My son has been attending Beginner Steps for four months now and he is flourishing! Debbie is wonderful about updating us throughout the day and sending photos. She is adaptable to your specific parenting philosophy and has been a great partner in working with me on a modified approach to Baby Led Weaning. He has been hitting milestones and most importantly is genuinely happy when I drop him off in the morning. With food included in the cost and diapers covered for the first year, it's extremely cost efficient and takes a lot of stress off of me as a working mom in terms of what I need to bring every morning. Definitely recommend for families looking for a flexible in-home daycare that focuses on development, nutrition and having fun! read more

I fully trust Debbie and appreciate the service she provides our children. We love that it is a home daycare environment, as it feels like we are dropping our kids off with family rather than a typical daycare! Our kids are excelling under Debbie's guidance, and I would highly recommend her! Her home is dedicated to the daycare, she has a separate infant and toddler room, plus a large playroom. Everything is organized and very clean. She provides meals, which are all organic, and if there are ever any food allergies or dietary restrictions she has no problem altering the menu to take these into account. My recently turned two year old knows her shapes, colors, alphabet, and alphabet sounds all thanks to Debbie! She is learning through play, and every week I am amazed at something new she learned.(My husband and I will look at each other and then hold our heads down in shame as we both realize that it was not us, but Debbie, who taught her the latest shape/letter/animal noise) When my infant son started there he was very reluctant to take a bottle (and by very reluctant I mean absolutely refused!), she was more than willing to work with us to ensure he ate the appropriate amount during the day. I'm talking trying 4 different bottles, holding him in different positions, singing/rocking/swaying while feeding him! Eventually, he warmed up to the bottle. We knew he would, but I have to believe that Debbie made the transition easier for him. This is my first yelp review. I could not stand that a daycare that has had such a positive impact to our family (2 kids, going there for nearly 2 years) had such a terrible review. To the commentor that Debbie "cherry picks" the kids. I personally do not see an issue with this. If I were running a home daycare with a limited amount of space why would you not choose kids/families that agree with you and your principles. Debbie is strict with her contract, and she will absolutely threaten law suits when needed. I have found that quite a few parents do not think that a home daycare has the same rules as a institutional daycare. Kids need to be picked up on time, kids can not attend when they are sick, your child will not get 1 on 1 attention all day (its a daycare with multiple kids, if you want that then you need a nanny), no your child can not be held all day, etc. Hope this honest review helps! read more

I am surprised to see the poor reviews on here and am hoping my review can make a difference in the mind of anyone considering this daycare because I believe Debbie has a well-run business that provides my son with a loving and nurturing environment. My son started attending Debbie's daycare when he was 16 weeks old and is still there at 11 months. During this time Debbie has helped us deal with napping issues, reflux, and the transition to solid foods. She provides very detailed notes to you on what the children are up to all day including when they had diaper changes and naps. I find this information extremely helpful when I pick him up to know what he's eaten and the last time he's slept. I also love that Debbie prepares fresh food for the children daily. My son has a fantastic appetite and is such a good eater and I partly attribute that to his time at daycare. Debbie is very communicative on what she is feeding the kids and listens to me when I tell her what his preferred foods are and my preferred method of feeding him. As a home daycare, things do get a little more personal among the families, but that is something that I have enjoyed. I know there have been challenges with other families as we've been part of this daycare and as you can see from other reviews, but I am glad that my son has played with the same 2 or 3 kids and feel they have built good relationships. Also, Debbie runs the business herself and anyone who has been self-employed will tell you that finding good help is difficult. There were challenges but we found that if you communicate with Debbie and inform yourself of the licensing laws in the state of CT then things turn out fine. She does have a dog and I was slightly worried about this at first, but after visiting her before we started and seeing how the kids and dog interact (or don't) I haven't been concerned about it at all since. If anything, my son is getting better with our dog at home learning how to interact with animals at daycare as well. Finally, I want to end by saying that the thing I love most about this daycare is that my son has never been upset about being left there - ever. He gets excited when we turn onto her street and even understands the sentence "Time to go see Debbie!" When we knock on the door and hear little Rosie start to bark he smiles and laughs and when I hand him over to Debbie he waves bye-bye and is ready to start his day. Thanks to Debbie for making my son feel right at home! read more

Debbie of Beginner Steps Daycare LLC should NOT be trusted. She is extremely unprofessional (sharing personal matters about one family to another, bending rules for preferred families/children, sharing her personal financial woes when it comes to running her business, complaining about the revolving door of assistants she's had...). She has extreme highs and lows, which makes it challenging to manage her emotionally. Basically, you never know if the Debbie you're going to encounter that day is cheery or in an awful mood because your child gave her a migraine. It's just an added element of stress that is not needed when dealing with a daycare provider. Honestly, I blame myself for even enrolling with her to begin with. The red flags were clear from the onset, but regrettably, I ignored them. Let's start with her referrals. Two were for parents of currently enrolled kids (no surprise they're not there now...) and one was from a formerly enrolled child. First off, the mom of the formerly enrolled child was completely surprised Debbie would offer her info as a reference. She made a comment how she had her daughter enrolled there many years ago and it wasn't a well set up business at that point so there were many bumps in the relationship. I immediately should've questioned Debbie's lack of qualified/recent references, but I didn't and proceeded to call the other parents. I expected nothing but glowing reviews, but there were definitely things they addressed that were concerning, mostly about other families. Naive me brushed it off as 'those must have been completely misbehaved kids and/or difficult parents'. Well fast forward one year and suddenly that was me. My daughter, who was about 15 mos at the time, was kicked out of Debbie's daycare, conveniently after we notified Debbie that we'd be leaving her daycare in 1.5 months and prepaid for that time. The reasoning was unruly behavior and Debbie fearing for the safety of herself, other children and her staff. Yup, from a 15 month old who never even did as much as bite another person. It was an absolutely awful experience that I was prepared to leave in the past, but a friend suggested I take her to small claims court, which I did. Debbie was totally not phased by the process and said she'd been taken to small claims court by other parents (HELLO - RED FLAG!?!?!?). I'm guessing that was a comment to convince me to drop the case since she'd likely win. I didn't. The judge, of course, ruled in my favor and Debbie had to make payments to me. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT have your child enroll at Beginner Steps Daycare. You will save yourself a tremendous amount of grief! After leaving Debbie's daycare, my daughter then went to Bright Horizons on Long Ridge Road and had the most fabulous experience. The teachers adore her and she's flourishing. The teachers couldn't believe when I told them that my daughter was kicked out of her former daycare. But then again, I can't believe we dealt with Debbie for as long as we did. Yes, she's a cheaper daycare option and it's amazingly helpful from a cost and time savings perspective to have food provided, but in this instance, you get what you pay for. A mentally unstable daycare provider who has it in her to be absolutely loving and a great teacher, but then, in the blink of an eye, a total lunatic you have to handle with kid gloves. I hope the lesson I learned saves you from having to learn it yourself. Enroll elsewhere!!! read more

I have never written a review before but due to my experience with Beginners Steps Daycare, I feel compelled. My baby was under Debbie's care for only 3 months beginning at 3 1/2 months of age. During this period I had many regrets for signing up with her. She is a liar and disrespectful to all the parents. She would complain about other parents and their children to me when they were sick or having an off day blaming the parents and children for it. My baby had 1 or 2 colds during her time at daycare but that was inevitable being exposed to other germs while still firming up her immune system. Of course, I brought her to the pediatrician to confirm and kept her home for proper care. But then Debbie began to text me during the work day on a regular basis accusing my child of being ill with a contagious stomach bug and very low grade temperature of 99 - 100.1. I would thank her for the heads up and to let me know if it becomes persistent or was just a fluke. As a first time mother, I'm relying on Debbie's assessment of my child's symptoms while in her care and believed her. A few hours would pass and I'd get another text to please pick her up, she's (allegedly) screaming, unhappy, unhealthy, contagious, not eating, not sleeping, vomiting, diarrhea and a "temperature". So of course I would race over there to pick up, what I thought to be a very sick baby. Mind you, Debbie had implemented a new rule mandating parents to pick up their sick children, AT HER discretion, within 60 minutes or pay $25 for every 15 minutes late. However, my baby was never actually sick nor demonstrating any of the accused symptoms! I started to worry what was going on while she was in her care. This very same situation occurred over and over and over again to the point where I actually would stay home with her for an extended time period of 3 or 4 days to be sure and she was absolutely perfectly fine! I'd send her back in to daycare and again the texts would start immediately that she is still sick with a stomach bug in her opinion and that I needed to pick her up. She even accused my daughter of getting other kids there sick which is just immature. After about 6 or so times of this routine and absolute FALSE accusations and insisting I leave work to pick up a perfectly healthy child, I was forced to look for new daycare as Debbie clearly was doing something wrong or couldn't handle her work load. She also struggled to find an assistant for several months and talked badly about all her previous assistants. She had her under age kid neighbor "help" out and handle the children at times. So when I finally had enough and was forced to break the contract, she insisted we pay a full month penalty fee, which we understood as we did sign the contract that stated that obligation, as outrageous as that is. However, we also just paid for a full month of service which we only used 2 days of and Debbie would not accept that as the termination fee. We were even willing to pay for the full week she was there, even though it was only for 2 days out of the entire month but she was unethical and adamant about taking 2 full months of pay from us for only 2 days of using her services. Ruthless. Upon picking up my child on her last day, I asked for all her belongings and Debbie refused to give them to me in a very loud abrupt tone. She was practically pushing me out the door with my child in my arms, waving her hands in my face saying to leave and to make an appointment and to read the contract about early termination. I was only in the doorway as it was but she was getting in my face yelling that I can't have my belongings and she'll call me when she's free. To conclude, anyone considering this daycare, there are much better options out there. You will regret coming to Debbie sooner or later, as I did. She will make your day-to-day miserable and treat you as if you're beneath her while throwing around her very old VP title she earned back in her corporate days a long long time ago. Your child deserves much better and to be around a more ethical, professional care giver who won't be texting her complaints about your child to you all day long. Best of luck during your continued daycare search. read more

Do not trust Debbie Esposito at Beginner Steps Daycare. She terminated our contract on the first day because she did not feel she was qualified to watch our son and refused to refund our money; $2800 for two months of service that was never rendered. DO NOT trust Debbie. She did not raise any concerns about my son and never attempted to contact our Pediatrician who stated that his herniated belly button was no reason for exclusion from daycare. When I picked up my son's belongings I was able to talk to Debbie about what happened. She said she was going to refund half of our deposit because of the "medical issue." This was a lie and she never refunded our money. Please do not trust Debbie, she is unethical and hides behind her lawyer in order to keep money that she did not earn. read more