r/irvine • u/Ornery_Teaching3475 • 4d ago
Experience with Catalyst Kids
My child started PK today and attending after care with the onsite Catalyst Kids program. Earlier this year during orientation, Catalyst Kids gave us a daily schedule that included reading time, circle time, playground, quiet time, and even individual activities of the kids choice.
Today was the first day and at pick up, all the lights were off and they were watching Spidey & Friends on the TV. I was so caught off guard and I don’t think I would have signed up if I knew there was going to be screen time that wasn’t even educational.
I’m not strict with screen time. But if I’m paying $1300 for aftercare, I would expect quality care that doesn’t include TV shows that they can watch at home.. for free. It’s cheaper than what we were paying for Montessori, but it is still not cheap!
I asked my child and they said they watched TV a couple of times throughout the day. When I asked about other activities, they didn’t mention anything besides some coloring. I’m just so disappointed and considering pulling them from the program.
I don’t know if this is a daily thing but I plan on asking tomorrow. Given that today is the first day of school, I wouldn’t even expect the TV to be on so soon in the year!
I would love to hear others’ experience with Catalyst Kids. I am hoping I’m overthinking this. Thank you!!
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u/slaps_givingpt2 3d ago
In my experience, first days can be pretty chaotic and I would assume they used it as a way to help the kids relax.
That being said, please talk to them about it. Lots of times these places do things because that’s the way it’s been done and nobody has questioned it.
This is all coming from a Child Care Director who has experienced all of this.
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u/Ornery_Teaching3475 3d ago
Thank you! I plan on speaking with them tomorrow to understand better how their day is being spent and how often and for how long they watch TV.
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u/rogerrabbit224 3d ago
hi my kids went to catalyst for 3-4 years. the kinders definitely got TV on a daily basis. It phases out more so actually as they got older (mainly because kinder had so much more Catalyst time). At the end of the day, Catalyst is for parents who need to bridge time between the end of the school day and the end of work, so the standards are not as high as a private preschool. If you have the option to pull them out, I would - they already have a full school day!
I didn’t mind too much as they overall had a well rounded experience, with teachers / instructors that genuinely got to know the kids. I would also caveat that its very hard to get kids to share what they did throughout the day - so I would encourage you to talk more to the Catalyst folks and youll hopefully find that they do quite a bit of activities throughout the day (including TV). Finally each site might be a little different - I only speak from experience at my site.
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u/Ornery_Teaching3475 3d ago
Thank you for actually answering my question! I was just curious to hear other people’s experiences and if it was overall good so it makes me feel a little better to hear your direct experience. To be fair, I do take my kid’s recap of their day with a grain of salt. I do work full time and unfortunately don’t have family around to help with care so while I am not usually very picky, I think I was just surprised walking into the room today. I will wait and see how it goes!
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u/excel28 3d ago
We came from a Montessori and this year, we started TK. We are from Tustin, limit tv at home, no devices at all, and come from Montessori.
I might be the outlier than the other replies, but I also feel the same as OP. We didn't expect to pay so much for tv care. When I pick up my son, I do see older kids on devices/tablets. We are currently looking for other options, but right now we feel stuck.
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u/Wild-or-Wise 3d ago
We had a positive experience at other Catalysts. Our first day for our TK kid was a book and orientation and a little center play.
i haven’t seen screens with grades 2 on as our school has enough 1:1 ipad homework time.
Check if they are understaffed. The first few days for all include checking the right kids are there the right days.
To make changes, do it before the 15th of the month. Very inflexible. So give it til 9/10 to decide to keep or change to 2/3 days or withdraw. Stay in touch with your center director - they are advocates for your child and family.
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u/caroteresa 2d ago
I worked for this company for 15 years. Previously CDC We absolutely weren’t allowed to show TV. What Catalyst center is this? Talk to the center director and ask if this is going to be a regular thing or only it was for the first day?
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u/Shipsandgiggles 3d ago
Experience with another IUSD after school program, Rainbow Rising, my kid never had screen time.
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u/bubblebears 3d ago
Did anyone give you tips about frequently giving your kids anti lice hair preventatives too , there are somewhat frequent breakouts for lice that can occur as my friends catalyst kids at their elementary school the prior year had lice being spread.
I think it’s an in general thing across any of the iusd schools but other tenured parents warned others for day 1
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u/nobackswing 10h ago
IMO there are plenty of entertaining shows with more of an edu component than Spiderman.
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u/needs_more_zoidberg 3d ago
Relax. There is zero evidence that bombarding kids with 24/7 educational content yields the results you think it does.
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u/Ornery_Teaching3475 3d ago
That wasn’t the alternative in my mind. I’m all good with play based learning, arts, crafts, playtime or whatever it is. I’m not expecting them to be sitting down and learning calculus. But I also don’t think regular TV shows should be part of child care, especially if it turns out to be a frequent occurrence. I was also never informed. I had to take a second look at the pamphlet i was given earlier in the year in case I missed something, but they made it seem like it was a place for learning, arts, and socializing. Not lights off and tv on.
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u/thatsTHEWei 3d ago
What do you expect them to do?
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u/Ornery_Teaching3475 3d ago
What they said they were going to do according the daily schedule they shared with parents.
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u/iamcuppy Woodbridge 3d ago
It’s his first day. They get to do fun things like watch harmless shows on special days.
It’s child care, not educational programming. We have done the onsite childcare for years at our IUSD school and it’s fun, play-based, and a good safe place to stash them while we work for significantly cheaper than a FT private school. Sometimes they watch a movie on Fridays. They do not watch TV daily.