Bumblebees R Us - Prospect Ave, South Slope Location

Reviews (9)

• 2019-2020 Year Review

  January 2020

  Review: This review is only for the infant room. I do not recommend this facility. The staff is inexperienced, disengaged, and disgruntled. We used Bumblebees when we had absolutely no other option. In the interest of fairness, I will start with the positives. • Some of the staff members seem to like children. The lead teacher (I didn't see her at the end of our tenure, but she was there at the beginning) was young but responsive and mature. When I picked my child up in the afternoon (around 2pm), he was often being held and played with. • There is not a waiting list. The center staffs up when new children enter, to just make the required baby : adult ratio. • They are flexible with schedules; you can basically make your own schedule if you're willing to pay for it. • The building is new. Unfortunately, sending my child to this daycare is still my worst regret as a new parent. • On the first morning I dropped off my son, I walked in on a staff member shaking a crib to get a baby to sleep. The baby was rolling around. The worker was on her phone. • In the infant room, almost all babies are under-stimulated and nobody reads their cues. A three-month-old was left in a crib to stare at the ceiling. A crawling baby tried to play with younger babies and was stopped and popped in a crib to wail. A clearly overtired infant was popped in a bouncy chair, where his head drooped. The children seem to get very little mat time. • The infant room is overcrowded, and stuffed with unhappy, wailing babies. The manager of the center cheerfully says, "babies will cry." Which is technically true, but still. • My baby—who was used to being treated like, well, a baby—would not eat or sleep at Bumblebees, even when he was there all day. This bothered nobody. • The workers are clearly unhappy, and constantly complaining to each other about their workplace. The center does not seem well-run. Turnover is high. • One evening when I picked up my baby, there was one worker left—who was (again) on her phone. My child was sitting in the middle of the floor, covered in food and boogers, hysterically crying. He had obviously been distressed for some time; I had never seen him so upset and I've never seen him as upset since. It was positively Dickensian. I complained, obviously, and the center director said that she would remind the workers that there are standards when dealing with children. (Well, I would certainly hope so!) My son is at a different daycare now, and is happy and thriving. I recommend avoiding this place if you can. … About the facility: Has outdoor space, Has early morning hours … What would you change? A daycare should at least try to be a nurturing environment.

• Review from the 2019 PSP Daycare, Preschool Survey

  September 2019

  I sent my baby to BumbleBees for several months. There were positives and negatives but it ended up not being a good fit for us so we ended up transferring him to another day care we are much happier with. I'll start with the positives: great facility and some of the teachers are amazing. The first 2-3 months at this day care went well. The negatives: very high staff turnover which was our main issue (as an example, they switched 2/3 of my baby's caregivers on the same day with one day advance notice to parents), baby/teacher ratio is too high and sometimes not adhered to, cribs are in the play room so sometimes it's too loud for babies to nap, cleanliness was sometimes an issue if an infant had a blow out. If I had to do it over again I would have sent my baby somewhere else instead of having to transfer him out. DETAILS: Has outdoor space, Has early morning hours What you would change: Less teacher turnover, better management

• ISO recent reviews of Bumblebees R US - prospect

  August 2019

  Our child has been enrolled at Bumblebees R US at the Prospect Ave location since she was 5 months old and we're very happy there. The facility is clean and bright, the teachers are friendly and warm, and the weekly newsletter with pictures of the kids participating in various activities is something that I look forward to every Friday afternoon. Through the encouragement of the staff, our child has taken some of her first steps at daycare and learned several new words and sounds. She loves pointing out the bumblebees on the staff's t-shirts as well as the butterflies that adorn the butterfly room. The center often organizes fun celebrations for holidays where parents are welcome to come early and participate. I just attended their baby shark party in their beautiful garden and playground area (which is the nicest outdoor space I've seen at any of the local daycare facilities we visited). In addition, they have been very understanding the few times I have shown up a few minutes late for pick up, which I'm appreciative of. Although there has been some shuffling of the staff with new staff introduced in our child's room and the previous staff moving to a different room, the caliber of the teachers employed there remains the same which made the adjustment quick and easy both for me and my child. It also impresses me that even the teachers in the other rooms know my child's name which is indicative of the community atmosphere of the center. I would not hesitate to recommend this daycare location to other parents.

• Review from the 2018/2019 PSP Daycare, Preschool, PreK, Kindergarten Survey

  November 2018

  It's our first daycare experience. We knew it would be a struggle for the kid to adapt, but were still struck by how haphazard and disorganized this place is. The infant room's lead teacher left, and there's no replacement in sight. There's one permanent teacher left in that room, and the rest of the crew are rotating sub teachers. If I could do daycare shopping one more time, I'd start when I'm still in the first trimester, so that my kid wouldn't end up in a place like this. About the facility: Has outdoor space What would you change? The management.

• Review from the 2017/2018 PSP Daycare, Preschool, PreK, Kindergarten Survey

  April 2018

  My daughter started at this school a few weeks ago after I went back to work. She is in the infant program. I like that this facility has early childhood education certification requirements and I think they have a good child to teacher ratio. I don't like that there seems to be some teacher turnover and are in the process of hiring a replacement - I hope this isn't a recurring trend. I also don't like that the lead teacher is not always there for first thing in the morning arrival, which I'm not sure is a scheduling thing or a running late thing. About the facility: Has outdoor space, Has early morning hours, Provides meals, Has evening hours past 6pm

• Review Submitted via Fall 2015 Daycare/Preschool Survey

  November 2015

  PROGRAM: Prospect Avenue TIME: Full time / 5 days a week AGE: < 1 year1-2 years REVIEW: My daughter has been as Bumble Bees R Us since January 2015. She started at 4-months-old and in the baby room. The daycare has serious operational and management issues. Their treatment of staff is poor and there is a relatively high rate of turn over or unhappiness as a result. The is an obvious contentious relationship between staff and the director, Christine. That said, the staff has always been kind and caring to the kids and friendly to the parents. This is not an issue at the facility. The physical space is quite nice as it's a new build. However, it's often not as clean (not on a daily basis but bigger tasks like carpet cleaning) as I'd like it to be. When there are issues, they are not dealt with in a timely way (a leak in the roof resulted in a hole in the ceiling of the bathroom and the dirty, crumbly hole is still there months later). Supplies are often missing or very low which is stressful for caregivers and parents. This includes paper towels, gloves, tissues, hand soap, etc. The director does not follow through on her tasks. Many of the details of the program offered when we first signed up are not actually true. They told us the kids would go outside everyday unless weather was very bad. However they rarely go out and when they do they just play outside the doors on the pavement and rarely go to the tiny park (no playground at the corner of a busy intersection). We were told that the vacant lot would going to be built out into a playground but that didn't happy and it's still a vacant lot. I get very brief, often inaccurate written updates and often don't see the person who is her main care giver due to schedules. The program is loose and not very clear. No real philosophy. I suspect it's just hanging out all day around feeding and napping even with my 1-year-old. Overall, not a terrible situation but there are definitely some watch outs. WOULD YOU RECOMMEND? (Hi/Rec/DoNot) Recommend with reservations WOULD YOU DO IT AGAIN? Probably not

• Daycare review

  October 2015

  Our child had been in the 1-2 classroom until we switched to a new daycare, which we are very happy with. The head teacher and, more recently, when she was finally hired, assistant teacher, were great and did a good job. The infant class teachers seemed excellent and we heard very good things. However, things seemed very disorganized and it didn’t feel like there was a lot of oversight or that issues were proactively addressed. For example, there were issues with not having milk or the right kind of milk (whole milk) at least a couple of times that we found out by chance. Rather than someone running out to get whole milk rather than giving kids no milk for part of the day or 1 %, this wasn't done until it was directly addressed with the director, who was aware of the issue. The class was very understaffed for a long time (months). There was very very limited communication between the director and/or administration with the parents, and we didn’t have a really good idea of what was going on during the day at all. The actual space is very good, but there was too much lacking here.

• Review Submitted via 2014-2015 Daycare/Preschool Survey

  September 2015

  My child was in the room for kids 1-2 years old. The head teacher was great, but they were chronically understaffed and stretched thin. when my child, who was new to daycare at 17 months, had trouble adjusting, they would just leave him alone and let him cry. He eventually adjusted, and I saw them doing this with other kids who started there. From what I hear, the teachers in the infant room are great. But the only teacher in the 2-4 room does not seem to like children. It takes a certain kind of person to do this work, and for her it was clearly just a "job." She is sarcastic, rolls her eyes, and spends too much time on her phone. I moved my child to a different place and I am much happier.

• Review Submitted via 2014-2015 Daycare/Preschool Survey

  August 2015

  Program: Ladybugs - 1 year old room Length of time: Fulltime, 5 days Child’s Age: 1-2 years Type of facility: Privately run daycare/preschool with multiple classes and teachersThere is little/no parental involvement with the administration or running of the facility. REVIEW: Facility is great. Teachers are great. However, the teachers are stretched very thin, and this location has been understaffed on and off since it opened in Sept 2014. Teacher's program for our class is great, but the communication to parents on the weekly lessons is non-existent. Daily sheets are rarely completed and have few details about activities. Director of the location is not immediately responsive, and the main office supplies canned answers to concerns, and is slow to support the needs of the location. Concerns with being out of ratio for an extended amount of time were met with less than appropriate response times and concern. (Ratio concern went on for over 2 months) Would you recommend? Do NOT recommend Would you send your child again? Absolutely not