Preschool Review: Westminster Children's Center

So it seems like whenever I meet someone with a kid, the subject almost inevitably turns to childcare/daycare/preschool.  We live in Pasadena, and it seems like a lot, and I mean A LOT, of people we know have nannies.  My husband and I don't have that luxury, but I'm a big big fan of group care in general.  Primarily because there is backup for the caregiver if they, I don't know, have to eat, have to pee, have to turn their head for a second.  But there are other benefits as well.  Children in group care settings tend to be more social, parents get to meet other parents, and, yes, while young children tend to get sick a lot when they first start daycare they also tend to build stronger immune systems earlier.

But anyhow, I digress.  Everyone always wants to know what everyone else thinks of this school or that school.  Over a series of posts I will share with you my experiences and impressions of different Pasadena area daycares/preschools.  As always, my opinions are my own and I encourage you to tour the facilities yourselves to get your own impression.

My first son was in a daycare in Pasadena, Westminster Children's Center - from the time he was about four months old until he was about 14 months old.  The process of finding infant care wasn't very long - there were only a number of places in our budget, Westminster was very close to my home, and they were willing to take him for only two days a week and let me choose which two days.  I loved the Infant Cottage and the wonderful caregivers there - they were like a second family for my child.  But as he got older, I became more concerned that he would have to transition out of the Infant Cottage into the rest of the daycare.  My concerns were not minor.  Westminster Church regularly rented out their parking lots to filming crews and the lack of security for the rest of the Children's Center in the main church building was concerning.  And I wondered how he could possibly potty-train if they didn't help potty train (their claim was "you need to do it at home and then we'll take them to the bathroom", which I believed seeing as how they only had adult sized toilets for the toddlers and preschoolers).  I also knew that teacher turnover from the older infant room on through preschool was extremely high, and so I made a decision before my son turned one to start looking for a new daycare. 

This turned out to be the best decision I could have made.  Not a year after we moved him out of Westminster Children's Center, a series of unfortunate events happened that forced the closure of all but the Infant Cottage at Westminster Children's Center. I still have nothing but fond things to say about the infant program, but I hear it is not what it used to be now that it is under new management.  The church from the last I heard is trying to reopen the preschool, but I would advise parents to tread with caution at WCC.