Caring Connection Children's Center

We love their toddler room. Their whole set up is great for the toddlers. Very sensory based, allows the children to explore. Love their art room, yard design and the meals they provide the kids are excellent and well balanced. They are very focused on safety for the kids too. Overall a great school.

What a sad experience for us. Not right. Unhappy teachers...greed stemmed issues...wild injuries (broken collar bone?)...so much HFM and sickness constantly because the kids are not cleaned...no nutritious snacks during the evening (crackers only)... Just bad vibes...ALL AROUND.. Lauren likes to say kids are lying when they're coming to her about a problem, and Kyleigh Is rough. She does not treat children with any kind of carefulness. I've seen her chase a little 3 yr old kid and drag him by his wrist to the office. I'll say no more but there IS So much more. I'll probably get a sweet and passive aggressive response like everyone else who wrote reviews on Yelp, just to protect business. But this is NOT A PLACE for children. We found a new school within 3 days and no issues.

If the safety of your child is a priority, then stay far away from Caring Connection (also called Enlightened Play preschool). They do not prioritize safety. Caring Connection’s philosophy on childcare is SAFE, KIND, and CLEAN, but in practice they are none of those things. Let me explain why: SAFE - We ultimately pulled our child out because of severe face/mouth injuries. Our child got facial injuries on 2 consecutive days, and they were bad enough that I needed to leave work to come pick her up. She ended up with a punctured lip, 3 chipped teeth, 2 front teeth knocked loose, a hematoma on her gum, and cuts on her face. They try to explain away injuries by saying that their philosophy is to encourage kids to take risks. The reality is that they simply do not prioritize safety or creating a safe space for children. They also constantly have issues with the gate to the play yard, and on occasion it would be left completely open, with direct access to busy J Street and also open to the vagrants that frequent the area. KIND - Some of the teachers are not kind. Kyleigh in particular would regularly withhold food from our child in the mornings, even though we arrived in time for breakfast. I’m not sure what kind of person looks at a hungry child sitting at a table and denies them food simply because they’re ready to clean up. Breakfast hours are breakfast hours. We brought it up with the director, but the staff member continued to do the same thing. The staff will also regularly let your child sit in wet clothing, socks, and shoes during the cold/rainy months. I would pick my child up and her socks would be so wet I could wring water out of them, and her feet looked like prunes. Brought this up with the director as well, but the problem continued. There is no “kindness” in that kind of treatment. CLEAN - I’m not sure why this is even part of their philosophy. They will tell you up front that your child will go home filthy because it’s a nature play school and they spend so much time outside. In the summer, the children will be covered in dust and dirt. During the winter, they go home in sopping wet, muddy clothes. The classrooms are clean, but your child sure won’t be. I’d rather the staff help the children to be clean rather than prioritize classroom cleaning. Why are children sitting around in dirty, wet, uncomfortable clothing while you’re mopping the floors? Makes no sense. The longer my child was at this school (which was about 6 months), the more I realized that this school just doesn’t have enough staff to adequately care for the high number of children in attendance. As a result, children get neglected. If you want proof, look at the number of citations they’ve received on their California Dept of Social Services webpage. Facility number: 343617412. Please do the right thing for your child and stay away from this place.

Carring connections is a great place my son has been going here since the beginning of the school year and he loves going the teachers are great an very involved any mom looking for a preschool were your kid can be themselves an thrive caring connection is the place for you

Not a good place to send your kids