The Discovery Years

Grandparents want their grandchildren to be happy and make friends and enjoy learning. .I believe that my two little ones are receiving great care based on their progress, their desire to go and I love all the artwork! !
Roman & Jayla s gramma

I have been taking children to the infant center of this daycare for a few years now. The teachers are wonderful. You can tell that they really love the kids. They are all wonderful caring people who know a lot about children. I could not be a single parent without these wonderful ladies.

If I could give zero I would. I visited this place when looking for a daycare for my son. What a nightmare. One of the infant babies was in the swing with the blanket completely cover her face. The teacher’s excuse; the parents said that’s the only way she’ll sleep… Really? In a swing being smothered by a blanket? The place was awful, smelled of poop and mold, they had a coffee pot on top of a microwave which to me seemed unsafe… Yuck, all around a bad place. Never, never, never…

I had to look for a daycare for my infant because the place my older son went to didn’t have room for anymore babies at the time. I went in with high hopes after really connecting with the director Patty, who is really a sweet lady. I could tell that the staff that was taking care of my son were nice, but already after only a week I had some concerns. My sons daily log sheets weren’t always filled out, which made me nervous, but I told myself it was just my nerves with going to a new place. Then there were numerous incidents that really concerned me.
First there was a time when I brought my son home and changed his diaper and found that someone else’s diaper cream had been applied. My son has very sensitive skin and there was a giant note in his file that only aquaphor (clear) be applied as he breaks out in a bad rash from other products. The cream that was applied was white, and sure enough he broke out from it. When I talked to Patti about it, she talked to her staff and found out that the person who did it knew about the note, but felt that he had a bad diaper rash and took it upon them self to apply something they thought would work.
The next incident happened when one of the teachers gave my son something to eat that I had not brought in. At this time, he wasn’t eating solid foods and I had only started giving him some cereals, so it was a big no no. Talked to the teachers and they told me he was hungry so they gave him some food. They didn’t seem to see what the problem was.
Then there is the most horrific thing that really scared me and made me put in my notice. At the time, I was pumping at work but not producing enough milk for a full day, so I had to bring in formula as well. This had been the case for quite some time. I came to pick up my son after a full day and I could hear him screaming from outside. I went in and went to sign him out and looked at my log sheet… I noticed only 6 ounces of breast milk had been logged for the day (split into two feedings). Patty happened to be there so I asked her about it and she asked the teacher… they all looked a little confused and Patty said that is all I had brought in. I told her, why didn’t you feed him any formula? She said, you don’t have any formula. I pulled out his bin and it was sitting right there in front. She looked really stunned and just said something about how it’s not supposed to be in his bin and that it’s supposed to be in the kitchen. Which was really crazy to me because it had been in his bin for months and nobody moved it where it was supposed to go?! So my poor baby was STARVING and had only had 6 ounces of milk in a 9 hour time period. He was screaming all the way home until I could get inside and feed him. And what really bothered me was that in that time, NOBODY called me to ask why there was only 6 ounces of milk?! If they had, I could have told them that there was formula there. After I picked him up I was hysterical… I called my husband and he ended up calling Patti and meeting with her that night. I was afraid to bring my son back there but my husband said that Patti had assured him that she would be on top of it.
In the end, I just lost faith and trust in them. Patti was a really sweet person, but either her communication with the staff was really bad or the staff didn’t listen to what they were supposed to be doing. Either way, it was not the right environment for my son. I ended up getting a friend to watch my son until the daycare my older son was going to had the space for another infant.

I cannot say enough good things about this daycare. We recently moved to Arizona and oh, how I wish I could transport this daycare to our new home!
As a first-​time mom, I was very nervous about having my daughter in daycare full-​time. My mind was quickly changed after a few weeks at The Discovery Years. Ms. Perla, Ms. Carmen, Ms. Mina and the newer director Ms. Patty are all incredible. Every single day I dropped my daughter off, she would have a huge smile on her face. We were always greeted with a cheerful hello from the caretakers and my daughter always went to them with open arms. While I was thankful for this when we lived there, it wasn’t until we moved that I realized how BIG this is since I have not been able to recreate the same ease of drop-​off with our current daycare.
The caretakers here also do a fantastic job at teaching the kids things in their everyday routine. My daughter went there from 4 months to 1 year, and I still remember that on the day we left Ms. Carmen had taught her how to hold up her finger to say she was a year old. That among many other things made me so sad to say good-​bye.
I loved that they have a flexible schedule for the toddlers and infants, but still maintain a routine everyday. They let the kids nap when they wanted, which was nice on days when my daughter needed a little extra sleep. I also really liked that they had the toddlers and infants in the same larger room, but on separate sides. It made the transition from infant to toddler a lot easier and the different age groups were able to interact, but still be separate from time to time. This layout also gave the kids more room to play and gave the daycare a more open feel, rather than confining the kids to one room.
Another thing, this daycare NEVER smelled. When I was touring other daycares, I sometimes got a whiff of dirty diapers, but not once did this happen in the year that we were there.
I need to commend the owners of this company. They own three locations and during our time there, this facility had to go through a director change. At first this situation concerned me, but again, my concerns quickly disappeared. The owner’s sister who runs another location came in to help out until Patty was hired. The owner’s sister was so sweet and on top of things.
I would recommend this place to ANYONE who is looking for a good, smaller and well-​run daycare. They are the BEST and if I could I would give them more than 5 stars. They are that good.

My daughter has been going here since she was 4 months old (she’s 11 months old now). We love it and she loves her teachers. She especially loves Ms. Carmen, Ms. Perla, Ms. Sonia and Ms. Mina. She gets excited every time we take her to «school». Every time I pick her up she is always having fun and smiling.

My son went here for a year from spring 2009 – 2010. The classrooms were new and colorful, with lots of fun toys to play with. He loved going outside in the sandbox and going down the slides. He especially loved Mrs Nita, and was so very comfortable and happy with her, and with Mrs Cindy, that it was a load of my mind as a working mom. He got along really well with the other kids and was always happy to go there. I was very sorry to have to find a new daycare, when we moved out of the area for work. Highly recommended.

My son attended Discovery Years for 8 months (March — October 2010). At first the level of care was good. He had an assigned teacher that was great with him. She did art projects with him every day. She was very organized and made sure that he was fed, changed, and napped on a regular schedule. I was very happy when she was his teacher (4 stars). Then she left to become a nanny and the care went south. On 3 occassions my son came home with a daily form where no activity had been logged since 2p (meaning from 2p — 5p they hadn’t fed or changed him). They sent home an ouchie report that was made up… as it addressed a mark that had happened at home, not the new one. On 2 occassions he came home with bite marks w/​o an ouchie report and when I called to find out what had happened no one knew. There are many reasons why my son no longer attends Discovery Years… staff not listening/​doing what I asked eg use diaper cream every diaper change, not doing anything all day eg no storytime, no art projects, and little else stimulation, i could go on and on, but i won’t. i don’t recommend this place at all.

We transitioned our daughter from being at home with a Nanny to a Daycare. My daughter to to Ms Cindy and Ms Neta right away. They were so gentle and patient with Sara. It took less than two weeks for her to start asking about going to school. She loves it there and we are very pleased with the way things are well document and organized. Great school… and that’s a big deal coming from me as I am hard to please!

My daughter started going here since a month, it is a very warm and organized daycare. My daughter learned a lot of things here, and is learning a lot. I am a happy mom and my daughter is a happy trooper here. Miss Nita and Miss Cindy are really good with kids, very loving and great care takers.