Together We Grow - East Syracuse NY Day Care Center

There is never any consistent staff. They just let go another director! This is the third director in a year. Enrollment is way down and you can tell the staff is unhappy. My child's teacher is great but I have overheard conversations about the owner and the office several times. Parents all know what's going on and how fake people are in the office. Yes, she seems very nice but it's a fake nice. Some parents and I get together once in a while to discuss our children and how we feel the place is going down. I do not recommend this place at all thank god my child is almost done with this place. Maybe if the owners could keep staff and get new toys it could improve a little. ----------
--Submitted by a parent -

**** VERY GOOD EXPERIENCE FOR 5 YEARS!!! ****
Our son has attended Together We Grow (TWG) for the past 5 years, and I can't say enough good things about the Daycare. I kinda feel bad even calling it a "Daycare", to me it's much more than that. My best friend has worked in Daycares all over this city, and 75-80% of them are DUMPS (Even some of the "Highly Rated" ones, you'd be SHOCKED). I would go and visit her and couldn't believe it! She actually got out of the business, and now runs a small center out of her home. She couldn't deal with the conditions and lack of education throughout every place she would work.
At (TWG) educating the children is very important, and they start it from the Infant Stage on up! Not long after our son started at TWG I noticed when we were feeding him, that he would take his little hands and fingers and bounce them off of eachother. We thought how cute & funny......Needless to say Later on when we read on his sheet "We're working on our signlanguage" that his cute & funny hand trick was actually sign laguage for more, we felt pretty dumb lol. I couldn't believe in such a short time that he was actually signing to us.
It doesn't end there, they work on Colors, Shapes, ABC's, Gross Motor Skills, you name it and they apply it into your childs everyday activities. I love that they give your child a daily sheet, letting you know what they did, ate, how long they napped, they even recorded diaper changes!! They have a few diferent playgrounds as well as an indoor Gross Motor Room. This way the kids can play, but it's never "Big Kids with Little Kids" They run a very structured schedule and somehow keep all the kids on a great routine. Again, I love how it's more like going to School than Daycare. They have a photographer come in at the beginning of every year and take pictures of all the kids, You can order packages at really reasonable prices! They also take the kids on field trips (with your permission obviously) and go to pumpkin farms etc. Like I said before, I can't say enough about TWG!!
I've read some of the other reviews about the Owners caring about money etc???? I want you to show me someone who owns their own business and DOESN'T care about money! Money is what makes this world go round, and money is what is keeping their business running, and bills paid. I feel the prices at TWG are very comparable to others and are well worth it! Over the years my prices have actually decreased. From an infant when it was $200/week (5 days) to now we pay $165/week (5days). Here's the thing you may think $800/month is a lot of money, well now do that breakdown and see if you feel the same way. Lets say your child goes to TWG from Mon-Fri 7-3 (8hrs/day) which is (160 hrs/Month) $800/160 hrs= $5.00/Hr!!!!!! Plus you get breakfast, lunch and snacks provided by TWG. If you ask me that's not a lot to ask for taking care of the most important person to me in the world!!!
Please dont let this bitter ex-employee who wrote one review, get in your head
about this place being anything but GREAT!!
They have a large staff & Facility (Its way bigger than it looks from the street!!)which makes them able have more availability and open spots for your child. Unlike a lot of daycares where even if your child only attends 2-4 days, you still pay the Full time price!! Not at TWG you can do whatever you need to. From 2 days-5 days, from part time to full time.
All you have to do is take a tour and see for yourself. First it's much bigger inside than it looks from the road. I never would have thought it was as big as it is, nor that there was all these playgrounds around the back (which I liked that the public can't really see the playgrounds, there's too many sickos nowadays). But anyways the thing that impressed me THE MOST when we went on our tour, was the "Sound" Every other daycare center i've ever been to, as soon as I would walk in, I'd always hear screaming and crying etc...Not at TWG we walked in and walked past all the classrooms, all the kids were engaged and seemed to be having fun! They had the babies strapped in these "Buggies"(I'd never seen anything like this before) but it's like a "HUGE Stroller" that holds like 8 babies and has a sun shade over it. They walk them outside when it's nice, it was so cute! ALL the kids looked like they were having a blast! Karen recommended we leave our Son in the classroom that he'd be entering, if we decided to go to TWG, to see how he did. We left him in the room, took the rest of the tour and he could of cared less! We were sold, and our son started that Monday. I must also mention this, in the past 5 years of us picking up & dropping off our son I've heard screaming or crying "MAYBE"
5 or 6 TIMES!!!!!! That's a mild miracle in itself, if you ask me!!! I also think that speaks Volumes and Shows that the children at TWG are HAPPY & CONTENT, and well taken care of........therefore don't have the need to scream and cry!!
Because we don't live in the ESM area, this September my son will be finishing up his time at Together We Grow, and beginning Kindergarten in our District. It will be sad to say goodbye to Karen and all of the teachers that took such great care of our Son!!
Anytime anyone asks me about childcare I recommend TWG and will continue to do the same! Even without my son attending I have the confidence to continue backing them up, because I know the ship that they like to run! I see the relationship that Karen has with so many of the children and things like that can't be faked! They love and respect her, and it' s been really cute to watch.

****I DO HAVE 1 COMPLAINT lol****
The only complaint I have and want to warn you about is MS. DIANE!!!! Be prepared for child to start comparing you to her. Be prepared to start hearing
"Well that's not how Ms. Diane does it"
"Well That's not how Ms Diane cooks it"
"Ms. Diane's carrots are different than yours, I like Ms.Diane's better"
***LOL I'm just giving you a heads up***
Ms. Diane is the woman who prepares all of the kids meals, and takes the time to cut the food into little tiny bites, for the babies, and cut all the crust off the sandwich's for the older kids. She's really awesome and all the kids seem to love her!! I just wanted to warn you because your cooking will never be the same lol

Sincerly,
AN OVER THE TOP PLEASED MOM & DAD

I am a parent also in the pre-k classroom. I seen it happen and immediately the staff cleaned it with a bleach and water solution. This was Friday. When I dropped my child off on Monday they had the carpets cleaned and extracted over the weekend. You could smell the carpet shampoo and I also asked the owner. This is a great place to leave your child in an at home atmosphere. I have been in other Day Cares picking up my friends children and they don't even compare.

I am disgusted with the fact that I went in on a Friday to pick my child up, another child had just vomitted. The teachers cleaned the area and marked off the area with tape so that the carpets could be cleaned over the weekend. It is now Wednesday and the area still has not been cleaned. Since the cleaning has to be done after the children are gone, it should have been cleaned right away on Friday night. I am disgusted that the children have to sit near dried vomit for circle time. I find this very unsanitary for the children and staff in that room. I am looking to pull my child as soon as a spot opens at another center.

I don't know what this person was talking about.I have been going for 8 years and the staff is friendly and makes me feel at home.You have to go yourself to find out.Thats the problem with web sites like this that tell you someones opinion that was mad for some reason. sounds to me like she didn't pay for her child care. Who would kick someone out that was overpaying!!