Learn As You Grow Camillus Child Care 3711A Milton Avenue, Camillus, NY 13031

"Learn as you grow has been a huge part of my child’s formative years! We have been attending since 1 year and we are now almost 4! The staff have become a second family. We trust the center to be our home away from home and nurturing our child to achieve key developmental milestones. The Lagrows are amazing people and The directors Katelyn, Dia, Dessye, Laura and Caitlin go above and beyond to ensure LAYG thrives to meet the needs of every single child! They have fun events like bringing the ice cream truck to the school and letting the children choose an ice cream, making sentimental ornaments for the holidays- these teachers are creative in their lesson plans/activities!!! We will remember the teachers for life- they create special projects with the children and often my little one tells me fun stories of her teachers! Special mention to Savannah, Christina, Katie B, Jamilynn, Erin, Jerelyn, and of course MS RENA! From Camillus- Lisa, Lynn and Angie and Ms BEV, the chef!! These people hold special places in our hearts forever. If you want the best in care, LAYG is it!"

"I do not usually write reviews like this but this was quite an experience. This organization has a “no outside food” policy and I knew this going into it but my expectation was that they would make every effort to provide foods for my child that she would eat (like every other center I have had to use). After 2 months of trying to get her to eat what they were serving and her refusing, I started having conversations with the building director about providing bread for my child so she was not going hungry all day. They started doing it but inconsistently. I emailed the program director about the same concern and was met with multiple reasons as to why they would not do this or allow me to provide lunch for my kid: severe allergies in the building (not sure how that is when they serve foods with the allergens), children should be introduced to foods 20 times before they will try it (they tried for 2 months); if they do not eat lunch, they can eat at snack time (they expected a toddler to go from 8am to 3pm without eating); loss of funding. In the meantime, my kid is sick every 2 weeks and began to have digestive complications. Took her to the doctor, explained my concerns about her nutrition and subsequent digestive complications, the doctor provided a directive stating this parent should be allowed to provide food for her child. The center refused to follow the note stating that they will provide the foods that she will eat as long as I provide them with a list of what she usually eats. One month after I provided that list and requested documentation of what she was being offered, no documentation was provided so kept my own record. They provided her with yogurt, bread, bananas and/or sliced apples every day for lunch for 6 weeks. To ensure my kid had access to a variety of foods for lunch, my husband used his lunch time to take food and sat with her in his vehicle every day for 6 weeks so that our kid could eat. OCFS and CACFP were contacted about the practices at this facility and there was not much they could do because coincidentally the center had alternative foods for kids on the days of the investigation. They did say that the center should provide a variety of alternative meals to kids who did not eat what was served. When I updated them on the lack of variety, I never heard back from them. Even though the building director admitted that there were other children who will not eat the lunches provided, the owner stated that he did not want to allow parents to provide for their children because it would be too much of a hassle to have to monitor everyone’s lunches. He even called me on a Sunday morning to further reiterate the need for my compliance with his policy and met us at the door the next day to check that we did not bring in any foods. So, if your kid eats whatever, you should have no problem with this facility. The teachers in my kid’s room were attentive and interacted regularly with the children but I have seen others just sit there and ignore the kids. They do a lot of activities and crafts with the children and had it not been for this one issue and how it was handled, I would have given them 5 stars. I finally got my kid a spot at another daycare facility that allowed her to bring her own lunch. My kid thrived there; she was ill only twice in 3 months, gained the weight she had lost, started trying new foods and the constant runny nose and cough were gone. LAYG is bad, really bad. Not sure how they have remained in business this long. The owner had the audacity to tell me that they have met my child’s every need and if I was not satisfied then I should go elsewhere. Truly a disturbing experience; to have a whole team of adults blindly defending a policy…for what reason? I just wanted to share this experience with you so that you can make an informed decision when choosing childcare and also, I know our kid cannot possibly be the only child to which this has happened. If we keep settling for mediocre childcare then that is all we will have in our community."

"Absolutely disgusting place where children are abused by unqualified caretakers. Do not send your kids here. This place should be avoided at all costs."

"It is a daycare and no daycare is perfect. Why? Because you are not watching them and if you were honest you aren't perfect either. Does children get bitten, yes, that is normal for toddlers who just start getting teeth. Do they fall and get bumps and bruises? Yes as all children do. Are they overpriced? Yes and no. Some home daycares are less, others much more, MUCH MUCH more. Why do I start like this? Because you have to have realistic expectations. I have done foster care for over 10 years and have had 38 children. I have had one child kicked out of 5 daycares in 3 days. (Yes, I registered him and started him, and was kicked out 5 times in three consecutive days.) They don't treat my 7 children that attend there like I would, but they can't because of all the laws and regulations. Here are the pros: They feed the children well balanced meals, not what I would make, but it is fine and the kids seem to like it. Children can get on a free or reduced lunch program. There is never issues for school closings or delays. They are open many holidays. The summer program is great, a minimal signup fee and all field trips are included in the price, not like most other daycares. For infants, they provide baby wipes, formula (if you use theirs), and baby food. This can potentially save you a lot of money. The staff that they hire genuinely care about the children. I would trust virtually every staff member to watch our children at our house, even the highschoolers that they hire. The place is very clean and well maintained. The office staff is knowledgeable and willing to work with you on issues They have a great playground that is completely fenced in. Another daycare separated their children by cones and many times I saw kids dart towards moving vehicles. The buildings are well secured. They work with our DSS payments and the many visitors that may come for them. I feel that they not only care about the children, but also the parents. Here are the cons (the things that they can help including facilities because they could move if they can't expand) The parking lot is too small, especially with buses trying to pick up and unload children They take children outside when I feel like it is too cold outside They do not have the facilities to take more after school children With all this in consideration, of the approximately 10-15 daycares I have had children attend this is the third best daycare in the county, but the best one in the school district. (1st- Little Lukes 2nd- St. Vincent DePaul's Daycare). There is a daycare drought in Onondaga County, especially the West Genessee School District. This really is a great place to send your children. Is it a perfect fit for everyone and every family, probably not, but it has been for me and my family. I don't normally post a lot of reviews, but I felt like the reviews of others, though i am sure they are honest, doesn't give a real depiction of the facility and their staff."

"One of the worst daycares I have ever sent my child to. They are over priced and they like to single out kids. I would never send any of my kids to this daycare again."