Brighter Beginnings Learning Center

Hands down best childcare facility! This was a first time for our family with putting my son into childcare! From the first phone call, I spoke to Whitney on the phone she answered all of my questions and was very friendly. I knew from that call that I didn’t need to look anywhere else! My son had a hard time transitioning which was to be expected. His teachers, Miss Taylor and Miss Kim are both AWESOME! I know my kiddo is in great hands and I couldn’t thank them enough for making this so easy and enjoyable for my son! My review above was posted a couple months back! So I just want to again say THANK YOU TO BRIGHTER BEGINNINGS! The entire staff is friendly and caring! It truly reflects that management and the owners care about their staff members and the kiddos coming through the door each day! Hands down the best learning center!

In light of the new information I feel obligated to other parents to share our experience. When we first started at BBLC we had great experiences and teachers. As time went on we saw more turn over and less friendly and supportive teachers and staff members. My son started having behavioral issues-which prior to the new director-were manageable and worked through between myself and the staff. I was informed by his teacher that the new director started telling my 4 year old son he was a “bad kid” and he was being removed from the classroom on several occasions. There were several instances that I was later made aware of where food was being withheld as a form of punishment and control over him. Meanwhile a new teacher in my daughter’s classroom continuously made jokes about kidnapping my infant daughter, I brushed this off because who in their right mind would actually be serious and say this to a parent. On the Friday prior to Father’s Day this teacher handed me a handprint mold of my daughters hand and told me “not to tell the other moms” that she had made extra molds of my daughters handprint to keep for herself so she could have her “with her all the time”. I immediately pulled both of my children from the center that day and never went back. I left all personal items. I had a confrontation with the owner and director who were completely rude and not willing to accept responsibility for their behavior or the staff. Like other reviews, I had witnessed several other small incidents that were bothersome but finding childcare is difficult and uprooting children after years of routine is stressful. The teachers were often on their phones not paying attention to the kids, playing inappropriate music (rap, r&b, unedited lyrics) I had witnessed children being hit by other children and teachers doing absolutely nothing other than telling them to stop crying and separate. I reported my experience to the State and never even received a response, which in hindsight is extremely disappointing that further issues could have been prevented had someone cared enough to do anything.

Our boys have attended Brighter Beginnings for nearly 5 years. This evening we pulled them out upon hearing some disturbing news regarding child abuse allegations at the center. This did not directly impact our children (to our knowledge), but it was a last straw in a series of concerning events during their time attending BBLC - specifically in the last year. We no longer believe this is a safe environment for children. We've overlooked "small" things for quite a while, like the movie Home Alone being played for kids as young as 4 yrs old, seeing kids unattended while teachers are glued to their phones, lack of booster seats for school transportation (our 5 yo without one specifically), extremely limited outdoor time, an older child playing the game "Among Us" in front of our children (can verify this part & fully believe the 1-star review from a year ago), questionable bathroom situations for younger kids, & witnessing "teachers" screaming at entire classrooms & individual children. Twice before, we had considered leaving the center. Our oldest was getting dropped off at school & teachers from the elementary school reported to us that a driver was yelling at our child during drop off. The BBLC employee was not released at this time, but she was removed from being a drop off person. The other time was when a "teacher" threatened to call the cops on kids in our youngest boy's room. Then to "follow through" by calling a stranger & having them pretend to be a cop & telling my son, & at least one other, than they'd be arrested & put in jail if they didn't behave. This "teacher" was fired immediately. Only later did we find out she had been fired once before & rehired! In fact this is the second time that's happened as one of our boys' 3's "teacher" had quit in the middle of the day without notice, then was rehired back months later. These are just our experiences & we've heard different but similar stories from other parents. The fact that potential abuse could have been covered up & ignored at this center isn't surprising given the decision making around hiring. We understand the difficulties in finding employees & serving the growing demand for childcare. However, it's clear that decisions are not made around finding & retaining solid workers. Recently BBLC has had extreme turnover. Only 1 employee remains from just 1-2 yrs ago, including the director. Multiple employees have quit or given notice this week as well. Employees do not introduce themselves, do not report on the child's day, & for the most part are simply not friendly. Which, besides being a yellow flag in itself, isn't really a problem for us if you're meeting the minimum criteria providing a safe environment for our children. Unfortunately that lowest bar, in our opinion, has not been met. It's clear there is little-to-no employee training, & little-to-no consideration on whether an employee will actually do well in the position. All this to say, while it wasn't perfect, this is not how BBLC was run for the first few years after enrolling our boys. We are thankful to those who are now gone from BBLC who treated our boys with genuine love and respect. If you have intuition that the childcare you've chosen isn't the right one, we suggest going with it. We wish we had done so about a year ago. Convenience, our children's friendships, and difficulty finding new childcare arrangements were roadblocks for us. If you can, don't let them be roadblocks for you. We cannot speak for how children are cared for at the other facilities, but the owners have three other childcare centers, with one on the way: Ten Mile Academy, Boise Kid Co., Owl's Nest Daycare, and Avimore Academy opening this summer. We suggest asking questions about hiring, firing, and abuse disclosure if looking into those centers.

Nice, ladies while doing a tour but the place is very dirty and the kids in the infant room looked all sick😷. Runny noses, missing socks and a child in the swing that was way to big for it!

So happy with everything they do at BBLC! They had some big changes in staffing this year but handled it seamlessly. This is my first experience with child care for my first child and I couldn’t be happier. My daughter has learned so much there and always seems so happy. The girls are great communicators and truly care about their kiddos, which has helped develop a really trusting relationship. Glad to be a part of the BBLC team!