Tiny DOTs Early Education Center

My 1−½ year old son has been enrolled at Tiny Dots for the past year. Throughout his year in the infant room, he has been treated with love, kindness, and great enthusiasm by the teachers and director. It always amazes me that the teachers have so much energy from the start to the end of the day and are tirelessly singing, wiping, holding, and feeding my son and his friends. Because of the teachers’ loving ways, the babies grow to love each other and look forward to each other’s arrivals each day. It’s adorable and much appreciated by this working mom!
My older son attended Joy Picus, which is located about 1 block away. I applied to both programs with both children, and arrived at the two locations due to waitlist issues. Having been enrolled at both, I can say that they are comparable. Both directors are committed to the children’s well-​being – there is no doubt about that.
One additional value to Tiny Dots is how secure the place is. Besides simply appearing fortress-​like on the outside of the CalTrans building, there are multiple layers of security checkpoints that you must pass through to drop off your child. I find this very reassuring, and yet it is also quite lovely that my little guy is greeted so warmly by the security detail at his school. I think it’s also extra safe that the children’s outdoor play space is reached directly via classroom door. Much thanks to all the hard work that goes into my son’s happy days at Tiny Dots.

My husband and I both work. The transition of leaving your child in someone else’s hands for care-​taking is very difficult. I was on a waitlist for 10 months before we were admitted. I was super excited because it happened just as I needed to return to work. I Was there a total of three days when it was evident that the my child’s safety was in question.
On day 2 of being there my infant’s blanket was used to comfort another child that was crying. When I noticed that I addressed it with staff immediately and his caretaker said «oh yeah».
In the evening when I picked him up he was wearing someone else’s bib. Next morning, I wrote a note to his caretaker saying please make sure that my little one’s belongings are only used by him.
Wednesday evening, I was there to pick him up spent at least 10 minutes talking to his caretaker and another young girl in the infant room. I kept thinking to myself don’t forget everything you need to do before you leave today since it’s the end week (we were only there 3 days a week) when I was done gathering all of his belongings I picked up my child and said «okay bye ladies and one of the caretaker said «aren’t you going to tell her?». His caretaker proceeded to tell me that there was a little incident that afternoon and my son’s head was scratched. She then said «oh wait, I have to go file a report». She ran off to write a two sentence report and asked me to sign it. I immediately felt like I was in the state of shock. I asked what happened, who did it? She said she couldn’t tell me who did it, but that they were going to ask the parents to cut the child’s nails.
As I was walking out tons of questions ran through my mind. I asked where were you when the incident happened? She said I wasn’t there I didn’t see it. Red flag number one she write an incident report to an incident she did not witness, she didn’t write it when it occurred, but when the parent arrived. According to her, a child was playing with the toy next to my 4 month baby and scratched his head. When I asked what a adult witnessed the incident she gave me a name. When I called that person the following morning that individual said «no, I didn’t see anything I was out to lunch».
My husband and I wrote a detailed email of the incident to the director and asking her to investigate the situation. The director is never in her office and she doesn’t give you a secondary phone to call you in case of an emergency. We waited till morning and she called my husband. The gist of the conversation was that if we don’t understand that accidents happen in daycare then maybe we’re not daycare appropriate. She did not feel that there were any regulations broken by the staff.
I followed up with an email at noon and didn’t hear from her until the following day. If you have upset parents, I would imagine you would want to deal with this issue right away and not let it fester. By Friday, we had decided he was not going back. I do understand that incidents will happen and other people’s care, but it’s how they handle the incident that either builds your confidence in them, or diminishes it.
When she called me she once again emphasized that these things do happen and in daycare and that daycare is not for everyone. I tried to explain to her that from day one I had been handholding her staff through commonsense situations that don’t require much training and that’s alarming. When I mentioned the blanket again she said «oh the blanket thing» she didn’t believe blanket sharing was a big issue because to her it was more important that they observe the children then worry about having to personalize every single little item.
I began to understand that this is more of a philosophy issue at the daycare then inadequate staff. Maybe the caretaker would be a better caretaker with the right training and supervision, but that’s exactly what the center lacks training and supervision. Thankfully, we’ve moved on. I was very fortunate to find another place. I immediately noticed a difference when the director was addressing issues that i had experienced at this daycare as things they would never do. I’m just happy I’m daycare appropriate again :)