Childtime of Stone Mountain — Attraction in Stone Mountain

I gladly walked over 30mins just to withdraw my son! It's been almost 2 years since I pulled my son out this daycare. It was the best decision I have made in his life!! So many negative experiences since day 1 at 10wks old. Many of which mirror the other negative reviews. Shortly after we started, they lost a teacher in the infant room. All infants had to be picked by 2pm. This was during COVID but there was no adjustment to tuition given they could no longer provide full time care and parents still have full time jobs. He was my 1st child but didn't question much. On top of having to pick up early, almost every week they'd claimed my son had a fever, cough or sniffles and sent him home for 24-48hrs. This happened so often, I would take him to the doctor just for the note, no fever and bouncing off the walls! It was a shock and an actual running joke at work if I made through the week without a call or early pickup from this daycare! The cameras is what sold me but when he moved to the 1 year old class, I saw things I didn't like! First off, no lesson plans were ever added to SproutAbout, their parent app. Never knew what they were working on. Saw on camera that another student was a bit rough with the others and mine! On camera I could see there was no structured storytime or circle time. Gave it a little time, still new to this but concern was growing. Life hit and I was in a car accident and had to take medical leave! Continued to send my son to this daycare with no car and disability check, so I could go to doc and phys rehab appts. But eventually talked to Symone and Angel about keeping my son at home until I could return to work. They said I would have to pay $100 per week to hold his "spot". I paid that for almost 2 months. When I returned to work(with no car) the disability check stopped and I fell back into the pay cycle. I was open with Angel and Symone, but this created the one and only time I had an outstanding balance. It was $87. I was told on a Monday that my son could not return until the balance was paid. I explained that the $87 balance PLUS full tuition for next week, would be paid on Friday(4days late). Angel and Symone refused to extend any kindness in this situation so I walked 30mins to this daycare and withdrew my child. Never paid the $87 and technically owed another $200 because he attended the day before. Never sent to collections because they know they were wrong. I've actually been waiting! Our new daycare was been so wonderful. I'm headed to their page next to post a 5 star! My son was sent home once (in over 2 years!) for diarrhea and could return the next day as long as it resolved. All students wash their hands upon entering the building. Significally reducing colds and bugs that run through Childtime Stone Mountain, trust!! My son is learning so much and talking too well to be honest! We've made friends with other families and it has been like day and night! We just celebrated his 3rd birthday and I drive by Childtime Stone Mountain as proud mom that...

We really wanted to love Childtime. We enjoyed the tour we took, and all the staff members were very friendly. However, the daycare itself fell below our expectations when it came to sending our infant. To start, the updates we got through SproutAbout were inconsistent, so we never really knew if/when our baby napped or ate. The first day, the staff forgot to give her her bottle, and several days they sent home solids that had clearly not even been opened or given to my baby. On top of that, I was asked to fill out a feeding schedule, but it was never followed. My daughter did not receive her bottle or solids at the specified times, and in fact they were given to her at different times every day, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon.

While I did love that they offered camera access, it did show me some things I didn’t love. First, my baby spent most of her 5-hour day either in a high chair (even without food) or in her crib awake. We were told babies were on their own schedule, but there is a designated nap time every day from 12-2:30, and even when my child was awake the whole time, she was just left in her crib. Rarely did we see her getting an opportunity to just crawl around and explore. Several times she was left crying for long periods even with multiple teachers in the room. The teachers would be holding calm babies and talking while ignoring my baby crying. This wasn’t constant - she did receive attention - but it happened often enough during the first week that it made us uncomfortable.

These were frustrating issues but probably could have been worked out over time. However, there were three specific incidents that led to us unenrolling our daughter after the first week. At one point while checking in on her, my husband saw the babies eating solids with no direct supervision. One teacher had her back to them while another was across the room giving a bottle to a baby. The second incident was when I saw a teacher grab a baby by the upper arm and drag her around to the other side of the teacher’s body before lifting the baby up by her arm to put her in a chair. Lastly, I checked on my daughter and saw her grab a plastic bag off the changing table and pull it into her crib with her. I waited a few seconds and didn’t see anyone notice, so I told my husband who called the school and had them go remove it. At no point during this time did anyone so much as glance at my baby to see that she had a suffocation hazard in her crib. While the admins were apologetic, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to keep our daughter in a daycare where we felt her safety was not a top priority. These were also things we just happened to catch when using the cameras to check on our baby, which didn’t inspire confidence that we could focus on work without having to constantly watch her to avoid future issues. I can’t speak for the classes for older kids, but at least for infants, I wouldn’t recommend...

Childtime has been such a great place for our family. The staff is extremely friendly and is willing to work with us if something unexpected occurs. Our daughter has been going to this Childtime since she was 3 months old and is now two years old. One of the things that sold us on this location was when we visited we saw a two year old run up to a staff member and hug them with sheer joy as they arrived for the day. It was so wonderful to see how much the kids loved being there.

Another reviewer mentioned that they watch a bunch of tv. I have not witnessed that, in fact, I hardly ever see a tv on or even around in most rooms. I love seeing all the projects they do with our daughter on a regular basis. We love how often we get our daughter’s artwork. Being able to stay up to date on how are daughter is doing through out the day with their phone app keeps us feeling connected and knowledgeable about the important details that I like to know. We love seeing pictures of our daughter’s adventures and they are generous with sending pictures home and through the app. I love that they have a variety of foods that often times smell better than my own lunch. They even provide themed meals during holidays. They are constantly decorating for different holidays or just to update with something that shows off all they do each day.

If you are looking for top notch childcare that you can TRUST this is the location! It is affordable, professional, reliable, and caring. The only people who have issues with this daycare are people who tend to have problems picking up on time and/or paying on time regularly and those people tend to have a problem anywhere they go. For parents who value quality affordable childcare this facility will impress you and you will not regret choosing them. We have another lil one on the way and we love knowing how much love and care that awaits their arrival at Childtime.

Update 1/18/2022 - We moved away from the area a couple of years ago and subsequently have experienced other childcare providers. Childtime still remains the best childcare we have ever experienced. We miss them, our girls miss them, and you will too if you ever find yourself moving away after experiencing their care. I wish we could have moved them with us because their level of quality care has been hard to find, especially combined with their affordability. They still remain our top recommendation for childcare. When we discuss childcare services with friends and acquaintances, we can’t help but gush about them as we recount all the ways they have been amazing for our family. We were the recipient of their services for years, and now we have missed...