Growing Room Tallahassee 1

I do not recommend this place for infant care. High turnover leaves the staff stretched too thin to properly care for the children. We ended up withdrawing our son because he was consistently being underfed despite us repeatedly speaking to staff and teachers about it (He was receiving half or less of the amount of milk he was supposed to). We decided to withdraw him after a week because we just couldn't risk his wellbeing (he was losing weight, waking up repeatedly throughout the night, and crying a lot more). Admin staff make it very clear this is a business as they didn't even remotely care when we informed them of our decision to leave (they just said okay and emailed us the form to withdraw). We felt completely undervalued and dismissed. I just couldn't believe how little they care. They don't have to when they can easily fill our spot due to high demand. I can't do much about the situation other than let other people know of our experience to hopefully prevent the same thing happening to their children. Please do not send your children here, place them somewhere that actually cares about them, especially when they're at such a vulnerable age.

I contemplated on if we should write this review or not but given we left 3 weeks ago, and the fact that my little guy still in the most serious tone, requests not to go back, tells me I should have listened to my mama bear instincts of it not being a good fit. We moved to the area in October and my then almost 3yr old, who has been completely potty trained for months, started in the older 2s group with a teacher that is less than ideal in how she communicates with the children and a director who could care less about kids but ensuring “corporate business as usual” is running efficiently. I understood that transitions can be tough and there will be regression, however I was not prepared for the extent he digressed from peeing himself multiple times a day nearly everyday with no communication on what we can do better after nearly 3 months. By now he is one month into being 3 and still not moved to the appropriate age group given he otherwise is advanced (he has an older brother). After again no communication and gaslighting from director on simple miscommunication, I started researching other opportunities. Not to mention their turnover for the other rooms being equally extremely high. It seems there is this dread in the air from staff not wanting to come as well as the kids. Coming from a different city and daycare this was entirely new to us. Never have I seen such misery and discomfort publicly displayed packaged in “fake friendliness” and it shows. Now that we are in our 3rd week at a new place and have not had once incident of him having any accidents and being excited to go to “school” again I am beyond grateful we left. This is a corporate daycare run by people who really don’t care about kids and it shows. If you have a gut feeling it’s not the right fit, listen to it. My little one is still telling me he never wants to go back. Brings me tears I had him there for 3 months of not knowing why it was truly unbearable for him.

This is a terrible childcare facility. I withdrew my son after he was there for about 1.5 years. I reported them to DCF. They kept children on the playground in heat above 105 degrees with no access to water. When I picked up my son, he had heat exhaustion and close to heat stroke (I won’t post the pictures). We didn’t return after this experience. One of their teachers was consistently rough with my son, she ended up being fired after I raised it with their staff. As a mama and long-time resident of Tallahassee, I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone. If you value your child’s life and safety, avoid Growing Room at all costs. I also discovered they were allowing children to watch tablets during the day off the cameras so the supervisors can’t see what’s happening in the room. The horror stories from former teachers shocked me. Just stay away.

The previous staff were a lot more caring and qualified. Some are still very good teachers. My daughter attended this daycare where she was often picked up with a snotty nose and just wasn't in the best of care with the afternoon teachers. truth be told the new management they're under has depreciated the value this daycare once held. too many young minded workers, underhanded directors and not enough genuine workers who ACTUALLY care about the little ones. I have even witnessed one of their staff who works in Todds Two room abuse one of the kids. I wouldn't recommend.

On February 19, 2016, our 2 year old daughter experienced a febrile seizure at the Growing Room on Centennial. We commend how quickly Ms. Diandra and Ms.Robin responded to the situation. Even the paramedic at the hospital complemented how staff was very well prepared when they arrived at the school. We could not be more thankful to have found such an amazing childcare establishment. For that peace of mind, we cannot thank them enough. -David and Carlene Smith