My Second Home

I want to write this review as a warning for people to ask a lot of questions when looking for a place for your child. I did not choose this daycare for my infant and I want to explain why. The main reason is that the site director, Karla, told me a lot of different things and her limited experience as the director made me feel uneasy.
First, she told me that the main teacher, Maria, is assigned to up to four infants only at a time and at that time she only had two. This sounded great. Later, I asked again about who is responsible for the baby and she told me that Maria is the main teacher who is responsible for 12 children (ages 0 – 2) and that the aides help her with all 12 kids! The aides were not friendly and did not even speak to the children when I was observing! I also said, «Hello» to an aide and she did not even acknowledge me! I do not want my child to be taken care of by the unfriendly aides. I felt there may be some tension between the aides and Karla.
Karla used a lot of buzz words/​phrases such as «clear visual line of the infants», «interactive learning», «total care», but it just really felt like she was trying to selling the program.
Also, Karla asked to hold my baby and that was fine. My baby was fine, but Karla was uncomfortable holding her and asked me to take her back! She told me that she helps out with the babies if she needs to and this interaction with my child made my confidence in the program go down.
A few other things that Karla said were unnerving. Karla told me she’s been working there two months and then the next week she said it was three months. Karla told me the owner has a home daycare called «My Third Home» and that she and her husband are on vacation for an extended period at this time. The website sells it as if the owner, Anna, is a central part of the program. Karla said that I will probably never meet her.
The Spanish immersion part was a good selling point, but I don’t think it will really be that effective because there are too many kids and the child doesn’t get enough one-​on-​one interaction. Also, Karla told me that they introduce one color or shape per week and that may not be enough.
There are a few other things that I want to mention. My husband noticed that the place smelled like a strong cleaner. Also, I asked if I should remove my shoes before going into the infant area and Karla said no so I walked on the floor that the infants crawl on with my outside shoes on. Also, the backyard is really sunny and there is some concrete that made me imagine my baby hurting herself if she fell.
I feel that this program could be better with better leadership and a more friendly supportive staff. Also, if you compare it to other infant centers the procedures and organization are not as good.
I am speaking for the infant part. There is a toddler program, which I did not ask about.
I do want to praise Maria, the head teacher. She spoke to my baby and made her smile and laugh. She really seemed comfortable with my baby. If she was assigned to my baby with three other infants exclusively, I would have considered this center.
I hope you find this helpful.

I am very impressed with My Second Home. They serve healthy food, there are no televisions and they are always having fun and educational activities to engage the kids. They give you a daily activity sheet that tells you exactly when your child ate/​slept/​pooped so you always have a good idea of what happened that day. They send home regular newsletters to update you about what is going on at the center and also to give you tips and pointers on parenting topics like teething, learning talk, giving up the pacifier, etc.
I especially love that they take photos of the kids and put together adorable scrapbook pages so you can capture those memories for your child to see when they grow up.
My daughter adores her teacher Maria, and always looks forward to going every morning.

My son has had a wonderful experience with My Second Home. When speaking of the center to my colleagues, I have always said that I feel like I am leaving my son with a group of nannies who decided to watch their charges together in one house. It is a loving, nurturing environment and the Spanish immersion aspect was very important to me. I wanted him to be in an immersion or bilingual environment and was surprised by how few there are in the area. The owner Ana Valdivieso was an educator in Peru and is passionate about providing the children with exactly what they need for their development. For infants, it is about attachment, while the toddlers are beginning to learn about structured environments, sharing, and preparation for the classroom. Both Ana and her husband are readily available for parents to call at anytime, which is a great benefit of a small center. As Nancy M. posted today, there has been a bit of turnover lately, mostly with the toddler area (18M — 24 M) and I’m not even sure if Spanish is spoken at all in that area as the teachers are not native Spanish speakers. From what I can tell, the infant room staffing has been stable.

My now 3-​year-​old daughter has been going to Ana since January 2010. She was recommended to me by a good family friend who took her two boys there. I am very impressed with how dedicated Ana is to each child’s well being and early education. My daughter loves going to «school» every morning, is always very talkative when I pick her up and is very eager to share what she’s learned with me. I feel very lucky to have found Ana and feel very comfortable leaving my daughter there while I have to work. I have nothing but great things to say about this place.

Our daughter has had a wonderful experience at My Second Home and my wife and I couldn’t be happier with the care she is given. She has been there since she was approximately 4 months old and has truly grown up with the teachers and her classmates over the past two years.
As parents, we are thrilled that she is growing and learning in a bi-​lingual environment where the focus is on childhood growth and development, not simply on «baby sitting.» Every day our daughter is encouraged to interact with other children, exercise, read, do arts and crafts, and learn respectful and healthy behaviors for interaction in an environment that celebrates diversity.
The staff is great at daily communication with us as parents so that we can reinforce behaviors at home that are being practiced at her «school.» How lucky we are to have found My Second Home — We have truly found them to be partners with us as we try to raise our daughter to be a strong, confident, and compassionate young woman.