BEDFORD CHILDREN'S CENTER

I simply can't say enough about the staff at BCC. They are amazing with our kids. They make being a working parent a little easier because I know my kids are in good hands

Bottom Line Up Front: Don’t send your kids to Bedford Children’s Center, they won’t love it and it’s nothing but hassle for you. And if you don’t like it, you can never leave until the end of the year. The Good: The teachers in this place are friendly and great with the kids. In after-school care they help out with homework. There are plenty of games, books, and supplies for crafts. The facility is also screen-free. This was great for my son when he was younger because he didn’t come home overstimulated and cranky from too many video games. And he read a lot of books. However, it was less convenient as he got older because homework is often assigned on a tablet/computer. The Bad: The ventilation is very poor, so the diaper smell from the babies is occasionally quite strong. Also the physical space is tiny. The school aged kids are almost never taken outside, and when they are, they are confined to a teeny corner of the parking lot, so there is virtually no exercise to speak of. The snacks are junky: think goldfish, pretzels, waffles, chips, I rarely see fruits or protein, it’s always carbs and often sugary. Compared to years when my son was at other child-care centers, I noticed that he grew distinctly flabbier and out of shape, and who would be surprised at that, he spent all his after-school hours sitting in one place. The after school coverage is also very spotty: unlike other childcare centers in town, these folks do not cover early release days, teacher training days, snow days, holidays. In lots of situations when the daycare portion of BCC is actually open, they STILL don’t provide coverage to the after-school kids, not even during the afternoon hours when they ordinarily watch them. But they do charge you for those days, you have to pay a flat fee per month. The Ugly: My biggest issue is the management: bullies at best, and downright swindlers in some interpretation of their actions. Invoices either never come out, or they come out the day of the due-date for payment. It is usually not possible to get a receipt for payment (although in some cases, if the owner is around, she will deign to xerox your check and sign the xerox). None of this would bug me, except they are trigger-happy about charging a late fee (even when they haven’t issued an invoice). I’m sure other parents will have had other experiences with them, but this was mine: Early on, I put my check in the wooden box, but they claimed never to get it, so I wound up paying the $50 fee. I started paying with an online service from my bank, so that I would have proof that I paid on time. Some months later they again claimed not to have received the check. After WEEKS of back and forth with the management in which I provided a receipt from the bank, they forgave that late fee but claimed that if the check was late in the mail a second time, they would not forgive the fee. And… you guessed it, the check mysteriously went missing not once, but twice more. I have used USAA for more than 20 years and there has never been a single instance in which they sent the check late, yet BCC claimed they did not receive it in the mail three times. I tried to quit BCC at that point, but was contractually obliged to pay them through June, which left me with no recourse. I was forced to hand over a pile of checks post-dated one-per-month for the remainder of the year (for which I was not provided a receipt). The amount of time, money, and hassle I wasted on these individuals still makes me seeth, months later. My advice to you is: do no do this to yourself or your kid!!

We love BCC! The teachers are wonderful and the director, Heather, is so accommodating! Great communication with parents as well!