West Seattle Blog...

WSB Forum » WSB Reader Recommendations

1. zetto
   Member Profile

   My daughter will be starting soon in the young toddler room, and on my few site visits, it seems like the teachers are not very loving and compassionate. What are your experience? It seems with the 2 1/2 year long waiting list, you would expect this place to be amazing, but so far I am not seeing why there is such a long wait list. I would really appreciate hearing your experiences. And hoping that my first impressions are wrong.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

2. Oliver
   Member Profile

   I can tell you, without a doubt, that the ILC at the Mount is an amazing place with very loving and dedicated teachers. My six year old son went to the ILC from the time he was four months old until he graduated to kindergarten last year. My two and a half year old has also been there since he was four months old and is now in the Family Room. Both of my kids spent about a year in the Young Toddler Room (YTR).
   One of the YTR teachers (Michele) is very special to our family. She was my older son's baby room teacher and she moved to YTR when he did. She is the only person, outside of family, who has ever babysat my kids because we trust her immensely and she is very loving with the kids. She also has an extensive knowledge of childhood development and is proactive about the unique needs of toddlers. The toddlers I see her with adore her. She is also very good at communicating with parents and I always got a good sense of how my kids' day went.
   Two of the other YTR teachers recently moved to the preschool age rooms (they were also amazing and well liked), but I don't recall who replaced them in YTR. But we have only had one bad experience with a teacher at the ILC, who they got rid of. The ILC has high standards for their teachers and there is a lot of transparency. There's not a lot of turn over in teachers, which is a great thing for the kids.

   Of course, it is a day care center and professional standards dictate boundaries and less babying than you might see with a nanny or in-home daycare. They use positive redirection and empower kids to solve their own problems. If a kid is doing something they shouldn't, you might see a teacher say something like "Johnny, I see your climbing on the table, I'm concerned you'll get hurt" rather than a teacher swooping them up to solve their problem for them. If two kids are fighting over a to, you might see a teacher ask them what they are going to do about it rather than solve the problem themselves. If a child does do something innapropriate, like hit another child, you might see them separate the hitting child and tell them in no uncertain terms "hitting hurts. hitting is not ok" while they encourage the other kid to tell the hitter how they feel. So, depending on what you see as "loving," this might seem sort of distanced, but I see empowering kids to make good choices as an act of love and extreme patience. I'm very leary of care givers that are too touch feely or permissive. My older son is somewhat sensitive, but I always knew he felt secure and happy at the ILC, and he is very good at problem solving and expressing his feeling, which I attribute to a really good early childhood education.
   Hope that helps.

   Posted 1 year ago #         

3. Oliver
   Member Profile

   When I picked my son up this afternoon I checked to see who the other teachers are that are now in YTR. One was my younger child's baby room teacher a couple of years ago and the other has been a long time floating/sub teacher that both of my children have interacted with. I have enjoyed knowing both and think they both do a great job with the kids. Of course, my compass has always been how my children seem around teachers and they were very happy with these teachers.
   Time in the YTR will go by in a blink, so I'd think about the program as a whole. The most important part of my older son's experience was the fantastic preschool class that he spent fabulously formative years in. My younger son is having a great experience in the Family Room. The ILC kids are well prepared for kindergarten and leave with life-long friends, not to mention the life long friendships between the parents. :)

   Posted 1 year ago #         

4. NativeToSeattle
   Member Profile

   Both of my children have been at the ILC since they were three months old. The entire staff is dedicated, capable, and truly care about the children. I would second all of the positive comments from Oliver.
   In addition, the intergenerational activities provide experiences for my children that are invaluable to me. Both of my children are comfortable around the elderly and disabled. When my son was in YTR, he developed a special bond with one of the residents and when he would go to visit that floor each week, he would shout out the resident's name as soon as he got off of the elevator, until the resident came out of his room.
   My children know other staff members in the building and are always treated with respect.
   The staff and teachers are no nonsense about expectations and identify behaviors and work with the children to problem solve. They have always been respectful of my children and are careful to not offer information about other children in the program.
   My son will be starting kindergarten in the fall and he is excited about learning; he loves to spell out words, draw pictures, play, build, participate in the music and art activities, and always has a story to share at the end of the day.
   I'd recommend visiting at different times of the day. Drop off and pick up can be more stessful for kids and the teachers work hard to keep as much of a routine as they can to help make the transition from home to school, and back, smooth.
   I wouldn't say that the teachers sugar-coat anything and that may come across as not being compassionate, but my experiences have been positive and I know my children are very well cared for during the day and that all of their teachers care for very much for them.
   I hope you have the same experience!

   Posted 1 year ago #         

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.