A Brighter Future Preschool & Child Development Center

My girls love it here. The staff is wonderful and caring. They keep them active and educated and my girls always come home smiling.

My two sons attended A Brighter Future years ago. This review will be one from the point of view of a mom who couldn’t have been happier to have chosen this place to watch over her kids for 3+ years of their young lives. Sandy, the Director, has been in child education forever. She loves kids and knows how they operate. Her staff reflects her beliefs and teachings. I remember with only the best memories all the fun my boys had at her preschool with playing, learning, the great food offerings, how they were loved, kept in line, and taught right from wrong. My older son is now on his way to becoming a doctor, going on his third year at UC Davis. My younger son is going to be a senior in high school, loves school and wants to follow in his older brothers’ footsteps.
If you are looking for a preschool and want the best for your young one, I would highly recommend A Brighter Future.

My son has been attending A Brighter Future (AFB) since he was 5 months old. The infant room is bright, spacious and looks out to the playground. He has since moved up a few classes and is now in the 2+ classroom and loves his teacher. Everyone morning on the way to school he asks, «Where’s Ms. Nicole?» This school has been a constant for my son and a wonderful place for him to learn. I also love the yearly Halloween Costume Parade they organize — the kids are just too adorable!
Additionally, ABF does NOT close for a week in the Spring nor Summer for school planning. They only take the week between Christmas and New Years off. They also are open for some of the Federal holidays. This really helps out the parents working full time who do not get all the holidays off and who cannot afford to take weeks off just because the school is closed.
My only recommendation to the school is to update the website. There is so much A Brighter Future offers that a redesigned website can convey in its content.

I have a 2 year old daughter with a lot of energy. Moving her from a nanny to a day care was quite a big leap for me let alone her. Honestly at first I saw that a brighter future had 1 terrible review and I hesitated to bring her here but thought I would check it out because the location couldn’t have been better. Boy AM I GLAD I DID!
This place is FANTASTIC! Trust me, I looked around at practically every day care in the UTC/​Carmel Valley/​Del Mar area and this one was at the top. Not only are they caring but they are like having an extended family keeping you in the loop about your child. Let me explain how I see the negative review now that I have had a chance to see for myself.
Many of the day cares in the area take the policy of «redirection» when your child is bad. Now I’m not one for corporal punishment but do we really think «redirection» is how to handle a 2.5 year old child that is being a little terd? I personally don’t think so. When my kid is bad, she knows EXACTLY what she is doing and redirecting her only reinforces that bad behavior because she knows she can get away with it. A brighter future takes the time to take that child aside and explain the problem and the consequences associated with their actions, something I would do at home. I find it refreshing that the lessons and rules I have at home are being reinforced at her daycare. Additionally I think as parents we all worry that our children will pick up the «bad habits» of the other children, but honestly if the kids are kept in line and understand the proper way to act those sorts of behaviors just don’t happen.
It is true that some of the teachers seem to enjoy playing with the kids more than others but honestly that’s ok. Try to put yourself in their shoes most of them have been there since 8am or sooner and are still there at 5 pm, can you imagine how exhausted you would be with all these toddlers after the full day? As for playing, the teachers are their to watch and facilitate interaction with the other children, not to be their buddies. Kids should be able to learn how to make friends without an adult always doing it for them. It makes for more independent children.
Now after only a few weeks at A Brighter Future my daughter loves her teacher! Ms. Erina is wonderful! My daughter can’t stop talking about what she did at school for the day. And they are great at providing just the right balance between free play and learning. They incorporate fun art activities that teach letters and numbers and it totally works! My daughter has already learned two letters and is pointing them out to me on signs around town! And they even blow bubbles! The play area is super cool and they have sand! Yes my kid is dirty but then every good toddler should be.
Potty time is great too. From what I gather they make sure to check with the kids every hour. Not one potty accident yet from my little one and that was my biggest fear.
If you are looking for a great place to put your child you really ought to give this place a chance. Sandy the director has been there for 20+years… the lady knows what works. As an added bonus the cost is comparable to the other centers and food is included (morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack).

In hindsight, I should have gotten my kids out of there sooner. Some of the teachers are good and seem to genuinely enjoy playing with the kids while others spend their time looking after the kids from a well seated position and don’t interact with them much. The woman who runs the preschool has the philosophy of time outs and letting the kids cry their heads off in her office (no «minute for every year» rule here). This is even for kids under 2, as my child was. Recurrent issues with the kids are not communicated with the parents to resolve them together but rather they time out the kids until they get sick of it (or the kids don’t stop crying), at which point they call the parents to come pick the kids up. Making children that distraught doesn’t teach them anything but is rather traumatizing and cruel. They don’t bother to find the root cause of why the child is acting outside the «norm». We eventually enrolled our child in a church-​based preschool, and who A Brighter Future saw as a problem child was instead well accepted, socialized perfectly fine, and excelled in a loving environment. Don’t make my mistake to go to this place for location convenience; I’d rather drive miles and miles away for a more loving preschool.