As we are nearing our impending move, there still are some major tasks to complete: the one that is most concerning for me right now is finding a suitable daycare. James is in the perfect daycare for him, the classroom is the right size with 2 loving teachers and about 10 other children. He gets lots of love and attention. The best part about his daycare is that there is a kitchen on-site. I didn't realize how important this was until I started looking in NJ.
The centers there seem amazing with huge classrooms, lots of natural light, large outdoor play areas, good security, clean facilities, excellent curriculum (yes, there is curriculum even for toddlers), and good teacher/child ratio. However once I ask about the meals here's what most of the answers I receive are: 1) We don't provide meals, only 2 snacks a day. 2) We have outside catering and have 2 snacks 3) We do have meals, but no on-site kitchen.
Here's what this all means: 1) Bring lunch for your child and the two snacks don't mean breakfast and snack, literally only snacks. So James won't get the cereal, pancakes, porridge, etc that he's used to. 2) Outside catering is optional so all the kids won't have the same meals again, also the catered meals aren't part of the monthly fees so it's an additional cost on the already high fees. I took a look at the sample menu and it wasn't that impressive. Also most of the food contained cheese and since James has a dairy allergy I'd probably have to make his food anyway! 3) This option got me intrigued as I wanted to know about what they offered. We are used to well-balanced meals with seasonal ingredients, etc however what I saw was shocking. There were items such as tater-tots and black forest ham sandwiches! Also they only offered fruit for breakfast and on one day they offered goldfish for breakfast! That was just nuts to me. Obviously I didn't choose any of these.
I am still on the lookout and appreciate all the advice that was given to help me with my search. I'm not settling and will keep looking until I find a chain that provides meals that are more up to the caliber that James is used to. Wish me luck!
Happy reading!
Rachel
The centers there seem amazing with huge classrooms, lots of natural light, large outdoor play areas, good security, clean facilities, excellent curriculum (yes, there is curriculum even for toddlers), and good teacher/child ratio. However once I ask about the meals here's what most of the answers I receive are: 1) We don't provide meals, only 2 snacks a day. 2) We have outside catering and have 2 snacks 3) We do have meals, but no on-site kitchen.
Here's what this all means: 1) Bring lunch for your child and the two snacks don't mean breakfast and snack, literally only snacks. So James won't get the cereal, pancakes, porridge, etc that he's used to. 2) Outside catering is optional so all the kids won't have the same meals again, also the catered meals aren't part of the monthly fees so it's an additional cost on the already high fees. I took a look at the sample menu and it wasn't that impressive. Also most of the food contained cheese and since James has a dairy allergy I'd probably have to make his food anyway! 3) This option got me intrigued as I wanted to know about what they offered. We are used to well-balanced meals with seasonal ingredients, etc however what I saw was shocking. There were items such as tater-tots and black forest ham sandwiches! Also they only offered fruit for breakfast and on one day they offered goldfish for breakfast! That was just nuts to me. Obviously I didn't choose any of these.
I am still on the lookout and appreciate all the advice that was given to help me with my search. I'm not settling and will keep looking until I find a chain that provides meals that are more up to the caliber that James is used to. Wish me luck!
Happy reading!
Rachel
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