Cradles & Crayons Daycare

"Choosing this daycare for our baby was the worst decision we have ever made. If I could go back in time and pick a different daycare from the beginning, I would. They have lied to us numerous times saying that our child was running a fever, yet every time we took his temperature it was normal. During these times he was supposedly running a fever, he was never isolated from other babies, he was allowed to return within 24 hours, and despite the daycare telling us his temperature was supposedly above 100.4 when he was younger than 3 months and above 102.2 when he was older than 3 months, no medical attention was provided even though these temperatures are classified as a medical emergency. Diapers are not checked regularly. The handbook states they’ll check diapers every 30 minutes, yet there have been many times in which an hour or more passed since they last checked his diaper even though he was awake during those times. Despite asking numerous times for diaper rash cream to be used, this was rarely done. On the daily report provided, there have been numerous occasions where the amount of formula consumed was not documented. When we asked his teacher(s) how much he had, we often could not get a clear answer, and they appeared annoyed that we would even ask. Our son has come home with soiled clothes more than once, even though extra clothes were provided. When they have changed his clothes, they would often just put wet clothes on top of dry items in his diaper bag despite us providing plastic bags for these items to go in. Apparently, the daycare owner believes that babies his age (5 months old) do not need any sort of activity. When we asked the teachers what our child does during the day, they appeared to have been caught off guard and could not provide a clear answer. When this came up with the directors/owners, we were told that our child was too young to do anything. There have been numerous times in which the daycare has allowed our child to sleep 6+ hours at daycare, even though we have requested that they not allow him to sleep this long as it is not appropriate for his age when this occurred. In addition to these concerns, our child has been given formula that is not his at different times, he has come home in other baby’s diapers on more than one occasion, and we have received items (bottles, clothes, toys, etc.,) that are not ours. Furthermore, the daycare workers have broken some of our bottles and have returned items to us that have someone else’s blood on them. Throughout the 3 months that our child was at this daycare, we have tried to work with his teachers directly to address our concerns. When this did not solve the problems we were experiencing, we met with the director. Initially, this did address some of our concerns, but after a week, we started encountering the same problems (and more). Since then, we have left voicemails for the director, and never received calls back. We have talked with the daycare staff and sent notes regarding our concerns. Nothing ever changed though, and we continued to experience problems. Finally, we filed a formal complaint, and the day after an investigation occurred, the owner made the decision to no longer provide services for our child effective immediately. Based on all these things, I would NOT recommend Cradles and Crayons Daycare for any child, and I would implore anyone who has children currently enrolled, to remove their child and find care elsewhere."

"One star is too many. Saying they’re awful would be a compliment. They didn’t listen to our concerns when we spoke to them, they couldn’t tell us what they did with our child on a daily basis, and when we made an official complaint that resulted in an investigation, they fired us as clients because it’s easier to do that then make changes. If your kid is here, pull them out now!"

"My wife and I bought our children here for more than three years while stationed in the local area. Having been a military family its very difficult to find someone to help care for your children the same way you would. Cradles & Crayons Daycare did just that. Amazing care and attention to detail; I would recommend this establishment to anyone looking for a great family owned daycare."

"My sons have attended this daycare since they were each 6 months years old. They have the Abeka program starting at 18 months to pre k. They offer breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. They help with potty training. They have fingerprint touch screen door for security. They are able to drop off and pick up children at certain near by schools. Teachers are trustworthy. Establishment is clean."

"Prepare to read it’s worth it. Just don’t. There are better places. Totally a waste of money. Where do I begin... my 2 year old is very friendly. He’s been around many grown ups and never had he reacted to someone with rejection but the morning lady at this daycare after his first day. He came home with a busted lip. No incident report. I questioned it then they gave us an incident reports hat afternoon. There was no proof of him tripping or anything on camera. They were lacking a few cameras. I let it go and it took a few weeks for him to end up liking this lady after I started showing concern. He also came home with a few finger nail imprints on his wrist. I measured my nails to his imprints and, yes, they were an adults. I thought to myself, maybe I’m exaggerating. Again I let it go. A few weeks pass and he has the same marks. I bring it up this time to one of the employees and their reply was that they’ll mention it to the director. Well, the very next day after I brought him home I noticed he had more of these markings on his wrist AND his glutes. I head back to daycare and wait about 30 minutes for my husband to arrive. Meanwhile I’m waiting, it is safe to assume that they called the director and told her I was parked outside because sure enough about 5 minutes after my husband and I finally walk in, the director walks in. She says she wanted to talk to us. (About his finger nail imprints). It turns out that yes an employee had pulled on my son with frustration and for the looks on the video tugged on his hair too. All this happened in the morning, around 9-10ish. I picked him up at about 12. I went to daycare at 15 when I noticed more marks. They failed to notify me at the time that this happened. Maybe they wanted to sweep it under the rug, though, they did do a self report with cdl. They said they also did a police report. Lies. I made my own police report and I found out there was no other report made on this case. Anyway, the lady was fired and they were investigated by cdl for not letting me know what happened when it happened but rather waited until I showed up and for not making an incident report. (They were cited). I know my son is not a guinea pig to test out but I figured “now they’ll get their stuff together”. So I continued with this daycare. (Sigh). It also turn out that at this daycare, he was just so sickly. I could have him on vacation and he would be in the greatest health but as soon as he was back in daycare he would immediately be sick. Caught the stomach bug twice, colds, flu, cough, pneumonia, bronchitis; you name it. Not to mention so many bite marks from other kids and scratches. I know my son is no saint. He is my only son and i know better than to play bite because then he would think it’s okay to go around biting. His hitting and biting habits came from daycare. And I did expect this to happen. But come on now almost every week with a bite mark. Another issue was payments. The policy states, for the 2 yo age group, full time is $100, part time $100. How “convenient” is that. Part time 5-25 hrs, 3 days is considered a full week. My son was out the week he had bronchitis and pneumonia, he went to daycare Monday and six hours Tuesday then off the rest of the week. Well, the policy also states, in the medical portion that if your child is out (for the week) due to medical conditions it’ll be partial payment. Turns out it had to be the full week so they charged me full price. In my opinion, how inconsiderate that you already have to pay for treatment/medication all the while he got sick at their daycare plus pay them for a service they don’t fully provide or commit to. But wait, there’s more.... so, they started asking for cleaning supplies; clorox wipes, Kleenex, Lysol, and I went through with providing this for them like many other parents. Then it hit me. ..... (There was more to this but it didn’t fit, might add it later )"