Kathleen is absolutely amazing. She loves children and they love her. Our little guy was under her care for almost 2 years, and oh do we miss her. She taught us and him. With 30 years of experience and 4 grown and successful children of her own, I truly believe she has seen everything. Her experience speaks volumes, especially when we consider our current daycare situation...we're honestly thinking about making an extra 2 hour commute just to bring him back. read more

If you prefer your child to be at home private daycare with personal attention and loving environment, this place is for you! Kathleen has years of childcare experience. Her house is well organized, there is a backyard for kids to run around and play. Kids are never board, they do tons of different activities, like arts and crafts, songs, dancing, learning ABCs and ect.. Food is made from organic ingredients, mostly vegetarian. My daughter is currently goes there and loves it. Since she started this daycare i noticed a lot of improvement in her vocabulary, manners and overall behavior. read more

Kathleen has a lot of love in her heart, she is kind, generous, and loves the children she watches- and they love her! She also has raised 4 children of her own so gives great parenting advice and has a lot of experience. I recommend her daycare to anyone. Thank you for always being there for me when I need and emergency sitter as well! read more

Our daughter has been with Kathleen for almost one year (age 1.5 to 2.5) and it has been wonderful. She provides a no-nonsense, disciplined, but loving environment for the kids. We actually tried childcare with another place nearby and they turned us away after a few months saying my daughter was "not ready" and "unmanageable" because she would cry all day. It took Kathleen less than a week - and my daughter was running into her front door. Yes she does take a 2 week vacation, but like all our jobs, I think should be mandatory we take a break once a year time and have time to ourselves! Kathleen provides healthy organic food for snacks/lunches and I really appreciate her focus on teaching the kids to have a healthy eating lifestyle from such a young age. In the past year, I have seen such wonderful developments with my daughter. She now feeds herself, put on her own shoes/pants, is more independent, expresses herself better, has better manners, and is always happy and smiling when I drop her off and pick her up. She cares and has so much experience with children of all ages. read more

I am so impressed with Del Mar Childcare. Leaving your child in the care of another is such a vulnerable thing, but Kathleen's is like dropping them off at a relatives home! Her prices are affordable, I know I can trust her, and the kids learn manners and eat healthy foods!!! No processed junk here! My wife and I are so grateful for this place. There is also outside time and the kids even learn a little spanish! Kathleen's helper teaches Spanish each day. Kathleen has a helper who is very sweet and a daughter who helps- both of which are educated and went to UCSD- a top school in the country. We are just so thankful for everything. Thank you Kathleen! read more

I was contacted asking to remove my "poor" review of this childcare. Buyer beware -- I am concerned that any bad reviews have been asked to be removed after receiving this message. Hoping this family had the best intentions but unfortunately I do not know for certain. I updated my review, but I will not delete it because someone asked me to who is associated with the daycare. That is not how Yelp woks. read more

Yesterday as I watched my 2.5 yr old son feed himself with a spoon and fork the only thought that was going on in my mind was 'Thank God we found Kathleen'. This has been a recurring thought for quite a while now as I see him improve upon his speech and feeding issues. My son had, still has issues with food, but the progress he has made after starting daycare has been immense. He wasn't talking much when he joined but a week later he knew his numbers and words started to come out. Now he is the most talkative person in the family. We are so thankful to Kathleen and April for all their efforts. Great thing about Kathleen is that she provides all healthy organic food and thanks to her my son loves eating different fruits and vegetables. She has also been very patient with me, my extensive queries on how he has been, what he eats, how much, etc, etc. She even allowed couple of my son's therapists to visit him at the daycare to observe how he does with other kids. The best part is that my son loves going there. Even when he is out on vacation with us, he says he wants to go to Kathleen. What I most appreciate about Kathleen is that she is not just running a daycare, she is there to help us, new parents, who are struggling with things. She is constantly guiding us on what to feed, how to discipline him, deal with illnesses and other issues. She is a huge support and we truly appreciate her. read more

I toured a few daycare centers before choosing Kathleen. I am so happy we found her! Other daycares costed much more, and the kids were offered less healthy eating (pizza and macaroni) options and hardly any out door time. Kathleen serves organic fruits, veggies, and has an amazing backyard where she spends a lot of time with the kids. I saw the kitchen before mealtime one day... a mountain of veggies! Kathleen is also very flexible, she has never said no to overtime or over nights. She is also so caring of the kids. She teaches them the alphabet, numbers, colors, manners and how to be self sufficient. My boy amazing me with the stuff he has learned while in her care. She truly loves her job. As a mother of 4 grown children herself she knows how to handle the little rascals very well. Sometimes her adult children help out as well, which the little ones love. I definitely recommend Kathleen! read more

I cannot say enough good things about Kathleen and April. Our daughter was here for about two years. She absolutely adored Kathleen (or as our daughter calls her, "Kathkleen") and April. We learned so much about effective parenting just listening to Kathleen. Our daughter was always well taken care of, loved, and fed here. Our daughter talks about Kathleen and April all the time. When we moved to Orange County, it was hard to say goodbye because it was like saying goodbye to a family member. Our lives were enriched by Kathleen and April, and our daughter is a better human being for coming to this day care. God bless them. We will miss them dearly. read more

We have had an amazing experience with Kathleen. I was looking for an alternative of big box daycares and this is where it's at. All the children get individualized attention from Kathleen and she feeds them only organic healthy foods. My son now loves to eat his greens at home, even broccoli and bok choy ;) He has learned so much, it constantly wows me. He knows all of his numbers and ABC's in just a short time. Kathleen has great energy and has the perfect balance of structure and play. In addition Kathleen has supported my family at all times of need. She has watched my son last minute in a pinch and has become my regular babysitter. She is a home away from home for my son who absolutely adores her. I highly recommend her if you are looking for a caring, warm caretaker for your children! read more

My daughter goes here and she loves it. They keep the kids separated according to age and there's a pretty decent teacher to student ratio

This day care is a great place for your children! She is so patient and caring for all children. My son started going there and was not talking and couldn't take a nap by himself. After just a few weeks, he can speak 3 to four word phrases, sleeps and naps on his own, and knows numbers and colors. She is wonderful!!! read more

We were able to safely leave our two-year-old son to Katherine at the time. We just came to the United States and were not fluent in English, but her personality did. At first my son, of course, hated going to the morning and cried. But after a while, he began to bring his shoes every morning to gladly go out on his own. And he always had a happy smile. We leave Katherine to move, but I'm very sorry. I wanted my son to spend more in this place. read more

Nightmare, an absolute parent's nightmare. The worse part was that the California Dept. of Social Services visited and drastically reduced the number of kids allowed at this place due to unsafe staff ratios and not following policies. We were told to come pick up our child on a Wednesday afternoon and we didn't have childcare anymore. As a family with two working parents, that majorly screwed us over. Other things that went wrong: 1) Our kid would daily come home in different diapers than what we sent, almost always too big or too small. We sent plenty of diapers that we labeled but they were never used on our kid. 2) Our kid would be STARVING when we picked her up. So much that we had to have snacks in hand at the door. I don't think that she was fed very well. 3) Clothes were swapped around a lot, even mid day. My wife even got a text asking what pants belonged to what parent. Why are there multiple babies without pants at the same time? 4) As soon as we dropped off, the caretaker would plop the kids in front of TVs, often while she was watching them. The shows were not kid friendly either. Way too much screen time even on the caretaker's personal phones. 5) The center closes down A LOT for every single national and state holiday. Columbus day? Closed. MLK Day? Closed. 6) Additionally to the days off, the center closes for two weeks during the year so that the director can go on a paid vacation. Yes, you pay for two weeks (full pay) while the director goes on vacation. 7) Inappropriate texts to the parents throughout the day. 8) No progress reports or notes given about the child's day. No count of diaper changes, what they did, how long they napped, what they are learning, or anything. 9) Our kid developed a diaper rash weekly. We would heal it over the weekend but on Monday it would be back. We complained about it but the center just shrugged it off saying that babies get rashes. 10) The cost is medium to high range for daycare. It's not like they were cutting corners to save money. They were actually on the high end of what we noticed for the area. Again, we stopped going after an unannounced state visit reduced the number of kids under their licence. I am living with the guilt of not acting sooner so I am posting this review to warn other parents. Please look elsewhere. read more

Love love love Kathleen. Recommended by a former parent when I had to return to work unexpectedly when my child was 7 weeks old. Kathleen has experience and truly loves the children! I feel very fortunate to have found such a wonderful, caring place for my baby. Although- my child does not eat food yet, it is wonderful she offers healthy foods for the children. I would recommend over any large Childcare business you may be considering. Loving environment for your kids! read more

My husband and I often remark about how much Kathleen and April love the kids. They get plenty of fun play time, with varied activities. Kathleen goes out of her way to provide useful parenting information (in a kind manner). The kids are taught to speak respectfully, saying "may I please have more" for example. Every day after nap, their hair is brushed and styled. Our daughter has made some major social progress during her time at DMC. We are leaving only because we are moving out of town, but are certainly sad to say goodbye. read more

My 17 month of daughter currently goes to Del Mar Childcare and she loves it, and so do I! She has been there since she was 6 months old, and we have never had any problems. It is a very loving and safe place for kids. They also eat very healthy food, and listen to great music. If you are looking for a small home daycare, this is your place. read more

Kathleen watches out 3 year old daughter. She plays music and does art with our little one and has successfully teached her to go on the potty! #1 and2! She has also worked with her on manners and playing with other kids. We have seen great improvements in the last few months! Lastly, she is available for last minute childcare.. during the week nights which really helps us! read more

My daughter started when she was 5 months old and stayed with Kathleen till she was over two and a half. Kathleen's methods of raising children (including caring, disciplining, food, cleanliness in the home while still letting the kids play outside and get messy etc.) were similar to ours. Kathleen is careful to feed the children healthy food (fruits, vegetables, quinoa etc.) and I never had to worry about my daughter having cookies etc. My daughter also loved listening to a lot of music (and dancing) at Kathleen's - something she gets much less of at her current school. The flexibility of having my daughter stay late or overnight if my husband and i were both travelling was a huge peace of mind as well. My daughter ended up loving her time with Kathleen and was very sad to have to say farewell. read more

I can't say enough wonderful things about Kathleen and her crew. As a first time parent dropping my child off with a stranger was the most terrifying experience I could have. Kathleen made that experience so much more comforting for me. She reassured me over and over that it would be okay and that my daughter would learn to love going there. And she was right! My daughter has so many friends and has learned so much! I feel like my she learns something new every day! Kathleen feeds the kids all organic vegan foods. Kathleen has also helped me tremendously with communicating with my daughter and helping her to communicate with me. She also helps me use discipline in the most effective way possible. She has four kids and 25 years of experience... I'm listening to everything she has to say! She really is the best and my daughter is so lucky to be part of the such a loving environment when she can't be at home with her mom and dad. read more

I was a stay-at -home mom until my son turned 17 months and as I was searching for a daycare I was disappointed with my options until I found Kathleen. I was fortunate to find her because my son learned so much from her ie. manners and how to clean up his own toys and messes! I loved the fact that he was able to play outdoors and dig in the dirt too. Kathleen has a loving, safe environment for the children and I liked that she was always making nutritious, organic food for him! My son is now five and in Montessori but I continue to have her care for my children for date nights and other days when school is closed. Thank you for caring Kathleen. read more

I have been looking for almost 6 months to find a perfect Day Care for My daughter and Kathleen is the one. I am so happy to find her. My daughter loves to be there with her and very happy when I drop her off. Kathleen provides me the status of my daughter on the activities and food she eats. Its been very comfortable dropping off my daughter with Kathleen since day 2 as Day 1 I was nervous on how my daughter will be. read more

Kathleen takes care of my adorable son and he loves to be there. He has a lot of fun during the time he spends there. I don't need to worry because she feeds him with the best organic food, she gives him discipline, and she is very loving. She is the best one on the area. I really recommend her for who needs a daycare. read more

Kathleen is wonderful with my daughter. She started at 6 months and has been doing great. Kathleen is very loving and caring with my daughter. Almost like a second mom. Anytime she has not been feeling well, Kathleen has lots of good advice and knows children well. She has been flexible and able to accommodate my schedule which is been a huge help. This includes after hours care babysitting and full/ part-time care. She frequently sends photos and videos of my daughter throughout the day. She also make sure the children eat healthy meals while they are at her house. Texting is the easiest way to get hold of her. read more

I highly recommend Kathleen's in home daycare. She provides a warm and nurturing environment while emphasizing self sufficiency, and you can really tell how much she enjoys the children. Kathleen is also extremely communicative, which helped me a lot as I transitioned back to work. My kids adjusted to her home instantly and always seem to be really happy there. I feel very fortunate to have found sound such great care for my kids and I strongly recommend her to anyone looking for childcare. read more