Child Care Providers & Preschools

As a child, I pretended that I was a teacher and told everyone I was going to be a teacher one day.  As life would have it, I ended up obtaining a business education and working in the financial accounting and auditing world for 15 years.

When I became a parent, I found out how challenging it was to find reliable high quality child care. 

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I always had passion for learning and exploration.  These two personal traits often got me in trouble with my elders, when I was a child.  As I got older, the spontaneity of my actions had to change to conform to the responsibility of the adult world; however, the love of that curiosity stuck with me till this day. 

I started child care because I believe every child needs a safe, nurturing and a challenging environment where they can learn and explore.  Few of the preschools and child care programs that I visited prior to opening Kiddie Academy of Ashburn were run with a primary focus on business.  It bothered me a little bit not because it was wrong, but because the focus has shifted from quality and personal care to enrollment by the numbers. I remind myself and my management team and staff every day that we are here for the children and their families, and our passion for what we do should never cease. Indeed, the impression we leave on these children is what is going to form and shape their future.  What an extraordinary feeling, but also what a great responsibility!

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For many full-time working parents, whose children are in daycare for long stretches of the day, your child’s activities are somewhat of a mystery. How can you know what your little one has been up to? The best way to know is to get involved. However, parent involvement in daycare can feel a bit scary. Fear not, this guide is here to help!

Provider appreciation day is here Friday! Founded in 1996, Provider Appreciation Day is a good way to show your child’s caregivers and teachers just how much you appreciate them. Being a teacher takes a lot of effort, and many of them see your child more than you do. This May, you can show your child’s teachers how much you appreciate their efforts.

Some parents don’t quite know which teacher to buy gifts for or who to show their appreciation towards: lead teacher, assistant teacher, preschool director, and the list goes on! The best rule of thumb, to avoid hurting any feelings, is to get all of your child’s teachers something. You can always do something extra special for a teacher that has had a significant impact on your child and their education. Below are some ideas for what to do for your child care provider on their special day.

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CareLuLu now has one hundred child care providers from the DC area listed on our site! All of these daycares and preschools are licensed and meet State or County standards. Many of them exceed those requirements!

For those child care providers that agree to let CareLuLu staff visit their facilities, we created the Verified seal of approval. These Verified providers undergo a much longer and more thorough review process answering over 100 of our questions. For these Verified providers, CareLuLu visits in person to take high-quality, real-world photos. Their profiles feature more detailed information to give parents the most up to date and complete overview. They include verified and in-depth reviews, which are written based on the feedback we receive from child care providers, parents whose children attend (or have attended) that specific center, and our staff that visits the facilities.

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Q

uick question: What’s most important to you in a daycare? Please click here and take a minute to answer this 1 question. Please share with other parents! THANK YOU! 🙂

When I needed to find a daycare and a preschool for my girls, I spent days on Google, on the phone, and then visiting child care providers. I visited 16 centers before settling for the one that felt right for us. In this post I will share 10 tips that I hope will help you in your search for finding great and affordable child care.

1. Start your child care search early, as far as a year in advance, especially if you live in a concentrated urban area like Washington D.C. or San Francisco. This is even more important if you will be looking for an infant. It’s usually more difficult to find space for an infant than for a 3 or 4 year old because of the teacher-to-child ratio: for infants, you must have 1 teacher for 3-4 infants (depending on the State) but for a 4 year olds, it’s around 10.

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I’m proud to announce that CareLuLu is now live! We’ve been working hard for the past seven months and are extremely excited to finally show you what we’ve been up to!

CareLuLu is the most convenient way for parents to find a daycare center or preschool that fits their family’s specific needs. The idea emerged after Patrick and I, like many other parents, struggled to find the right daycare for our girls. After realizing that finding a daycare was no easy task, we decided to build a resource that would allow parents to quickly find and compare child care options.

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