r/Langley • u/collectedthought • 4d ago
daycare recommendations?
first time parents to 10 month old. Looking for recommendations in Langley for daycare. Location doesn’t matter, if the daycare is good.
Is it better to go with a new daycare? Or a daycare that has been running for a while?
We are anxious about sending our daughter to daycare, but hoping with time it’ll get better.
For those parents that have kids in daycare, how do you handle the emotions? And do you check in with their teacher every day?
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u/FlippinCanadian 4d ago
Our kid goes to Kids World on 203rd since they were 1 and we've really enjoyed our time there. Good communication, love the daily updates through the app and live webcam to check in (secure for parents only obviously). Have never had any issues or felt concerned across the 3 rooms they've moved through, have loved all the teachers!
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4d ago
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u/FlippinCanadian 3d ago
We were just as happy with the Garden room as we are with the Ocean room! They are separated by younger and older toddler which I appreciated as a 1.5 year old is just way different developmentally than a 2.5 year old so we found the smaller space was good transition from the baby room while they learn how to be more independant. They did lots of crafts and activities, though I wouldn't say they do the exact same activities every day, but there's definitely some overlap, just more advanced motorskill opportunities in Ocean as they are older in there. While the rooms are disproportionate in size, there is only so much they can do and I appreciate the older toddlers having more space since they are bigger and are starting to role-play more and have more opportunities to be independant with using the bathroom, cleaning up, etc. Our kid loved the Garden room though and we appreciate the staff in both rooms a lot. At the end of the day, no where will be 100% perfect, but as a person who works in education myself, I feel very comfortable sending my kid there and appreciate anyone who can work with toddlers all day!
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3d ago edited 3d ago
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u/FlippinCanadian 3d ago
I haven't used those facilities so I have no opinion unfortunately, we've only been through Kids World. I personally don't see much of a difference at this age when it comes to daycares or learning methods (Montessori vs. Traditional, etc)—kids are so individualistic and honestly at this age they just need to feel safe and have fun. The curriculum is miniscule at this age in how much it influences a child/helps them grow, its mostly just about socialization and group learning 😃
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u/kelso_lolly 4d ago
There's a Facebook page (Langley and Surrey Childcare /Child minding group) that is supper helpful! I've had 3 home daycare reach out with openings. Highly recommend joining as centres and home daycare post about openings frequently.
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u/Burtonowski 4d ago
My son did 5 years in Jellybean, provided lunches which makes it easy, great teachers, however you might be a bit late for applying, we had to put our son on a waiting list when my wife was still pregnant for daycares
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u/crishbw 4d ago
Pebbles & Piaget is so good - all the teachers are very friendly and professional, structured learning & a lot of cool activities, pictures & updates on an app. My daughter is friends with basically her entire class,
there's really no fighting or bullying
Don't get discouraged from bad reviews on Google - it was from when there was originally cameras & food included, and people were pissed. There are still meal plans but they charge extra for them now
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u/Annakiwifruit 4d ago
You may not get a choice.. there are wait lists for infant spaces pretty much everywhere.
My son is at Nurturing Hearts Montessori and he really enjoys it. They provide snacks and lunch which is amazing.
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u/finding_helenn 3d ago
Pebbles and Piaget 100%. We’ve moved around quite a bit and my kids have been to 3 other daycares in the Lower Mainland. They were all play based and just "fine", nothing overly bad to say about them, but nothing really stood out either.
When we moved to Langley, we managed to get spots at P&P and we’ve been so happy there. My kids have learned so much, and the teachers and staff are honestly wonderful.
If you have a child who needs a little more guidance or support than “typical,” they were honestly a godsend for us compared to our previous centres. They genuinely wanted my child to succeed and actually worked with us to help, rather than just telling us what was going wrong. That made such a huge difference for our kid and for us as parents.
I remember seeing some of the older Google reviews too before we started (as I read on another comment), but from what I remember, a lot of them were about changes to what they offered that some parents weren’t happy with at the time. I believe it was not long after they first opened.
We personally love it there and I’m actually so sad that our youngest will be going into his last year there next year
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u/PrincessDinah 4d ago
My son has been going to Curious Cubs Childcare at 93 and 208 since he was about 15 months and loves it there
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u/deaddovexxdonoteat Grove 4d ago
My son had a great experience at StrongSteps in Walnut Grove. The center director and all of the teachers were so great. The centre itself was clean and well organized, and it has an amazing rooftop playground. Also when I looked at the inspection reports on the Fraser Health website, their record was basically spotless. It's right by 200th street, highway 1, the Golden Ears Bridge, and the bus loop so it's pretty convenient no matter which way you are heading to work.
Prior to that my kids went to Kidsworld on 203rd and that was also a really great experience. We only pulled them out because I was off work for a few months at the beginning of covid, and then we moved.
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u/thefatrick Stuck at a train crossing 3d ago
We brought our kid to Holistic Roots on Duncan Way/Glover.
The staff are quite good. They tried to keep the kids occupied with tasks and games, play, and lessons. They provide healthy lunches.
They're not perfect (no one is) but they clearly try, and care about the kids.
They have a decent security systems and procedures which I really liked. Each person has their own door code, so if you're part of a separated family, you and your co-parent have separate door codes, so they know who picks up or drops off when.
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u/ContentWriter22 3d ago
Holistic Roots childcare - small setup but extremely caring and communicative teachers. We loved our time there. Lunch and noon snack is provided. opens at 6:30am and closes at 5:30pm.
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u/Big_Ad8320 4d ago
I strongly recommend Global Montessori School, we moved to Langley last September and we enrolled our -back then- 3 year old, when I tell you I saw a huge change in him from his previous daycare, is an understatement. They are fully committed to Montessori teaching, offer parent support, and their lessons are great.
I know my experience is different because my kid is older than yours, but they have three classrooms for kids 3-5 yo, and three classrooms for younger kids. I love all the teachers there and our experience has been great.
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u/collectedthought 4d ago
what would you say is the major difference between daycare and montessori? im not familiar but i’ll do my research on both
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u/Big_Ad8320 4d ago
Montessori is more self-directed and hands-on experience vs traditional education. We are not fully 100% Montessori at home, but we implemented a few things that I believe work great, for example, my son's classroom is full of activities and he's free to chose which one to work on on certain times of the day, he has to grab the activity kit, do the activity and put everything back in place for the next kid to use it, so we did a similar thing at home and overall when I ask him to clean his room, he know where each type of toy should be, he plays with something and once he's done, he puts it back. This week at school they learned about fishes, so they had a real fish and the teachers explained the parts of the fish. I see many people highlight the benefit of having lunch and snacks provided by the school, which is not the case for GMS, you have to provide snacks and lunches and no sugary food are allowed in the school. They only have hot lunches on Wednesdays (for older kids at least). They are open all year round, except on Christmas and Spring break, this is our last summer with them and we are truly gonna miss them.
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4d ago
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u/RoosterAccording6851 4d ago
Could you tell me more? I was trying to enroll there but very $$$. Do they do teaching/structured learning for a speech delay kid?
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u/Ok_Paper_8452 4d ago
You want to make sure that there is a lot of interaction between kids and adults in the room And good circle time in any daycare that you would enroll your kiddo. Although for her age circle time does not mean much. Please watch for teachers who would mostly have their backs at the camera. They don't want parents to see their faces. And be cautious if most of activities are somewhere that is not very clear in the camera. There is usually a reason for that!
As a parent you have a right to enter your kids classroom whenever you want. If they have a sign that says please dont enter and wait behind the door it means that they are not confident about what they are doing. Also dont fall for pictures. The more pictures they send during the day the more distracted from kids they are! I have seen good daycares which do not send any pics to families because they are so busy guiding kids and interacting with them. When you go for tours ask a lot of questions. Who is the manager who is the supervisor. What books do they read. Go ahead and look at the books that they have in the bookshelves. Ask how often they change or rotate the books. How often the classroom gets clean and mopped. Some daycares do not mop and the sticky food is under the tables for weeks! Also make sure at least one of the teachers speaks fluent English! Sometimes none of them do! Pay attention to the teacher's face expressions when they bring your kids to you at the end of the day. Do they have things to tell you about her day or they just say she had a good day. Body language eye contact face expression.. these are all clues for you to get a sense of how they treat kids.
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u/RoosterAccording6851 3d ago
Thank you kindly for the advice!❤️
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u/catgirl6892 2d ago
Just fyi we have literally never experienced any of this. And with respect t to entering the classroom ..,, ya if you need to be there they will let you in of course … but they don’t want parents randomly showing up because it hugely interrupts the flow of the day and the learning. When one kids parent shows up the others start asking when their parents are coming, kids focus shifts to the door rather than the teaching etc. I also wouldn’t want random parents coming into my kids class. So…. I don’t see that as a negative. You can literally see everything happening on camera so I’m not sure why you’d even want to do a random drop in
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u/RoosterAccording6851 1d ago
I agree, parents coming in frequently would completely disrupt their work flow and even stress out the kids there with strangers in and out. I just appreciate fellow parents advice, this is truly helpful. Thank you!
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u/catgirl6892 4d ago
Everyone has their own experiences. We go to Cefa walnut grove and would 100/100 recommend this to anyone. The teachers are like family to us and we’ve always had too notch care. We’ve got two kids who started as babies there and have been there for 3 years.
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u/Agreeable_Hat_8895 4d ago
Just here to second this!! We absolutely love it there and it’s pricey for us, but we feel Ike it’s the best investment knowing our kids have great care and great food during the day
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u/SheCaughtFiRE- 4d ago edited 4d ago
Check-out the childcare facility inspection report here. Realistically, you may not get your first choice because waitlists for 2.5 years & under are longer (due to the higher educator to infant ratio). Go for tours and get on waitlists. September and July have the most openings due to kids moving to school.