Lakeview at Lawrenceville

My son has been attending Lakeview half days for the last year, and we have LOVED the care and nurturing that he has received. He always comes home happy. The communication from the organization is excellent. The staff is wonderful and very responsible to any concerns you may have. The facility is secure, and I feel safe dropping him off. The food is great, and you even get diapers and wipes included, which I have never found elsewhere. Sadly, we are moving out of state. Otherwise, we would continue taking our son there until he was too old.

We enrolled my toddler son about a year and a half ago, on the recommendation of several families. He's been in three different classrooms, and has had great, professional, compassionate care in each. The teachers are caring and dedicated. Kids get lots of time for outdoor play, on age-specific equipment, and there's a gym inside to keep them active on bad weather days. The center follows the best practices from the RWJ health care system, and there has been a noticeable drop in colds/stomach bugs coming home compared with a previous center we were in.

Started our son here almost a year ago, when he was just over a year old, not quite walking yet... I was so sad to leave him that first day, but he was fine! The staff takes really good care of him, and transitions are done gradually (he started with infants 2, now he's with toddlers 1, about to move into toddlers 2). The look of the place (especially from the outside) is a bit uninspiring, but the important part for me (er, him) is the socialization and time with other kids, and they do lots of fun things like arts and crafts and dancing and even a little sign language! It's fun to see what he learns there, and skills I didn't even think he was ready for. Example: when he started daycare, in Infants 2, they told me he'd only be taking one big nap a day. Which I thought was bonkers, he was a two-short-naps kid.I didn't think he was ready for it, but they kind of insisted, this is what they do for kids his age. Somehow they helped him transition to one a day, which we then started doing at home, and it's been awesome to have him on a consistent nap schedule! He's also a better eater at school then he is at home... call it peer pressure... I have more to learn from them there! So, very thankful to the staff at Lakeview for showing me what my child is capable of and what he's ready for. Only con is, it's expensive (like most child care) and yeah, your kid is definitely going to get sick more than if you kept him at home. Just hope that makes him heartier in the long run!

My son attended this place for over a year. While he was in the infant room, the biggest issue was that he kept getting sick and bringing germs for colds, stomach issues, and cocksackie virus. But I thought it would be the same at any other daycare until many months later a teacher mentioned that she had worked at several daycares and in her experience the viruses in this place were more serious and resilient. Still, at least I had found the head teacher of the infant room to be caring. Then my son moved up to Toddler 1, and it was clear that Miss Melissa did not like children and that my son was having a miserable time at the center. Every single day he would cry unconsolably begging me not to take him. Miss Melissa would tell me that he didn’t want her near him so she wouldn’t even try to console him. But because he had already made friends, and the Director of the Center said it was normal to have an adjustment period, I kept convincing myself that he would eventually adapt and like it. Instead, I got more than 10 reports of him getting bitten by other children. They would never tell me if it was just one child biting or several, they just kept saying that it was very normal for children of this age to bite and pull hair. No one seemed concerned or seemed to think they should be doing something to correct the issue. What finally made me get him out of there was that he started changing his personality, being more timid and waiting for permission to do ANYTHING, even grab his own toys in his room. I learned that even under 2 years of age, they get them in line and make them wait patiently without moving until it’s their turn to play for a few seconds with a toy. It’s like they’re in the military! Looking back I just feel so bad that I waited so long to get him out of this terrible daycare. He is now so happy at the new place, and thankfully he went back to playing as a normal toddler without being afraid to get in trouble for touching things. He got bitten once, and the Director of the new daycare was very concerned and things were managed so much better that he has never been bitten again in the 7 months that he’s been there. Explore other options, for your little one’s sake!

* Worst place , believe me ! *Most Pathetic daycare to send your infants. They only prefer day care food, milk (sound good but my child was treated pathetically as no tranisiting time given to the baby coming to the daycare for the first time) tasting that food for the first time (eat it or stay hungry) . * no cudling time , babies are made to adjust forcefully. * teachers pick up the only Child(they are sure, whose parent will pick in another 5 - 10 min) , {I saw that for infants(already in) , when was observing my daughter for 3 hours on her first day }Else they would not care if the baby is peeping, teacher enjoy their chats and laughs. * Looked like a jail where baby is forced to eat their food or stay hungry, Cry or stay quiet (but no body is there to attend ). *Big kids coming with their parents ,to pick their baby sis or bro are allowed to use infant room with their shoes on, are allowed to play with other infants or their toys. *No idea what age for them is an infant age , I saw girls of age 2 in the same room . *Crowded and dirty place. *Teachers dont bother to update families about their child's activities. *Teachers have that pathetic look on their face when you drop your child(as if telling us please take them away). *Non experienced teachers.Not sure how a pregnant lady who is 6 months pregnant can take care of 4 infants at a time, when she herself needs rest. *twice they will take your baby out to play inplay area for 1 hour or 1:30 hours each as they donot have any other activities to do. *Dirty stupid toys . * They do not allow parents to taste the food that their baby would be eating (WOWS) * My daughters bottle, nipple and lid were roaming in the room , they had no idea where is what , if you ask them , they will search and give you next day, lolz !!