Puddle Jumpers Day Care

Worst place to place your children in. The children are CRAZY here. Staff members don't help, aren't understanding and the owner is unreasonable. From what I've seen the kids just do their own thing, there's no structure and no care. Don't come here.

My child was here before and it was a horrible experience. The staff told me my child had bad behaviour and I had to take him out of the centre and go elsewhere. Hes so much happier now and I'm so glad other parents have spoken up. The constant reminder that it was a bad day is heartbreaking for every parent. I wouldn't suggest this center to any parent.

Absolutely would recommend anyone bring their children here for care. The staff are welcoming, and go above and beyond. When you walk in, you can tell how much love and passion has gone into it, artwork and activities going on everywhere.

It's heartbreaking the way my family and I were treated by this center. Mainly because of two staff members (manager and senior staff) who had clearly made up their minds about us and our son from the beginning. After just a few months I had to have a word with the daycare owner and manager about the manager's communication style (she is rude to the children and parents) but they only defended themselves and didn't really acknowledge my concern. For the rest of the year they convinced us that our son was "incompetent, aggressive and lacks empathy" -- those were their exact words but from what I understand, ECE training doesn’t include diagnosing children on any level. I watched the staff hug and kiss other children when they were having a hard time with pick up/drop off, or just having a bad day but we were asked to leave work every other week to pick up our son for the same "challenging behavior". We were frustrated and during another work day interruption to pick up our son, his father addressed this with the senior staff and of course he was visibly upset but she once again only defended herself. After this conversation the staff member told the daycare owner that her “feelings were hurt” by my son’s father’s comments… we received an email from the daycare owner that day that there wasn't any room for our son. No meeting, no apology. I’m constantly being reminded of the incidents that lead up to where we are now and I wish I could list them all but I just don’t have the time. The one thing I won’t soon forget was the terror on my son's face his last few weeks at this center. They handled the situation completely wrong and we're now scrambling to find childcare, but we're relieved that we no longer have to worry about our son’s well-being. The discrimination against our son was subtle and underhanded for months--for too long and I’m ashamed for not speaking up sooner. I can only hope that they’ve realized the stress and heartbreak they’ve caused us and care enough to learn from this. I will also add that there are other staff members that are patient, kind and obviously enjoy working with children but they unfortunately don’t have the voice or platform to affect change.

This daycare is horrible. Don't bring your children here. My child complains about how hot it is in the summer as they only have one fan covering 30 kids? My child's friend has told me personally about bullying happening in the centre. When parents and I get together we talk about our experience with the daycare and how the owner does nothing. The amount of staff coming and going shows how bad of a company it is. It's hard to find a daycare that can bring my child to school while I work. At this point I am waiting for my child to be old enough to walk to and from school.

As parents of 2 children who enjoyed their days at Puddlejumpers for over 9 years I'm shocked at the negative stories. We have seen a huge variety of children and workers at the day care (both pre-school and school-aged) and witnessed so many times that the day care providers followed up and re-directed children's behaviours in ways that showed care for the child and the other children in the centre. I would hope that people reading the reviews posted about staff not treating children fairly can remember that if a child is behaving in a way that is disrespectful or unsafe that staff have a responsibility to that child as well as every other child in that space to be held accountable for his/her actions. As a parent, I appreciated the time that most staff spent with my children helping them navigate the social world of children as well helping them learn self-regulation and responsibility. As someone who works with children daily, I knew that my children would have good and challenging experiences in "the daycare world" but valued the fact that they always felt safe at the centre and knew that the staff would help them navigate challenges they experienced due to the fact there are so many other personalities there, children and staff. The owner is compassionate and professional and was always available for questions and follow-up. She does her best to hire passionate and caring staff - if any of the staff didn't seem to be a good fit or seemed challenged in their abilities, the owner put the children's needs first. My children loved the staff at Puddlejumpers over the years and miss some of the staff who have gone on to other careers as teachers or gone back to school themselves. As my children grew older, they loved the many activities and special events Puddlejumpers staff organized for the children and still like to visit when they can. The centre is full of books, arts and crafts, puzzles, games, toys, and sporting activities... it always amazed us what kinds of opportunities our kids had at Puddlejumpers. We have recommended Puddlejumpers to many of our friends - which takes a high level of confidence towards the owner and staff. We are highly involved in the development of our children and were so lucky to have found Puddlejumpers for them. It is a fabulous daycare centre and has been instrumental in our children's development for over 9 years.

My experience was nothing but the best at Puddle Jumpers Daycare. I found staff worked hard everyday to keep children from grades K-6 engaged, stimulated and excited about activities, games and themes for the day. The owner was supportive of staff, parents and children! It’s amazing that this daycare is able to attend to 3 schools through the school year and convert into summer camps, when school is out! I found this a positive daycare that strived to be a fun atmosphere for all the kiddos! Even kids that “graduated” from the program stop by to visit! Of course, to add in, the owner of Puddle Jumpers always puts kids first! I believe that has to be a priority at any daycare, and it definitely is here!

We have been at Puddle Jumpers for a month now and have had nothing but a good experience. Reading some of the reviews below it seems like a few families of children with behavioural issues may have had a bad experience but I feel these reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt. The caregivers have been so helpful and supportive of our transition to their larger centre from a small home daycare. They have been patient in helping our daughter learn the rules and routines in a centre, and adapting to napping in a group. The centre serves 2 healthy snacks a day and teaches the children new things using themes each week; this week was about different occupations while next week is about different cultures. We are extremely happy with our time at Puddle Jumpers so far and would recommend it to any family in the area.