Little Jewel Childcare

My daughter is now 16 months old. I had to go back to work when she was 3 months old. It broke my heart! Thankfully, my parents were able to come and take care of her for an additional 2 months, so we didn’t have to start her at daycare until she was 5 ½ half months old. When my husband and I dropped her off on the first day, we both cried.
Little Jewel is the ideal place for the children of pathetic, sappy parents like us! The lovingly decorated, happy, open space, and the incredibly loving and involved way in which everyone at Little Jewel approaches the children made it so much easier to leave our little girl. We simply knew she was in great hands — right away! And we saw all these good feelings we had about LJ confirmed in our daughter’s general happiness and her genuine attachment to all the caregivers! It did not feel «intuitive» to me to leave my daughter with anyone else at 5 months old, but everyone at LJ made it as easy and smooth as it could have possibly been, and I am since convinced that the daycare experience has been nothing but wonderful for my daughter! She has acquired important social skills by interacting with other children on a daily basis, and she has made significant developmental leaps thanks in part to the loving care and attention she receives at LJ.
Cindy and her staff truly feel like family to us!

Our daughter has been attending Little Jewel since the summer of 2014 and we could not be more pleased. Cindy and her staff are truly gifted childcare providers and exceptional individuals. Our daughter has grown in very significant ways owing to the influence of care providers who are conscientious/​committed, creative (!!), deeply loving, and wise. Our daughters whole being is nourished at Little Jewel and we couldn’t ask for more!

I have two children, 5 years apart, so, when looking for a childcare facility for my newborn daughter, I had very specific things in mind. I found every one, and more, in Little Jewel.
The caregivers are gentle, loving, nurturing and have made me feel safe about leaving my daughter with them from day 1 at 3 months old. She’s now 14 months old and sometimes will cry when I come to pick her up because she has such a blast with her friends and the caregivers. It’s like she has 3 mommies there and isn’t willing to give them all up just to go home with 1. The very first afternoon that my daughter was there, I raced to go pick her up and snuck into the nursery room to «catch» one of the caregivers holding my baby and rocking her gently, completely absorbed in feeding and singing to her. That focused care is exemplified in Little Jewel on a daily basis.
The facilities are clean and bright and healthy meals and snacks are provided for all the kids. Weather permitting, they spend abundant time outside at the park and on Nature Walks. Inside, there are loads of books and imaginative toys and they engage in everything from reading and free play to dancing and crafts. My favorite photo is from a scene that was captured when my daughter was around 7 months old with a few other babies, all in their diapers «painting». It was like an ad for the ideal daycare and I felt so grateful to be able to call it my own.
I don’t look forward to the day when we’ll have to say goodbye to what has become my daughter’s second family and am crossing my fingers that maybe Cindy will expand into a UPK program!

We considered a few daycare centers during our recent move to Inwood, and chose Little Jewel because its proprietor, Cindy, was so warm and friendly and just gave me a really good feeling. She started the place after being dissatisfied with options for her own child, who is now an amazing and adorable precocious and sweet 3yo who helps her mom acclimate new babies — and their parents. Clearly Cindy’s doing something right as a mom, and that spills over into her business as well.
Her staff also seemed really vibrant and caring during that first visit, as they engaged the kids in yoga poses, dances, and magic tricks. They have proven to be phenomenal — totally loving and attentive, with an inexhaustible energy and patience. The infants and toddlers spend most of the time in separate areas, but there is still a lot of interaction, including outdoors, and all of the staff seem to know my son really well. If he’s upset when I start to leave him at morning drop-​off, they know exactly which toy to pull out to make him smile.
Like most daycares in the area, Little Jewel is located in a converted one-​bedroom apartment. But it doesn’t feel as claustrophobic as some of the other ones I visited. It feels spacious and airy, with lots of nice, sturdy, wooden furniture; natural toys; and cute décor. They provide a small breakfast, lunch and snacks, and I suspect the hot lunch is probably the best meal our little one eats each day. And they have been willing to accommodate our little vegetarian.
Our previous daycare was large and structured, almost like a school, with set schedules and weekly lesson plans, so I was a little apprehensive about the more laid-​back routine at Little Jewel. They do have plenty of activities, they’re just not documented to every detail, and they may change them up depending on the weather that day, or the children’s individual interests. I do get the feeling my 2yo is learning a lot and his language skills (including Spanish — hooray!) and imaginative play have skyrocketed. He’s also gaining lots of independence, as he helps in the kitchen and with clean-​up, etc. I appreciate the individual attention he gets, and the love that is clearly lavished upon him — including a line-​up for kisses as he leaves almost every day.
I’ve recommended it to several other parents, and they all seem equally satisfied.

My son started at Little Jewel when he was 4.5 months and continued there until he was 15 months and we moved out of state. Cindy and Yubi completely spoiled us, and I have yet to find another daycare that even comes close to comparing. They are so warm and loving with the children, so communicative with parents and responsive to your individual concerns. My son grew to love it there so much — I knew it was a good spot when he would smile as we waited for them to come to the door, and then when he started squirming out of my arms to get to them. You can tell that they genuinely care very much about the children they care for and that they take pride in what they do each day. And I loved that they were always happy to chat with me about my son’s day, sometimes telling me cute little stories about what he did. Sometimes I also got texts with pictures of my son during the day. They really went above and beyond — throwing birthday parties and even (sniff sniff) a going away party for us, with a HUGE scrapbook that they put together.
Aside from how nurturing and gentle they are with the kids, the space is beautiful — very clean and bright and spacious. I also LOVE the toys they have — no jumparoos or exersaucers to dump your infant in and leave for who knows how long, no crazy acid-​trip like plastic toys with the flashing lights and incessant songs. They have a lot of wooden toys and LOTS for imaginary play, which was great. And they play along with the kids, doing «laundry» or «cooking» etc. They also go outside and they also do crafts — my son came home with a bunch of little projects, even though he was so young — paper dolls, sun visors, pictures, hand print turkeys at Thanksgiving, a hand impression tree ornament at Christmas. They also play music for the kids and do yoga (not sure what poses exactly my infant son was doing… maybe cobra?) and read with them in Spanish and in English. That’s another bonus — they are bilingual, and the little ones pick up languages so quickly. It’s really cool that my son calls his fingers dedos, his water agua, the light la luz (even though my husband and I don’t speak Spanish). I never imagined that the hardest part about leaving my home of 30+ years would be leaving my son’s daycare, but it was. I highly highly recommend them!