Bright Horizons Early Education and Back-up Center at East

We have had a wonderful experience at the center with my daughter over the past two years, from the infant to the toddler to the preschool room, and we are about to enroll my infant son there as well. Holly is an incredible center director and her and Erica run a tight ship and are extremely diligent about health and safety issues, as are the other families at the center. Since returning to the center in late July 2020 (4 months ago), my daughter has been 100% free of any illness, apart from a runny nose one week that was extremely minor and no one else in our family picked up. No one in the center has gotten Covid. Bright Horizons follows Montessori principles but without the huge Montessori class sizes, and with a closer focus on play-based learning. They have all the best play-based learning supplies on the market in the preschool room and I am blown away every day when I see all the photos, videos, and descriptions of all the developmentally appropriate different play-based learning activities they’re doing—drawing, painting, playing with tactile materials, counting, learning the alphabet (in a play-based, fun way), reading books, and getting exercise. The only downside of this center is that they don’t have a playground, but they get those kids burning off energy in a grassy area nearby with parachute activities, scooters, playing racing games, etc. (We also make an extra effort to give her playground time on evenings and weekends when we can fit it in.) Another downside, actually, is that their infant care is the most expensive in the district and possibly in the country ($2,851 per month I think). I could probably get a nanny for about what I’ll be paying to have my two kids at this Bright Horizons center, but there is no way one nanny could replicate the developmentally appropriate infant and preschool care and activities Bright Horizons offers. I also love that they provide healthy meals for breakfast, lunch, and snack, and I love their long hours of operation (7:30-6:30 pre-Covid, now 7:30-6). My husband and I are both at demanding jobs and need that flexibility. We looked hard at other daycares in the district due to the high cost of infant care at BH and long commute for us from our home to the center, but BHEE was far and away the best option out there. Other less expensive centers offer fewer hours of care per day, close for a week or more during summer and winter (yikes!), don’t offer the same meal service, and/or have a worse child to staff ratio. One center we looked at even required children, including 2 year olds, to wear masks all day, which is unfortunate for the kids and is not going to protect them from Covid when they’re playing with the other kids and pulling at their masks all day. (The center staff at BH do wear masks, just not the kids.) After looking elsewhere and looking at nanny care options we felt even more confident BH was the right fit for our 2 year old and infant, and given how amazing they’ve been with COVID over the past few months we are confident we made the right choice. BH gives me peace of mind and I know my daughter is having an amazing experience there.

Fantastic childcare center. Caring teachers with superb management - everything you could ask for in a center.