My two daughters have attended Kindercare Farmington for 4 years. This review will reflect the highlights of those 4 years.
1) Staff - While there has been significant overturn in the past few years, there are a few mainstays that love what they are doing and are fantastic at it. It is almost expected that the long time team members would be great, but what has exceeded our expectations has been the new hires. As a parent, we worry because that's what we do, so when I see a new face I immediately wonder, "Will this be the disaster?" All we can say is that the hiring process has been spectacular because we have not had a single incident where we had to be concerned for our children. Our oldest is a chatter box and our youngest is starting to become one too, and neither has any negative comments/concerns with ANY of the staff.
2) Curriculum - Okay, so this is a BIG DEAL for us. We did not want a babysitter, we wanted a truly enriching environment where our children could thrive and not be at a disadvantage going into school. Being in the medical field ourselves, we were looking for evaluations of certain milestones. Kindercare is like school before school. We received a thorough evaluation of our childrens' developments every 6 months. At these conferences, we briefly discussed the expected milestones, any concerns with development, plans going forward, and questions/concerns that we as parents were having at home. They also offer multiple enrichment programs a-la-cart, which many other daycare programs automatically include in their very inflated rates.
3) Flexibility/Convenience - This is something that you will not appreciate until you no longer have it. This location has hours that simply are next to impossible to match. We have rarely had to pick up our children after 6PM, but since they close at 6:30PM and Hartford traffic does what it does...it is a massive safety net to have. As for winters, they have made every effort to be open during a snow storm and I mean every effort that does not hinder safety. They have been open when schools are closed on a regular basis and I wholeheartedly appreciate it because our jobs are not always so flexible. They also offer a nutritious meal for breakfast and lunch at no additional cost...huge time saver.
Negatives:
Turnover because consistency is always better.
No-nit policy for when lice do break out (happened once in all 4 years and is a very common occurrence nationally, their rates have been lower than most places). This is a polarizing issue, but if you begin to miss work even though your child has been treated, you will understand the problem with this policy. That being said, no-nit policies are very common and will not end unless the state says something about it.
Costs have been going up and this is not their fault overall, but it is a negative in my book.
I hope that you will consider this daycare program, they are excellent!