Marina's daycare is a great place if you want that home away from home feeling. The daycare is in Marinas house, and she has converted a large three car garage into a playroom and activity area.
Marina treats you as a friend, and is very flexible, blurring the lines between friendship and business. One example of this is the occasional need to pick up a child late due to traffic or work related issues. Marina has always been accommodating for all our needs.
I have read through all the previous posts, and I am aware of all the circumstances listed above. Here is my take on them. I take a lot of ques from the children themselves. Watching how children react when dropping them off, or how they react when picking them up gives a good indication of their own feeling of safety and warmth.
My child has no issues going to any of the adults in the daycare, and is more then willing to leave my arms to be held by one of the daycare workers. This in itself is very telling. When I pick up my child, often my child is engaged in an activity of play or puzzles, and does not want to go home. Again, this says a lot about my childs comfort level.
By observing the other children, I see the same as well. No child seems to be scared or displaying a feeling of insecurity.
Does my child get bumps and buises at daycare? Yes. Do they fall in line with regular play, I believe so. Again, I refer to my childs fear level around the adults, which there is none. My child is happy to be at the daycare, and it is part of the routine.
Is Marinia's daycare for you?
If you are looking for a structured daycare, potty training, teaching or educational curriculum, if you are looking for a business type setting, or uniformity found in a business type environment, then Marina's daycare is not for you.
If however, you are looking for a place that feels like home away from home, where the structure is more like a large family, and less like a business, and where lunches are home cooked meals, and Marina and staff make sure your child is fed, or eats a good meal, or if you are looking for a place where adults look after your child as one of their own, then yes, you should give Marinia's daycare a try.
There are several children which have been there 1 or more years, so turnover is not super high.
Lastly, we have seen help change three times. There was one helper which was young, as another reviewer stated, and that helper may have been inexperienced, but I never felt my child was not cared for. My child was just as attached to her as to the other two helpers. That said, Marinas current help is very seasoned, and always cheerful. We feel blessed to have found a place that we feel is safe, warm, and meets the needs of our 2 year old at this time in their development. read more