Take My Hand Child Care Center

My 2 year old daughter has been going to Take My Hand Child Care Center since September 2013. The is my 4th child and all 4 kids have attended daycare/school - although the other 3 kids went to another local child care center. I am very impressed with Take My Hand! The teachers she has had in the 18-24 month old class - and now the 2 year old class are WONDERFUL. They always welcome my daughter warmly and at the end of the day when I pick her up - they communicate any essential information about her day. They do a lot of creative projects which the teachers obviously have planned out very well. For example - a few months ago - as part of their Sensory theme week - the kids baked Oatmeal Muffins. As part of the Spring theme - they are purchasing eggs from a local farm and will keep them in an incubator until they hatch.
The outdoor space at Take My Hand is excellent! They have a large gated area to play - as well as a playground with the soft synthetic ground to keep it safe for the children. There is a weekly music class - which my daughter talks about EVERYDAY! In addition the kids sing on a daily basis.
One of the things that MOST attracted me to Take My Hand - is the flexibility they offer in scheduling. You pay by the week - so if you have a vacation planned - or don't need to send the children for any reason they you know of (4 weeks) in advance - you can pull them out for the week and not have to pay. They also offer great flexibility with the part time programs.
Take My Hand was highly recommended to me by several different families in Leonia. I am so glad I decided to send my daughter to the school. With my almost 9 years of experience with daycare - I am very surprised to see the negative reviews posted here on Google. I don't agree with any of the negative statements made about the school.

My child went to Take My Hand for a few months (only about 1 full month since he was always sick with an ear infection). He was going through some agressive stage and tried to bite just over 1 year old. He was kicked out of the school for this. The Director had said they work with the parents on things like this, but when this happened, she said it wasn't the first time and he had to go. However, this was the first time communicated to me about the biting. I know he had tried in past but not actually performed it. Basically, I found that the communications there was not good with the parents. The teachers aren't allowed to "talk" to you about your child's behavior so I never reall knew picking him up how he did and I found the upper management staff not around or actually approaching you about any issue. I saw this from another post about TMH, and it's true. I did not have my child in there long enough to see how they prepare for pre-k or Kindergarden. I just know there are other daycares that really work with Parents, communicate more and are better. Also, to have a nurse onsite really makes a difference, this daycare did not have one.

Absolutely in love with this place! I had looked at 4 or 5 other daycare centers, in this area in as well as the Bronx, since I was commuting, and when we took the tour, it felt so right. It wasn't cramped, or smelly, I didn't have to worry about enrollment, or staffing. All the kids were happy. The spaces are huge, airy, and inviting, filled with everything a child her age could want to play with. Now, my daughter has been there 9 months, since she was 3 months old. They have excellent equipment that is always clean, and the teachers go out of their way to provide every possible opportunity to the little ones. They genuinely care for my daughter, and she always gets the attention that she needs. They bring the children outdoors at every opportunity and always have engaging activities planned. I have watched her learn things from the other babies right before my eyes, and she is ahead of the game already developmentally. She has made friends there and so have I. The price is extremely reasonable for the quality of childcare that they provide, and after having seen her succeed there, I would never dream of letting anyone else watch my little girl.

What I like: 1) I feel our child is safe there - the owner and/or one of her two children (who are assistant managers) are spend 95% of their time among kids, which is the best safeguard against "funny" stuff; 2) our child seems to like the teachers; 3) the teachers are very friendly and engaged (in the first half of the day - read on for my take on the pm); 4) Teacher-to-child ratio is 1:3 - better then the state-mandated 1:4. They generally do stick to 1:3. 5) The owner is flexible and accommodating if I need to pick my child up at, say, 5pm instead of the scheduled 4pm; 6) the place is not very expensive.

What I don't like: 1) Teachers seem dead in the afternoon - they are not doing anything with the kids and are hardly watching them. The kids are left to their own devices and just roam; 2) Older infants, younger toddlers and older toddlers get "merged" for about an hour in the morning and after 3:30-4pm. This means that the older kids are bored and the younger get trampled; 3) Not enough structured activities - every day there should be music time, reading time, sports time (kick the ball around or something)! 4) Not enough outdoors time. The kids stay inside even when it's perfectly warm and dry but foggy!

Overall: I feel like my kid is safe and well treated at TMH. You can't rely on TMH to really develop your child - but then again, that should be the parents' job anyway and should never be fully outsourced to any daycare. This place is far from perfect, but having seen 3-4 other places I think that hardly any is.

I have two kids at Take My Hand, and they are both very happy there. I trust the baby room staff a lot: even though my baby is generally anxious with strangers, she is very happy with her teachers there. I like the emphasis on imaginative play and going outside, whenever possible. My husband is a pediatrician and I know that the job of little kids is to play. This is how they learn to be creative and interact well with others. They have also showed tremendous flexibility in helping me adjust the kids schedule to my changing needs at work.