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May 2024 by Hope
Very pleased !! Awesome staff the kids love them great facility
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March 2024 by Jacks Jewell
The facility looks very nice if a little worn down, all of the outdoor trikes are very old and worn down and the indoor toys are incomplete and very well loved looking. There is a large indoor play area for the after school kids to play in but they seemed to sit on the hallway floors mostly. The front door has a pin lock and all doors lock from the outside, so be careful if you go outside to gather your child, you’re likely to be locked out there for awhile. Like most daycares it’s best that your child start at least a year old or the obvious will happen when it comes to attention, care and blame/punishments. All children MUST nap, there is no contingency for older children who have outgrown the afternoon nap, your child will be punished if they do not nap. If your child is on the spectrum I strongly do NOT recommend this facility. The employees here do not know how to handle children who do not fit into the box, as yelling and raised voices are there go to. The employees are not teachers but employees, they are not trained to teach. The children will be shuffled from room to room to maintain ratio which often they are over. They do misplace children in the large facility but at least they are somewhere in the building even if no one knows what teacher or which room, indoor or outdoor. Many times it takes 20mins just to find your child as everyone you ask will just point you in a different direction. The food served to the children is very basic, not unhealthy but not great either. My personal experience with this facility did not end well as on my child’s final day I was trapped against a wall, unable to move, block, or respond while the director continued to reach for my child’s head to run her fingers continuously through his hair while telling me he needed drugs, all while I attempted to thwart her stroking of my sons hair, which I knew could cause a meltdown as he does not like strangers touching him. I had never met or spoken to this woman before so did not know who she was or understand her aggressive stroking of his head and was constantly moving him away to stop her. My child is not perfect, and did do some inappropriate things, but many of the issues could have been avoided had they stopped to listen to him, not yell at him, deny him food, or challenged him with something new to learn other then the basic abcs. He is on the spectrum, which anyone who has spent more then a week quickly figures out about him. Again I think it’s a great facility for your baby to grow with, but any child over two who is independent, confident, and intelligent does not belong here. They will be bored and ostracized. And keep your children’s hair short to keep the almost inappropriate touching of your child to a minimum.
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August 2023 by Jodi McCarty
Smart Beginnings taught our infant/toddlers so much. They have been, friendly, helpful, and just all around wonderful teachers and caregivers. We have been sending our children here for 1.5 years, and we are forever grateful for their teachers. Thank you so much. We will miss you!
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June 2023 by Angel Tjaden
Walking to pick my child from Oak Park and their van driver almost ran me over. She was not watching as she turned into the school parking lot and going pretty fast, too..
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March 2023 by Amanda Hughes
This place is terrible dont send your child there. There staff is rude doesn't care about the children kids are getting hurt and it's not being reported. My child has eating issues and they were not addressed properly. My child attended the daycare for 5 days and was hurt 2 of them they said they were going to call me and report the incident which I never got a call and I'm not first parent this happend to. Also I sent my child food list per his eating therapist messaged for 2 days asking if they received it no answer finally I had to email one admins to fund out which they still didn't even try work with him just lied about what he ate and let him starve. They have no accountability for there staff every drop off staff sitting ob phones or gossiping in halls not once did I get a good morning or anything. My child will never go back
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March 2023 by Cindy Orazio
We have been using SMART Beginnings for almost 2 months for our one year old and after schooler. Both of my children love it! Amazing staff all around! Highly recommend!
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March 2023 by Chloe Good
My kids absolutely love SBP!! My 7month old and 3 year old have learned so much and continue to grow more and more every day. Couldn’t thank their teachers enough for every thing they do!! ❤️
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December 2022 by Shelby Braun
Not on a good routined schedule, my daughter learned little to nothing. We won’t be going back.
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December 2022 by Abby Perkins
Smart Beginnings has been great to us. They've worked to get my son in on short notice when I went back to work. The teachers are great about communicating via the "Hi Mama" app, I love getting pictures of him and he seems genuinely happy when he's there and when I pick him up at the end of the day- I can't say that about other places he's been. In regards to the other comments- It's a large facility, kids are going to share germs but they do their best to keep everyone clean. And I think they went through some challenges with staffing during COVID- as did everywhere. But this is the second time my son has attended and I've been very impressed with every staff member I've encountered this time around, even the very young ones:)
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December 2021 by nesha johnson
I had an issue occur & I brought it up to the director, Regina. We talked for a long time expressing our feelings & concerns. I was able to express my feelings & she responded right away & was honestly, very patient with me. My kids have been going here for almost 2 years now & up until now I’ve never had an issue or concern. (It wasn’t an extreme issue) The staff work tirelessly & go above & beyond especially for my 2 rascals. The facility is huge & is always very well groomed! The kids go on lots of summer field trips & they provide several after school games/activities.
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December 2020 by Kelly Salassi
The staff at SMART Beginnings is awesome! They were very quick to respond to any questions I had and my son loved going to summer camp every day. I highly recommend this place. They also have a program to work with children who might need more attention in some areas!
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December 2020 by Karen Weirauch
This place lost my three year old grandson for over 30 minutes and left him outside unattended by himself during this time. When they contact my son and d-I-l they stated they were self reporting this very serious incident to the state, but never did. Then claimed that my grandson was “suspended” because he was a “flight risk” and would not listen. I would not recommend this place. After this incident in August 2020, my grandchildren were moved to a different facility where there have been no problems at all
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December 2020 by Danny G
Great. The boy always had fun and i got pictures and updates through the app. Very smooth transition from being at home to being in a school environment.He went to pre-k here the year before last and he actually came home doing little bits of reading and talking about letters and njmbers.Ths following summer he did thier summer camp and they had a field trip each week and he had lots of fun.This summer attended the camp and had fun despite the pandemic. I think they've really handled the pandemic well, keeping it fun while going through all of the safety protocol.
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December 2019 by Abby Lovell
Smart beginnings takes such great care of my little one! Since she started going there, she’s excelled so much! I definitely notice a difference in her advancement amongst other children her age. I know I never need to worry about her safety and know she always has fun.
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December 2019 by Madison Zehnder
Honestly probably would not recommend this facility. My son went happily for 2 weeks when suddenly one day he cried really hard at drop off at which point I found out he had cried also the day before (which I had not heard about). I kept taking him thinking it was just a hard day but it just kept getting worse. He would tell me he doesn’t like school and doesn’t want to go back there. He has gone to other daycares and been perfectly fine. I can only wonder what could have happened but today was his last day and apparently he had 2 potty accidents at school. He hasn’t had an accident for over a year so this is just another sign that there is something else going on. Maybe nothing happened and I’m being paranoid. However what has irritated me beyond belief is that the director, Regina wasn’t willing to work with me at all. I’m still going to have to pay for 2 more weeks that he will not be there. I understand this policy in case of people leaving for no reason. But Both my child and I do not feel safe him being here and I would think anyone would give some wiggle room in this situation. Very sad that they are more concerned with $$ than children and their parents feeling comfortable and safe.
