Growing Room Child Development Center

"I am writing to submit an honest and factual review of the Growing Room of Berlin, that I recently had the misfortune of using for my child. The daycare in question has been a complete nightmare and has left me feeling frustrated and disappointed. We enrolled our daughter in the Growing Room in the Spring of 2021 and at first things were good. However, from the moment they hired a new director for the daycare center, strange things began to happen. Firstly, I have noticed strange charges on my credit card from this daycare that I was never notified about. When I brought it to the attention of the staff, they were unhelpful and dismissive, leaving me to deal with the issue on my own. On multiple occasions, I picked up my daughter unsupervised in soiled clothes, indicating that staff members were not attending to her basic needs. This is completely unacceptable and shows a complete lack of duty and care. Additionally, there were instances where my child was sent to a different classroom than the one I dropped her off in, where all of her friends are located, without any notification to me or my wife. She remained unsupervised for the entire day and was only discovered when my wife went to pick our daughter up at the school. When I called the school the Director was un aware that this took place and had to call me back after she found out what happened. This caused great anxiety and confusion for both my daughter and myself, as we were unaware of where she was and if she was being properly supervised. This fits into the State of Massachusetts definition of child abuse related neglect. In the beginning the daycare would send home incident reports related to “accidents” that happened. The incident reports stopped. However, my daughter would frequently come home with significant and unexplained bruises on her body. When confronted the daycare would say, “things happen” and insinuate that it was my child’s fault when, in reality, these issues were caused by child abuse related neglect. To make matters worse, one of the times that my daughter came home with unexplained scars and significant bruises on her body that were unexplained by staff members. It took several calls to find out that another child at the school was viciously attacking other children including my daughter over the course of multiple weeks. It took several calls before the management at the school made any changes to address this issue. This is extremely concerning and raises serious questions about the safety and security measures in place at this daycare. Furthermore, I observed my child being left unsupervised on the playground, which is a clear violation of the duty of care that should be provided by any reputable daycare. On several occasions, when arriving for pick-up, I found my child unsupervised and ingesting yard debris. One time we found her drinking another child’s water bottle. The water bottles come from home and could have things like fluoride or other medicine that my child could be allergic or have a reaction to. This clear example of child abuse related neglect was the final straw. Upon raising these concerns to the owner and management staff at the Growing Room I was ignored. The night before the school was set to reopen when I was informed that my daughter was no longer allowed to return to the school to be with her friends and that they were keeping her belongings, including her favorite stuffed animal, and her underwear, despite repeatedly requesting to collect them. This behavior is unacceptable, and I am appalled that a daycare would refuse to return a child's belongings to their parents."

"My son has been going to the growing room for about 6 months, starting in the infant class and now is in toddlers. The price is in line with other centers around and the staff is great. I appreciate the notes they leave in the app, their communication and their education. They do awesome age appropriate crafts and play time. I know my kid is learning so much. They go outside to get the wiggles out and also they make their food there! He eats great. Shout out to the strawberry class of 2022, you guys rock and make my work life balance amazing."

"The Growing Room takes excellent care of our daughter! She loves the teachers and administrators and they all obviously really care about the kids. She's learning a ton and looks forward to going every day. We also love the provided lunches every day. It makes mornings much easier."

"Growing Room has provided a welcoming atmosphere for our daughter over the past several years, and their kind staff, bright environment, and engaging curriculum has kept our minds at ease during the hours we’re apart from our daughter. We’re so glad we chose Growing Room as our daycare in the infant stage, and it has been great to see our daughter flourish in each classroom while she grows. Is is evident the teachers care very much about their students. The staff has also been wonderful with communications and protocols during the pandemic! We highly recommend Growing Room!"

"Both our son and daughter have loved their time with the Growing Room school. There's a lot of things Growing Room does right for a daycare center -- like being open 7am - 5pm which benefits working parents greatly or providing snacks and meals throughout the day so parents don't have to worry about that or their very affordable prices compared to other centers -- but what makes Growing Room special, frankly, is how much all the people care about the kids. They are a loving group of people and have demonstrated that care day in and day out during the last two years of enormously challenging circumstances. Wouldn't trust anywhere else with the health and happiness of my kids."