Lasting Impressions Child Care Learning Center

We have been taking our daughter to Lasting Impressions for a couple of years, and our toddler started going this past year. We have thoroughly enjoyed our experience thus far. The price is reasonable, and the hours are flexible and work well for our work schedules. Especially navigating through the Pandemic last year, we experienced a lot of thought and care from the teachers and directors as they continued to try and provide a service while keeping our families safe. Between that and whatever changes at LI that have happened, we as a family never felt like an after-thought and were confident that our kids were cared for. We would definitely recommend this child care to anyone we know who is looking for one.

We signed up our infant at lasting impressions two months ago, and we went through all the reviews here and everywhere else beforehand. We decided to give it a try as the location is good for us, the pricing is reasonable, and the staff was very good on both our site visits and in the first few days dropping our baby off. We have had a very positive experience so far, and we would not hesitate to recommend this center for infant care to others. Our baby is cheerful when we arrive for pickup, and excited to be there each day at drop-off. They use an app that we can get regular updates throughout the day including photos and what the baby eats, when the baby sleeps, etc. They even have fun activities like photo day and class projects where they make mothers day gifts.

I've had my son there for about a year, since he was 2 years old. Through COVID, through changing procedures, I always knew what was happening and that the teachers were doing everything they could to keep our children safe and healthy. Looking at the reviews from 2-3 years ago, I don't know what's changed, but something must have, because I don't recognize Lasting Impressions in those negative reviews. The director named in them is no longer there, and the current director Riley is friendly, communicative, and was very willing to help me brainstorm ways to change up drop off for my son when he initially had a hard time transitioning to the 3 year old room. It felt like we worked to solve that problem collaboratively--teacher, director, and parent--rather than using a one-size-fits-all solution. My son asks to go to "school" on the weekends because he has so much fun while he's there. He comes back happy and healthy and telling me all about his friends, the art projects he's done, and what he did on the playground that day.

Edit: All the positive reviews for this place on google and Yelp come from people who only have 1 review, not saying they're fake, but they definitely aren't authentic. The short version of this review for Lasting Impressions, LLC is "broken promises." Over the years we've heard this sentiment from the other parents and the ever-revolving door of new teachers cycling through LI. The owners, Rick and Shelley, seem to be very motivated by profit with the comfort of the children and the convenience of the parents a distant afterthought. There are numerous instances that expound on this point, but essentially the business is run on a shoe-string budget while the owners live over an hour away and don't seem like they care about the families that are their customers. One of the latest developments is a drop-off contract you must sign that states any child dropped off outside of the usual timeframe will not be accommodated until more staff arrives. That means if you usually drop your child off at 8:00 AM, but today you want to drop at 7:30 AM LI will not take your kid until 8:00 AM unless there was magically enough staff at 7:30 AM to meet the proper ratios. Thus, you'll be watching your kid at LI even though you're paying an exorbitant price for their "service!" Child safety also is concerning in that we kept hearing that two sets of brothers were being very physically violent to our child. We brought our concerns to the director and were informed the situation was "resolved." Shortly after that a young child was hit in the head by one of the brothers causing the injured child to go to the hospital. Both sets of brothers remained at the school for some time after that incident and staff were very reluctant to discuss why the injured child had to move to another school. In another incident, the kids were playing at Desnoyer Park, which if you look on Google maps is a decent ways from LI. There's no problem with children getting exercise, but when the teacher responsible for the kids was reported by a neighbor for "always being on her phone" and "not paying any attention to the kids" I grew concerned for my child's safety. When were considering enrolling a second child in LI we were given a specific date that child could begin attending. Close to the enrollment date we were suddenly informed that there was an error and our child would now not be welcome until 6 months after the original date! What possible lapse of mental capacity would result in such a gap between promised and actual enrollment. LI also failed in providing us notification that they were taking the kids on a field trip to a nearby business, which is funny because if you fail to provide notification to them about anything they make it sound like a big deal. The staff stability is quite shocking too, I understand there's more turnover in this industry than others, but LI is ridiculous. They've gone through 3 directors in two and a half years and the teachers usually leave within a year. The building LI is in recently went through major renovations, but LI put in about the worst playground I've ever seen. It's sad to see such an opportunity to impact the kids lives positively go completely to waste. There are some great teachers in the infant room who've been there a long time so that's one positive aspect. We've found that several other daycare centers nearby provide amenities such as meals and a proper playground for the same price as LI charges.

We've really enjoyed our time at LI. Our kids have always loved their teachers and feel like the curriculum has taught them so much. I feel like our daughter is more than ready for Kindergarten and she still has another year left of pre-school. We work downtown so we park our car in the lot and walk to the light rail.