Pasadena Day Nursery

My son is 2 ½ years old and has been attending PDN for almost a year. I am extremely pleased with this daycare and highly recommend it.\r \r PDN is a medium-sized daycare/preschool with a much smaller “feel”. The classrooms are clean and well organized and I particularly like that there is plenty of outdoor play area. They provide home cooked meals and snacks. \r \r The Director, Jeannette, has always been very approachable and available. Gisele, the Assistant Director, has been nothing short of helpful and accommodating with our scheduling. I was particularly impressed with how reassuring Gisele was in helping us with transitioning our son to the 2-year old classroom (aka bunnies). The teachers are warm and friendly and seem genuinely interested in the children. Also, the child to teacher ratios are a lot lower than other daycare facilities in the area. \r \r I can go on and about the good points of a facility but my biggest measure of the success of PDN is based on how my son has changed since he’s been there. My son has really come out of his shell and has become more confident and outgoing. His vocabulary is increasing with words we haven’t taught him. He is learning structure and how to function within a group setting. What makes me the most satisfied with PDN is how happy and exuberant my son is when I pick him up. more

When we were looking for full-time childcare for our daughter, we waited a year so she could go to Pasadena Day Nursery--now, 2 1/2 years later, we're still happy with our choice. PDN's philosophy focuses on the developmental needs of the children and makes sure that every child feels loved, safe and involved. PDN is open from 7 am to 6 pm, so it is great for working parents and it takes infants as early as 6 weeks old. There is a kitchen on-site and the ""home made"" snacks and meals are included in the basic cost of tuition, which saves us money and time. We've seen our daughter grow intellectually and socially in profound ways during her time at PDN. The board of directors is mostly current parents, which shows good parent involvement and the new executive director is doing a great job of picking up where the former director, who was at PDN for 13 years, left off. Good child care is never cheap, but PDN is affordable and a really great value. I highly recommend it! more

I've never liked the idea of putting my child into daycare. When searching for childcare options for my son, a daycare was the last place I wanted to put him, but I looked into all my options. I talked to nannies, stay-at-home-moms, schedule shifting (so my husband and I could be with him more), and daycare. Pasadena Day Nursery was convenient to home and work and happened to have availability, even though they usually have waiting lists of over a year. I was impressed immediately with the infant/caregiver ratio which exceeds the state standards. Almost every time I go in, there are only 2 infants per caregiver, sometimes less! They encourage parents to come and go at any time, to nurse, spend a lunch hour or just hang out and be a part of the child's school experience. They are a non-profit organization focused on child development (not just child-watching) and require 'parent participation hours' every year. This could be a negative I suppose, but it just enforces their support of parent involvement. I'm always so impressed by how happy the babies are, and how well the older kids are doing (whether they're studying the cultures of each of the kids in a class or acting out The Nutcracker, I've seen both). They provide delicious, nutritious lunches, made fresh on site each day. I wish I ate that well! They are incredibly flexible and supportive of part-time schedules. My husband and I work to spend as much time as possible with our son, and they have been really accomodating with our part-time schedules. We chose Pasadena Day Nursery and have never regretted our decision. Our son loves it there. He is thriving, happy and learning wonderful things. I would recommend PDN to anyone looking for a really good childcare situation for their child. more