Dian Dian Day Care

First, I am a regular Unilocaler and not a one time poster as a previous reviewer mentioned.
Second, I am very protective of my 1 year old son and want him to be in a safe environment. After interviewing many daycares such as happy daycare and kiddie academy, I chose Dian Dian because they treat each child as if they were their own. The other day care employees looked like lifeless zombies and had no passion.
Mr. Guan, who is full of passion, truly knows how to «train» children and is a miracle worker. I trust him more than myself with my precious son. He even teaches my husband and I how to build better habits for our child.
Afte sending my son to Dian Dian he has improved so much on his speech, napping habits, and eating bigger portions.
A previous reviewer mentioned how they did not feel comfortable with having 10 – 12 toddlers in 2 rooms with 3 adults… Saying it was not safe or dangerous. In Dian Dians defense, Mr. Guan does a great job «training» the children and they are all synchronized… They play calmly and are under control. Having 1 – 2 adults watch the children while one cooks the food is not a problem. Hence why they have been open for 10 years. Recently, I even noticed there are actually 4 adults now.
Another winning factor is Dian Dian is only daycare I found that makes HOMECOOKED and HEALTHY foods. I refuse/​despise day cares that give children cheese, crackers, pizza, sugary juices, etc.
If you are mandarin speaking, know what a REAL healthy diet is, don’t mind a small/​not so fancy place, and wants someone to love your child as much as you do… Dian Dian is for you.

This is an overdued review. My son has graduated from Diandian and moved to a day care center about 5 months ago.
Our experience with Diandian is all very positive.
When we moved to this neighborhood, we have made some arrangement with another family care at first. My son cried harder and harder during every drop off/​pick up. The owner complained about my 20-​month old cannot feed himself well and cannot nap well and pushed us to withdraw. (Fact #1: she wanted to admit an infant which would bring her more income. Fact #2: She does NOT care about the kids, it is just a business for her.)
I immediately started to look around and found Diandian based on friends’ recommendation. What a difference!
Diandian did everything to ensure an easy transition. Texted me updates and pictures of my son’s activities there during the first week. No more crying!
And what’s more important, I can tell my son has developed the bonding and trust with Diandian.
Looking back, what are the most important factors for us parent when looking for a daycare? Safe and Caring environment. Diandian has both.
My son was nurtured there. To him, it is another home.
All the other things are bonus, like reciting all cute lyrics, good routine, flexible on hours, etc.
I give it 4 star, as to me, nothing is perfect, not even us parents or our own home.
But if you ask me whether I would recommend Diandian, YES, absolutely!

My daughter is always happy in Dian Dian. Daycare facility is nice and clean. Kids are taken to a local park almost everyday. Dian Dian care-​givers treat every child as their own. They are exceptionally professional, and with a strong personal touch. My daughter has been much loved and well cared for. After six months of being at Dian Dian, she had to move onto a preschool. Saying goodbye wasn’t easy for everyone. We will definitely miss Dian Dian.

Both my kids spent a bit over a year here at Dian Dian. The little one just moved on to preschool last December and would still tell us how much he misses Michael baba, the owner of Dian Dian. I took the kids back to Dian Dian to say hi and he was all in tears when we were leaving and just wouldn’t let go of Michael baba.
This just tells us how much love my kids have received from Dian Dian.
Thank you Dian Dian.

My son started going to Diandian when he was 1.5 year old. He stayed there a little bit over one year. The reason we decided to leave the daycare is that my new company is very far from Cupertino and traffic is not good on ⁸⁸⁰⁄₂₈₀. We are happy with the way Dian Dian care of my son. The owner is very professional, considerate and helpful. My son likes going there everyday and made several good friends. The food is healthy and the sleep room is much better than other family cares I visited. One time my son got some virus, had to stay at home and did not want to eat. When I called Michael in the morning he asked me to come over to pick up the lunch since my son may not like the home food when he was sick. We truly appreciate his consideration.
There are some previous reviews concerned that the play room is small. Yes, it is not big. As I observed, the inner room is for some kids for special care. When my son just joined, he did not like to sit for long, even 5 mins. He was in the inner room to play with the helper and watch other kids in the other room. When he can sit quietly with other kids, he sat on the little stool to take the class.
They do go out everyday when weather permits. There were couple times I met them in the park when I was jogging there.
There is no formal curriculum. As I am concerned, my son’s health and happiness are the most important at this age. My son kisses Michael when he leaves the daycare everyday.
Overall, we are satisfied and will recommend to friends. We will visit them again and may need their help during winter and spring breaks.

All I can say that you get what you pay for. Dian Dian’s cost is lower than other places, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable sending my kids there.
My husband and I went to see Dian Dian based on the Unilocal reviews and now I wonder if they are all real — many are filtered and I can see why because they were all 5 stars but the accounts had only one review.
The place was overcrowded with 12 children and there are supposedly 3 caretakers. One caretaker was cooking and another one wasn’t there. Which means really one caretaker was taking care of 12 kids. They did indicate to me though normally its always 3 people taking care of kids majority of the time.
They also only have one play room and one play ground — so all kids play together from infants to toddlers to older kids. The place isn’t so big so they were running into each other and some kids were getting hurt.
We also didn’t feel comfortable that they already had 12 kids but were willing to take on a young infant of 6 or so months. Infants require a lot of attention. I wonder if this place has already hit its max on the # of children?
I think the owners were very professional and they seemed to care, but the place was just too crowded for me. They also were just really caretakers/​nannies so there wasn’t any curriculum or anything. They just ensure your kids are watched, fed, and tugged to sleep. I think if that’s what you are looking for then Dian Dian may be a good choice. It wasn’t what we were looking for. Also, the owners + the aide were caretakers. We really wanted a school with some curriculum even for infants. So we decided to search somewhere else.

My previous reviews were filtered by Unilocal.I am reposting.
Posted 1÷7÷2010:
This is an update since my March 2009 post. My daughter has moved on to preschool in the Cupertino area, but we kept in touch with the owners of Dian Dian. My daughter asks about them from time to time. One of the owners, Michael, visits my daughter once or twice a month at her preschool and often times he brings her favorite homemade bun. She absolutely loves the attention! I think that is the kind of love and care that is hard to find.
I feel very fortunate to have found a daycare for my daughter when she was so young. I was reluctant to put her in a home based daycare because I’ve heard many horror stories. But this was not the case at Dian Dian. As you can see in the pictures and you can also see during a tour, that their facility is very clean and feels like home. They have REAL beds and cribs… not rolled out cushions or sleeping bags.
The only reason I moved my daughter to preschool is to get her exposed to a big school setting. I believe Dian Dian has about 10 – 12 children in their care. In hindsight, the small number is a good thing… there is certainly more attention given to each child. I will not go into great lengths about my daughter’s current preschool, but just to show you the difference between the level of care — she came home with poop stuck up her butt today. Not a care was given to just wipe her clean when she couldn’t hold on to the poop any longer. There was also her dirty clothes stuffed in a bag, which sounds decent, BUT when I opened it there was a lump of poop inside. Ok… the decent thing a preschool teacher can do is to flush the poop away and toss the soiled clothing in a bag. At Dian Dian she ALWAYS came home clean, appropriately dressed for the weather, fed, and happy.
Posted 3÷3÷2009:
My daughter has been going to Dian Dian Daycare since she was 12 months. She is now almost 3 years and can speak better Mandarin than my husband and I combined. In addition to the foreign language skill, she learns the alphabet, basic arithmetic and Chinese nursery rhymes/​songs; eats healthy homemade meals; drinks fresh-​squeezed juice and smoothies; plays & sleeps in a clean and safe environment; and receives a lot of love from the caretakers. The owners/​caretakers are CPR/​First Aid certified, a Christian family, and used to own a restaurant. I did my homework before choosing this home based daycare center. My mind is always at ease when I drop my daughter off in the morning. I’m extremely satisfied with my choice and would recommend them to anyone who is looking for a daycare center for their precious child.

Unfortunately, my daughter will turn 3 in September and will be graduating to preschool. I’m concerned that we’ll have to lower our expectations for the next facility because Dian Dian has been that superb.

My son has been going to Dian Dian daycare for over a month now, so far he is doing well. He still hasn’t come home with diaper rashes or bruises/​scatches, which was one of the many problems with his previous daycare. From what my wife tells me, they do try to teach the kids numbers, animal names, etc… and spends time on teaching behavior problems — such as no pushing or hitting. I like their facility because they delicate a lot of space for the kids to play, a lot of toys, and small sinks and toilet designed for toddler’s size. I also like the fact they speak only Mandarin Chinese — so my kid can pickup the language, especially since my wife and i don’t use it at home and their brains are like sponge at this stage. There are 3 adults in the house, so the ratio is about 3 to 12 most of the time. I’ll update once my son is completely settled in this place in the next few months. So far, I am recommending other parents to tried them.

Our daughter has been going to this daycare for almost 2 years now. The owners/​caretakers are great and definitely go above and beyond the call of duty in caring for the kids. They are amazingly patient and very understanding. It is a home-​based daycare which adds to the personal touch. They speak mostly Mandarin so it’s a great way for the kids to learn Chinese. They have steadily improved upon and added to the facilities over the years so those are top-​notch as well. I’d give them 10 stars if I could.