I have worked in childcare for over 35 years and have come to see the best, good and the ugly. This daycare looks great from the outside, but very unprofessional, I understand ratio's but, don't except a child and then tell a parent the last working day (Friday) before the child is to start that you can't except the child. know your numbers before you tell a parent yes! read more

I arrived for my tour of the facility in hopes to enroll my two kids for daycare and rang The doorbell to get in. No one came to the door but a staff member must have been getting back from her lunch and let me in.. without asking for an ID or who I was or who I was there to see. This teacher left me up at the front desk with no staff and went back to a classroom. Two more staff arrived from break and walked past me back to classrooms with still no staff present at the front desk. I was mortified that they would just let anyone inside and left unattended. There was even a debit card laying on the desk in plain sight. Needless to say I left. read more

Terrible management. The owner lets her kids into management with 0 qualifications. Teachers who arent related to the owner Kerri are underpaid despite work ethic. Also family doesnt have to pay to bring their kids into the daycare while they cant even afford to pay their employees on time. It's a shock they havent been closed for fraud yet. I wouldn't trust this place with a dog let alone my child. read more

On the plus side, there are a couple teachers here who care. That said, there are a LOT of problems here. 1) When we toured, I saw that they were making the 4-5 year olds take naps. My 4 year old was no longer taking naps. I was told that he would be provided with a quiet activity instead. This was untrue. He was often forced to stay on his cot from 30 min to the full TWO HOURS . This was borderline abusive to him and caused him great daily distress. He acted out repeatedly in class and we took him to mental health therapy. Instead of working with us, the owner, Carrie, said that nap time is when her teachers lesson plan, even though she had previously promised he would have quiet, supervised, playtime. So basically he was not getting care during this time and was forced against his will to stay on a cot. It was a very difficult time for our family. In the summer he moved out of this class to their "school age" class where he was no longer forced to sit on a cot for up to two hours. The teachers who taught him in the other class and in the new class said his behavior was much better, well no surprise. He mentally recovered during this time and is no longer in mental health therapy and has not had behavioral problems in his classes since. 2) The culture at this daycare is one that is fine with teachers yelling at the children. It happened every single day when I dropped off in the morning, I would hear a teacher yelling at the kids from one classroom or another as I walked down the long hallway. The worst day was when a teacher, Rachel, was crouched down in the hallway with a four year old, Brody, and jamming her finger in his face and yelling forcefully at him like he was an adult in boot camp. Absolutely terrible. 3) The teacher turnover for their part time teachers is unreal. My three year old had at least 20 different teachers in the 6 months that he was there. He never knew who was going to be taking care of him and this was very stressful for him and me. I can't tell you how many times I would introduce myself and my three year old in the hope that they would take good care of him and it would help alleviate his apprehension. There were 5 instances where I picked him up and he had a messy diaper. One time the teacher asked ME where the diapers were. A couple months into care there, he started asking me in the mornings if it was a school day and if I said yes, he would cry from that moment until I left him at daycare. Heart wrenching. His room also had ZERO windows, so between the teacher turnover, being yelled at, and the depressing atmosphere it was just really tough to leave him there. 4) The communication is abysmal. There are not consistent teachers from drop off to pick up, so when you pick up they know literally nothing about your child's day, and even though they have Tadpoles (communication software), they don't use it consistently, and even when they do it is about the whole class so you literally have no clue how your child did that day. 5) They family running this center are not ethical people. When I found a spot at another center for my three year old, they told me that I would also have to take my 5 year old out of care. I had no plan for this as he was starting Kindergarten in one month. They said that they do not provide care to school age (their term - he was still in full time childcare) children only. When I asked where this was in the handbook they (Keyara) said it was a new policy. When I later talked to the owner Carrie, she said that it was very offensive to take one kid out. So it seems they just wanted to "punish" me for taking one kid out. I ended up having to piece together a bunch of babysitters and take a week off work to cover this month for my 5 year old. After we had both of our children out of care there, and had given the required full month's notice, Lil Tots continued to illegally withdraw money from our checking account, not once (even tho contacted them to reverse it after the first illegal withdrawal), not twice, but THREE times, totaling $700. read more

I absolutely love this daycare and so does my son! They've done great with him since he has started to attend this last October.

We loved my son's teacher and the facility is beautiful. However, that's where the positive feedback ends - the center's director made keeping our son at this daycare a nightmare. There was a constant flurry of new employees, particularly the part-time staff, because the director fired employees for every tiny infraction. She also did it publicly at least once - I walked in on her firing one employee by the front door one day when picking up my son. After my son's beloved teacher left (she was bullied and cursed at by staff leadership) we didn't return. I overheard way too many conversations between director and staff that should have been done in private and it made it obvious that she was a bully who didn't know how to treat employees. We thought as parents we would escape such treatment but she was hot and cold with us as well - sometimes fawning over us and other times outright telling us we were bad parents depending on my child's behavior that day. read more

This 2 star review is not for the daycare facility itself, but for our experience with the director during the time our child attended. On more than one occasion we felt bullied and found her to be very unapproachable when we had questions or concerns. Additionally, we felt she was dismissive and defensive in regards to any inquiries we had including those involving safety concerns. It is my opinion based on the experience we had that the director is not only unprofessional and unopen to reason or rationale, but also exhibits passive aggressiveness on frequent occasions. Despite the facility being clean and aesthetically adequate, I believe it is the behavior of the owner that will ultimately tarnish the center's reputation. I normally never take the time to write reviews, good or bad, however I feel it necessary to share our experience so that other families are given the chance to see multiple perspectives and make an informed decision. read more

Ankeny lil tots daycare is the best daycare I've been to. Me and my children are treated like family and it's the best feeling ever. When I'm going thru something and need someone to talk to management is always there to talk to me. When I had car problems management helped me. My kids love this place and we have been there for almost 2years. No other daycare has made me feel this way. People might say mean things on here but that's because they probably didn't get there way. I wake up happy every morning to come to work.. Every daycare has there problems but but nothing to put mean reviews on here. Management is the best and so that's makes a great daycare read more

Every person has different experinces in every center they go to they all have their pros and cons. We have been with Lil Tots since June of 2014 and have nothing but good things to say. We have referred a number of families that are also very happy. The teachers we have had are great and have been there for at least a year or longer and seem very happy. We have never got a negative vibe from any of the management they are always greeting everyone in the morning and at pick up in the evening. The owner has always been nothing but nice to us and always makes sure she ask how things are going with our children's care. We feel very good every morning when we drop our children off for the day. read more