Wee Wild Ones

The grandkids love it here!!

BEWARE! IF YOU ACTUALLY NEED DAYCARE ON A SPECIFIC DATE, DO NOT CHOOSE THIS DAYCARE. Our children had a guaranteed spot for January 2022 since June (6 months in advance). This week we got an email saying that they can no longer accommodate our guaranteed spot and offer care in January and they are not sure about a future date. I spoke to their Executive Director and the owner. They were super rude and dismissive, and even laughed at me when I asked them what I was supposed to do now and how their offer to just refund the registration fees or put them somewhere on a waitlist was helpful. The owner implied that I didn’t understand the email correctly and said that they had just suggested we get a back up because they weren’t sure if they would be able to offer spots in January. That is absolutely not what the email says, but it seems like there is poor communication amongst their admin/management. I was really excited about this daycare- the programming looked good and the locations were nice (although their staff weren’t always following COVID protocols with masks). It also seems like they have a fair amount of staff turnover. But, unfortunately it seems like this is a daycare that you can’t rely on. I wouldn’t recommend this daycare for anyone unless you don’t actually need daycare and you don’t mind being put on a waitlist without an end date. If you need childcare that is reliable with consistent staff and certainty when a guarantee is made, I would run in the opposite direction of this place. They make big promises but don’t follow through. We are now going to be stuck paying substantially more to ensure that we have a spot for January at a daycare that we feel comfortable. It’s so frustrating and the management team at Wee Wild Ones was unapologetic in our conversations. They blame it all on “licensing” with the Government. I’m sure that licensing can be tricky, but they shouldn’t have guaranteed spots they didn’t have! Apparently this happened to LOTS of families in both the Fairview and Bridgeland locations. Happy to chat with anyone if they have any questions about this post (and/or share the emails I received from Wee Wild Ones).

We really love the educators at wee wild ones. Everyone is amazing, in particular Miss Rosie, Charmayne, and Sarah are so wonderful with our daughter. It’s a beautiful environment and the kids spend lots of time outside and doing creative activities. I could go on and on, I’m so glad we found a place where we feel great about our daughter spending the day there.

The educators in this facility are bar none, amazing! They show true passion for their work and focus on the children and their development. But... there is a dark side. The business side of the facilities (management) has seemed to lost sight of the end goal. Educators being mistreated, left feeling unsure about job security for having a voice, little direction but big consequences. When concerns and questions are brought to the table they are swiftly pushed aside. If I knew a business was mistreating it's employees, I would boycott that business. This is different as the educators truly care for these children but the business does not care about the educators. They sell you the "wild side" and the "outdoor adventures" but really, they want your monthly fee. They will spend money on marketing before they will put up shade tents or have a second vehicle to take the kids to explore nature. This daycare is not about caring for children when you look at the foundation. It is a used car salesman dressed up as a yoga instructor and hungry for your cash. Very sad.

I debated for some time as to whether to leave a review or not. But after some encouragement from other parents…. here it is. Our experience with Wee Wild Ones was disappointing and we gave our 30 days’ notice after being there 1 month. The pros: The centre was bright and esthetically pleasing. The classroom my son was in had a lot of natural light. The educators themselves were very nice, and put in great effort for the daily indoor activities and near the end of our time there my son did enjoy being in their care. We also appreciated the cloth diaper program and the daily reports. The cons: The infant and toddler classrooms were really crowded. My son napped poorly and came home overstimulated and worn out, which isn’t the case in his new day care. Drop off parking was tight and busy and there is a ton of traffic in the morning with the high school being right there. Our primary issue was with the administration. To summarize, they seemed disorganized, inexperienced with confusing inconsistent policies and communication. One example of this was the repeated confusion over which program they were placing my son in. I had to get this corrected on three separate occasions, including the week before we were to start. There were other issues and conflict as well, which I won’t go into for the review, but happy to share if parents want more details. The first few weeks with WWO ended up being confusing, very stressful and we felt disrespected. The kicker for us was when we followed up with the owner with our experiences, feedback and suggestions (which she had invited us to do) it was met with defensive and passive aggressive communication. We have never received such a dismissive response from someone in her type of position. It made us realize if this how the owner communicates and handles feedback, this behaviour likely impacts the rest of the organization. I recognize our experience may not be the norm. All I can say is that our current day care has never made us feel the way the management and owner of WWO did. Plus, our son is thriving at our current day care- so he doing much better as well. My advice to other parents is approach with caution and a critical eye. Visit it more than once (go when it’s open!!), get things in writing, ask for clarification, and don’t take what they say as “fact”. This is a business that appears to be expanding, is lacking some experience and is figuring its self out, so they have some “learning” to do. Ultimately trust your gut if it’s the right fit for your family.