BrightPath Early Learning & Child Care Center

09/20/2015

For most moms, going back to work is overwhelming and scary; I know I started worrying about it probably a week after my baby was born and my husband had to keep reminding me that it was almost a year away! I became so accustomed to being home with my baby every day and doing everything myself, that the idea of trying to find someone else I trusted to do this was something that became a huge stress area for me! There are a lot of options out there for child care, whether it be a family member or friend, a day home or a day care, but one great option I was able to review in Leduc was BrightPath Early Learning & Child Care. BrightPath offers full-time programs for children from infants starting at 6 weeks – children up to 6 years, and after school care for children up to 12 years old.

When I walked into BrightPath, I thought it had a great atmosphere. I loved the loft area above for the children to go up and play, and the different areas designated to different types of play (ie. There was a ‘stage’, a ‘kitchen’, an area for building, etc.). There were plenty of bright, colorful decorations on the walls that utilized subtle ways of learning and, most importantly to me, there were pictures up of the kids and their art work, which I think made me see that these children were important in the center. I also like that each room offers a developmentally appropriate curriculum based on the needs of the children. For example, the infant curriculum is based on helping them meet their developmental milestones, while the toddler curriculum focuses on early learning like shape/color/letter recognition and recognizing their feelings. Each curriculum is meant to provide a basis for the next level of learning, so for example when the toddlers get into the Pre-K curriculum they will be preparing to go to kindergarten and can utilize the basic feeling recognition to help the children with any uncertainties or feelings they have when building to this big step. The staff at the program do their best to adapt activities and programming to meet the needs of the children in the class in order to ensure a healthy balance is maintained and the children do not get bored or left behind, which could cause a lot of frustration.  This adaptation is also carried into the out of school care room because the center realizes that if they don’t base the programming on areas the children are interested in, they will not be as engaged.

One of the parts of the program I think that I appreciated learning about the most, being a first time mom, is a tool called HiMama, or BrightPath Connect. In the past the center used to complete daily reports for each child, and this tool has now replaced these! Parents are able to sign up for this tool within the center and can download the APP on their smart phone or tablet. During the day, the parents are able to log into their APP to see what their child(ren) are up to and at the end of each day a final report is emailed to the parents to fill them in on what happened each day. The really neat part is that the center is also able to send you pictures of your child(ren) throughout the day, so you can see how much fun they are having! I know that I still don’t like leaving my baby with other people, so this would be a great tool for me to be able to use!

In speaking with different parents in the community who have children in BrightPath, all reviews I have received have been very positive. The staff there were friendly when I was there visiting and they all seemed to truly enjoy being around the children. I appreciated the fact that they talked about observing the children that were in the programming and adapting the programs to fit their needs, because I think this is crucial to allow each and every child feel like they are succeeding and learning. All of this, on top of the HiMama/BrightPath Connect tool that they utilize, made me feel that this would be a good program to utilize if I required day care for my child, and made me feel like I would be comfortable in trusting her needs would be met. If you require any further information on their programming, please visit their website at http://brightpathkids.com/FindALocation/details.asp?ID=20 and take a look around!