The Learning Experience

ALL I CAN SAY IS---AMAZING! I have two children enrolled in Waldwick and I have NEVER BEEN HAPPIER!! My son is currently in the twaddler room and my daughter is in Preschool. Before moving to the twaddler room, my son came from the Toddler room and LOVED it. The teachers are amazing and despite what the other reviewer stated, he had the same four teachers for the last four or five months since beginning there. My son comes home with artwork every week and I love them all. I have the majority of them up on my fridge as proof. As a public school teacher, I'm fully aware of teaching children about the process rather than the product. In addition, the school is immaculate. Every time I drop off or pick up, I peek into various classes and I'm always seeing people cleaning. It would be delusional of me to believe that my child is never going to get sick, but they seem to do everything that they can to prevent it. The preschool program is amazing and I'm learning new things every day from my daughter. I just can't say enough great things about the school.

My wife and I love everything about TLE Waldwick. My daughter has been enrolled at TLE Waldwick since she was 13 weeks old - starting in the Infant A room, progressing through the Infant B, Toddler and Twaddler rooms. We have had a great experience with this center and will be using it for our 2nd child beginning in September 2012. As we've now had 2 years of experience with the center, I feel qualified to comment on some of the comments below. 1) Health issues - Yes, our daughter has caught colds from other children at the center. During her first 9 months at the center, she had a cold roughly once a month. Given that her immune system was/is still developing, I don't know how this can be avoided. If she doesn't get sick from attending TLE, she will undoubtedly get sick from going to friends' houses, school, restaurants, or simply existing in the outside world. Do I enjoy my daughter being sick, of course not, but I'm not going to pretend that she will never have a cough, stuffy nose etc. by bathing her in Purell everyday. The owners emphasize that sick kids be kept home until well, but a number of parents ignore this guideline - you can't fault the center for this lack of courtesy. 2) Teacher/staff turnover - Consulting parents who use other day care facilities, frequent turnover seems to normal for this industry. There are lots of people in their early/mid 20's working at these facilities, many of whom are attending college or grad school or getting experience at TLE to go on to regular teaching jobs. That being said during my daughter's time in Infant A she had the same 2 teachers for her entire 3 months, in Infant B she had 5 teachers over a 10 month span - 1 older teacher retired, 2 moved to different classrooms, 2 were in my daughter's class for 9 months. In the Toddler room (where she spent 7 months) she had 8 teachers - 5 are still working at TLE, 2 quit, and 1 returned to school. In the Twaddler room - she has had 4 teachers over a 5 month span - 1 went on maternity leave, the other 3 are still there. Mind that the above are the full time staff (who operate on staggered schedules so that there is always a full time teacher on duty). Due to the hours that the center is open, it must employ part time floating teachers who fill in at the end of the day depending on the number of kids in each room. 3) There are cameras and windows in each classroom - you can watch what is going on in the classroom any time of day anonymously from the owners' office. Additionally, the owners are on site and constantly monitoring the different rooms. They are quick to respond to any and all concerns. 4) Though my wife and I would love to take all of the credit for our daughter's development and vocabulary, I know that TLE deserves great praise in this area. For months our daughter has been singing songs that she learned at TLE. She has a great appreciation for books due to the daily that has been fostered by the staff at TLE. She has been stimulated with art projects, music instruction, yoga, games, and a wide variety of toys that she doesn't have at home, but most of all she gets daily interaction with other kids, helping her social development. 5) Behavior - Believing that 1 & 2 years old aren't going to bite, hit, pull hair, yell, and run around but rather act like perfect little adults is expecting too much. The staff tries to limit the bad behavior as much as possible but as parents we have to be realistic in our expectations of how little kids act as they learn right and wrong. Each day my daughter is very excited to both go to TLE in the morning and tell us everything that she did at TLE after we've picked her up. It's a rare morning when a roomful of happy kids and teachers don't greet my daughter enthusiastically and excitedly.

The Learning Experience in Waldwick, NJ is a poorly managed day care center. The director has no business sense, no compassion, and thinks her center is amazing. The only thing amazing is how she was able to get the franchise to begin with. Most of the teachers are very young, inexperienced, and do not have children of their own. They can't handle the kids properly, and they don't understand how and why kids behave the way they do. After observing the monitors to watch the children, I realized how unstructured the environment is for the children. They don't come close to fulfilling their promises they make in their philosophy and handbook. They hardly do any of the enrichment programs, they have very little technology nor variety of activities, and they don't do any organized physical fitness. They expect the children to just listen to their demands and play with blocks, wooden trains, and crayons all day. My child was bored and restless because of the lack of challenging activities. If you want your child to spend the majority of the day in free play, then this is the place for you. If you want them to have a true "learning experience", I suggest you send them somewhere else...I will be. Don't believe them when they tell you how great they are...it's their fantasy.