the telephone conversation, I explained my child’s situation and asked if Beach Babies would be agreeable to letting us pay for a professional aid to help our child socialize with the group for part of the day. Believe it or not, the lady responded by saying «I don’t know about that» and went on to say that she has only heard of such an arrangement when «THEY BITE.» The lady told me she would speak to the director and that they would call me back. Suffice it to say that I never received a call back.
I waited a while before deciding to write this review, because I am really not one to write an angry review whenever something does not go my way. But after giving it some serious thought, I decided it was appropriate in this situation. So many children have some sort of delay these days and it requires such a leap of faith to find a school who you think will genuinely welcome him or her with open arms. And if I were a parent of a child with a delay considering this school, then I would want to know about my experience.
Shame on you Beach Babies!!!

My husband and I moved to California from Chicago a little over a month ago and prior to moving we were desperate to find a daycare that we loved as much as the one our son went to in Chicago. With this big of a move and change for our family it was a must to find a good daycare for our son who is 16 months old now. We have been so happy that we found Beach Babies! The price is comparable (and actually slightly less) than what we are used to in Chicago and they just recently redid the back playground where my son has a ton of fun exerting all of that pent up energy that young toddlers have. The facility is updated and super clean and the teachers, kids and parents we’ve met so far have all been very welcoming which has been so nice! It’s such a comfort knowing that we’ve picked a place where my son will grow and learn in a wonderful environment!

My husband and I are teachers so we need full time child care for our newborn. We went with Beach Babies without really investigating more options due to convenience. Our experience with registration was a surprise as they want cash and don’t take credit cards for a very expensive monthly tuition (most expensive in the area) and when we showed concern regarding this, we were treated with sarcasm and rudeness. «No childcare facilitates take credit cards!» and when I said I knew others that do, I was asked to give examples. When we called the next day to notify them that we had decided against admitting our newborn due to our treatment the day before, the girl in charge of admissions (Laurie) asked why. When I explained that we didn’t like the way we were treated, she just flippantly asked for an email stating that we were not interested. No explanation of how we would get our $ 900 deposit back or an apology or anything. I said, «Even this call with no apology surprises me.» Laurie proceeded to tell me that her staff member has been with the company for a long time so she didn’t think she did anything wrong. I had to explain to her that in the future, treating the customer with kindness might be a good way to conduct business. And there you have it. I am so glad our son is not going to be «nurtured» by this group of people. They obviously have the mentality of «you need us, we don’t need you». When we told our pediatrician about it, she said she was relieved as most babies from Beach Babies are coming to see her every three weeks due to the sickness flying around the center.

We love beach babies, it’s such a nice top notch daycare and preschool. Extremely clean and nicely designed, a happy place for kids. Everyone there on the staff is great. We are moving away soon to LA and are so sad our 2 year old can’t attend this wonderful daycare/​preschool anymore. They take the best care of your kids and it’s extremely secure and safe. The daily schedules for the kids is great, they really pack in a lot of learning and activities every day, and the daily reports are great too. We get to see what our son was offered to eat and how much he ate every day, and what the activities of the day were, as well as nap times. Our son learned to nap so much better too, they let each child nap when they feel ready and as long as they need. Now our son can nap anywhere with any amount of noise around, when he couldn’t before attending! It’s one of the great things that has come out of his time there. Also the comments about sending kids home sick unnecessarily aren’t true from my experience. They are very standard there and clear runny noses are fine and minor coughs. I was told if they had a high fever, vomiting, anything extreme, then the parents would be called for the child to be sent home. Our son was never sent home sick. Our son had the best time there and made little buddies and socialized a ton. Can’t recommend beach babies enough. I’m so happy our son got to go here while we lived in the South Bay.

Good place for a parent who wants a very regimented schedule. If your nap time for your kid varies from the other kids at the center– may not be the best place. We had to consistently modify our written schedule so that it was more and more similar to how they run the day (by their request, not ours). Several times it was noted that our girl had fallen asleep at the feeding table. She had a hard time adjusting for her prior day care. I think this is because this center is LARGE. Our daughter came from a center of only 8 infants and 12 toddlers and they had much more attention to their personal needs and one on one time. I didn’t feel this way at Beach Babies.
I do think they run an extremely tight ship with their rules, which is great. But they always seemed uncomfortable giving meds even with a RX (like for diaper rash). There is such a big deal surrounding these protocols (which I understand, but the staff does not make this pleasant). My daughter ended up with a diaper rash much more here than at her prior daycare, I think it’s due to the amount of kids and less frequent changes.
I will say my two concerns– the newborn and infant room is the first room that everyone walks through to get to the older infants and toddler room. Even if you take shoes off, it’s not the cleanest most isolated place to have the youngest kids. Id be really worried if I had a really young one there. But that’s me.
Also, because if the size of the place, my daughter got every pediatric illness known in the first 3 months she as there (at least it felt like it). It was very hard for her and my work schedule. Of the illnesses that she got, two were NOT so benign. I had to stay home with her for one week after she caught RSV and another time she was hospitalized with the enterovirus (dehydration from a temp if 103.5 for three days!). Our pediatrician mentioned that these are very contagious and common in the daycare setting.
However, She never had this problem at her prior center so I am wondering if people let their children come to the daycare sick and wait for them to be sent home.
They have a lot of days the center is closed.
So get ready to arrange alternative child care.
Tuition was on the higher end but gets cheaper the older they get.
I have two stars for the organization aspect but less a star for the germ factor, less a star for the time I spent home from work at my new job, and less a star for the attitude of the supervising staff’s (except Laurie — who was always great) cooperation with parent requests.

First let me start off by saying I am a mom and a teacher (I’ve taught childcare, elementary school, and special ed) so I am picky about where my child would be attending. At first glance this place looks great, they use a lot of buzz words, have lots of art work up, and the ladies who work there (for the most part) seem very nice. However, the more I looked around the more I started to really dislike this place. First off, they have 150 kids in one big giant room that is divided with bookshelves and wall partitions, so it’s very loud. They play music to drown it out, but that just makes it even louder. Second, my biggest complaint is with the infant center, which is where my son would start off. They have a big table with seats built in for the babies who can sit up to sit and play with toys, eat, be sang to, etc. and at first I thought that was great, but then the more I looked around the more I saw just how little floor space there is for the little ones to crawl around and move. It looks like those kids are stuck in those chairs for most of the day, they do have an area for really young babies who can’t sit up yet, and a room for babies to sleep in, but it was really cramped and crowded. Also, the toys were filthy, they looked they hadn’t been cleaned in months or years, which makes me think that this place is a huge germ factory. Also, my son is 6 months old so he can sit up, crawl, and pulls himself up to stand. He’s always on the move and loves to play outside. But kids in the infant room aren’t allowed outside until they are old enough to go to the next classroom, which was a huge disappointment for me. Overall, I wasn’t impressed. It’s very expensive, they want a $ 900 deposit, $ 50 waiting list fee, $ 100 registration fee, numerous optional services (that cost extra), plus the regular monthly fees. They are also expanding and have several locations and are building another building next door and I just got the impression that it’s all about quantity, not quality, and making as much money as possible. They have lost sight of what’s best for these kids. My kid will not be attending this program.

While he was at BB, my son was sent home on average 30% of the days he was supposed to be at beach babies (on the worst month, that average was 50%). His immunity system works perfectly well & he has only had a cold once in the year since he’s left BB. Nor was the «sent home» rate explained by a single long-​lasting illness: just constant mini issues & occasionally nothing I could detect at all (except that a holiday was coming up & BB was visibly short staffed).
I’ve kept in touch with several employees & families from BB since leaving. They tell me that other families have had the same issue. They also say that the place is very poorly cleaned and to make matters worse that some favored families are allowed to keep contagious kids at the facility, where they infect others, while the rest of us plebs follow a draconian «0 symptom» rule. This is hearsay. What is not is the frequency with which my son had to stay home. It was much higher than what might be expected in a facility this size. It made working full time difficult (let alone also following a post-​maternity exercise regimen!) and it added child-​care expenses to an already non-​competitive rate. Indeed «sent home» rates this high can have a dramatic effect on your ability to function.
I had alerted the administration to the issue and I tried for months to get them to help with an explanation or with backup options. I found that the administration dealt poorly with the problem, occasionally agreeing to solutions but not following through.
If you are a working parent, my advice is to stay away. For the price of tution + various fees + emergency care, I’ve found that you can hire a full time nanny.
If you decide to try it out anyway, the place is bright & cheerful. You will get a lot of feedback on your child’s day. (Although why 4 month olds come home with that much art is beyond me. Caretakers should play & cuddle those babies rather than do collages that are passed off as your child’s.) Parking is fairly easy. The staff is very capable.

Beach Babies is the best day care! We did an enormous amount of research and visiting. Our son loves the teachers, the kids, the activities, the playground. He’s learning so much and having fun doing it! Couldn’t ask for anything more!

I sent two kids here from baby to age 5, and in between had tried out some other schools. Beach Babies in my opinion, is the best school in the area.
I love the teacher retention (my kids who were 2 years apart were able to have the same teachers). Also, the ratio of teacher to kid is excellent, the kids had fun, learned manners and toilet training as well as academics, and did some great artwork and projects. I also love that they send sick kids home. A lot of schools allow the sick ones to stay and then your kid ends up being perpetually sick too.
There are some minor complaints — too many rules sometimes, and they charge you for forgetting to sign in, but these are minor compared to the major happiness my kids experienced here.
We are sad to have to move on to kindergarten!

our daughter has been there for since 10 weeks old, currently going on 3. Everyday I think how lucky I was to find this place (more luck than referral). The kids, their families and the people that work there become a intricate part of your day to day life — and take seriously helping your child learn important life skills. All you have to do is look at the tenure of their teachers — most have been there a very long time and the kids come to view them as more than just a teacher. Our child has been close with each teacher in each class — they bond.
It is true that it’s non inexpensive, but they do provide breakfast and lunch (for the older kids) and diapers/​wipes (for the younger infants) and the days off keep them fresh. I highly recommend this place to everyone now!

My kids have loved goign to Beach Babies! We’ve been coming here for 7 years (2 kids). We’re in our last few days & I’m going to miss all the teachers.
It’s not all hearts & flowers, it’s expensive & they close for 2 weeks at Christmas and 1 week now during summer. But if you feel your kids are safe & cared for, then you work out those issues.

Another first review? You’ve got to be kidding me.
I was referred to this wonderful preschool/​daycare by a former co-​worker, and all I can say is THANK YOU MARISSA!
My kid is something of a challenge — when he first started with Beach Babies, he had been our son for less than three weeks and didn’t speak English (being an adoptee at 3.5 years of age from Taiwan).
No problem.
He loves going to school, has many friends, adores his teachers and looks forward to seeing them every day.
We had a short list of favorite foods, but their wide variety of breakfast, lunch and snack food helped expand that list quickly.
They are also understanding, skilled and supportive — they’ve been wonderful to us. Would recommend them in a heartbeat!