Elibunny Family Child Care, Arlington

We adore elibunny! my three children have been to elibunny care ever since they were babies. They are caring,loving and safe. They are very accommodating! highly recommend

Having just had another daycare cancel on us last minute we were so grateful to find elibunny child care for our almost six month old at the time. The tour went very well, we heard lots of impressive things about the education program, baby sign language, Spanish immersion, various education techniques that we could choose from like Montessori etc. (but we never heard anything about this once we started, never got the baby sign language information we were promised, and rarely saw the home connection folder that was promised every Thursday according to the policy, and the daily communication sheets said almost the same thing everyday: social play, gross motor skills, playful, but nothing specific about our child's development) the yard was big even though the house is very small (and makes our son’s clothes smell weird, like woody/musty), at that time she was licensed for nine children and had four workers including herself. She also has three of her own children as well as a spouse. The ratio seemed very good and the price was a little high but given the high level of care our baby would receive it seemed like the right move. She seemed passionate about the children and told us she was not planning on expanding to 12 children as most of the family daycares are doing these days. Spoiler alert she did get approval for 12 kids a month after we started, and also raised the price 12.5% at the calendar year making her by far the most expensive family childcare in the area. Especially considering parents provide everything, diaper, wipes, food, snacks as well as other miscellaneous items she requests periodically like hand soap, paper towels, Clorox wipes, tissues, pretty amazing when we are paying $90/day. She has an enormous policy that parent have to sign, here are a few things I wish we would have picked up on from the beginning: 30 total paid days off the including all federal holidays (standard) the Friday after thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve and three sick days and three training days and two weeks paid vacation so 30/5=6 wks off while parents still pay in full and have to watch the kids or pay a babysitter, many jobs don’t have that much leave, not sure how the other parents dealt with this. And here’s an interesting one if you leave the program before they take the two weeks paid annual vacation then she says you still owe it. Additionally there is an annual non refundable fee of $400 every January. So we were there for six months total, three months this calendar year and have to pay $1300 in additional non-tuition fees upon exiting the program (we eventually argued $900 back in small claims and won). We gave the required six weeks notice and paid full tuition despite barely sending our son there due to COVID-19. Her definition of fever is 100 not 100.4, she is a stickler for her rules as well as any other rules she can dig up as long as to benefit her. After awhile we noticed how she twisted everything to her own advantage and had very poor social skills, zero customer service, no compassion/understanding for parents and very passive aggressive. For example when our child was sick for most of the week and we stayed home to care for him she couldn’t wait until Monday for the next week’s payment and told us if we didn’t find a way to pay her that Friday we’d be charged a late fee for every day late, note we never made a late payment prior to or after that. These types of situations continued to happen, and she would not only never budge but would also deflect blame (either to us or her assistants) and never apologized for anything. One telling exchange was when they kept putting in the daily report that he was having loose bowel movements but we weren’t seeing the same at home, so we questioned and asked for further explanation or pictures, she refused and said and I quote “I know you think we’re lying but we’re not” I was shocked and no that thought never crossed my mind but I came to recognize that as a sign of things to come. It’s absolutely shocking that she doesn’t have any poor reviews online, when I read her policy now I can read between the lines and think she must have had some epic confrontations and disagreements with parents in the past. Now to the assistants which are her family members was at first attractive, her aunt in particular seemed especially warm and friendly to the children , unfortunately she left for surgery shortly after we started, and collected donations for the surgery but didn’t specify what type of surgery it was. Haven’t seen the aunt since, her mother is the other caregiver for the infants and she is very cold, almost rude, and is pretty rough with the kids from what we saw during pick ups and drop offs. Several times we experienced her practically throwing our child into our arms during pick up. Initially we liked the idea of it being a family operation but have since come to realize that it probably creates significant tension between them i.e., daughter bossing mother around. Even in the short six months there have been too many stories to write here as this review is already too long but needless to say our coworkers, friends and family have all been shocked by every new bad experience we relay. All this to say it is not the worst family daycare in the area in our opinion, but we also doubt it is the best. More than anything we wish we would have had forewarning in the online parent reviews which would have perhaps allowed us to renegotiate some of the contract terms (although in this area due to the high demand it appears parents have very little bargaining power if any) and motivated us to find an alternative more quickly.

Our son has been with Elizabeth and her team for the last 18 months and we couldn't be happier. It is obvious how much they love each child and celebrate their individual personalities. The day is full of playtime and learning activities, and we get a daily report so we know exactly what they did, what he ate, when he napped, etc. I highly recommend Elizabeth for any child care needs.

My son has been with Elizabeth Zanetti (Elibunny Family Child Care) for 2 and a half years. Throughout, Elizabeth and her staff have been wonderfully caring and competent caregivers. My son has some developmental and medical issues, and I 100% trust Elizabeth and Elibunny to both keep him safe and provide a wonderful and enriching environment to meet his unique developmental needs. Elizabeth has invested a great deal of time and effort into additional certifications and coursework around early childhood education. Her special training shows -- Elibunny does many developmentally appropriate activities throughout the day including gross and fine motor skills development, music and language, arts and more. She is always available for parent/teacher conferences to discuss your child's development and any issues or concerns you may have. My family has been so blessed to have Elibunny as part of our lives.