Giggles and Grins

I do not usually write reviews unless the experience was stellar or really, really bad. Unfortunately in this case it is the latter. I want to be clear that the issue here is ownership. There were wonderful caregivers for my son when he was in the infant room, however when he moved to the 12-18 month room things changed drastically.I found Giggles and Grins to be a very big disappointment. My son attended here for a little over a year. In that time the communication was awful. The first issue came when there was a case of hand foot and mouth.... typical for a daycare. What isn't typical is a lack of notification. I returned to pick up my son at the end of the day and noticed that they had hung a sign on the door stating that children "may have been exposed" (sign wasn't there in the morning) I found my son completely miserable. When I asked the teacher if he had been like that all day she told me that he was "out of sorts" and had a rash on his bottom and feet. He was completely broke out with sores on his mouth and NO ONE CALLED ME!! He went all day ill with hand foot and mouth and in addition exposed several other children as well. Second instance came after I noticed that my son was coming home with several bite marks on his arms. I know that kids bite..... I get that. What isn't acceptable is a daycare that doesn't notify a parent when their kid is getting bit! I brought it to the attention of the owner and she brushed it off like it wasn't a big deal and said "it was being addressed" I let it go thinking that maybe it would stop. I was VERY WRONG. The next week I noticed more bites on my son....I was NEVER notified this was happening and had it not been for me checking him I would have never known about the biter in his class! There was no incident report. Just a flippant answer from the owner with ZERO follow up. I decided to remove my son after this incident. I could not imagine that he was being watched closely if they were not aware enough to see bites all over his arms.Lastly, the center was recently sold buy the previous owner but she is still involved. I have made several attempts to get tax information from them with ZERO response. They claim that they do not know where my tax document is and that due to the sale of the center things are a little out of sorts...... not my problem. It is now mid-Feb and I have yet to receive any tax documentation from them. I strongly suggest NOT considering Giggles and Grins for your child care needs.

We had our children there and when the new owners told over (Jamie and John) they ruined the entire experience. They only care about the bottom line. They don't understand what children need to grow and thrive, and as a result the teacher turnover is extremely high. My daughter have 4 teachers in 10 mo this within the 3 year of room. It was so sad because the previous owners (Pam and Cindy) were amazing and it was a phenomenal experience prior to the new owners taking over.

I enrolled my son at G&G when he was about 15 months old after moving to the Columbus area. He had a nanny where we lived previously (San Francisco). I chose G&G after looking at several other (mostly chain) daycares in the area, mostly through word of mouth since a co-worker had their infant at the center. What I like about G&G is that my son went from a very shy boy who did not speak at the center when we first started to a crazy (but contained and polite) and vocal 2 year old. Everyday he is saying a new word or has learn almost instantly all his colors, or shapes, or whatever they have focused on that week. The kids in his class are great and I like that he is in a small class room of 6 kids with one teacher and an adjacent equally sized classroom. We have met up with some of the families outside the center and overall it is a great environment for my son.So I have to revise my review and bump it up to five stars. My 15 month old son is now 4 and has started preschool at G&G. G&G had him learning letters and math basics in the 3 year old classroom and prepared him well for their well-developed preschool program. An example of their program is that they have a letter every week that they get a sticker for bringing in items with that letter. They focus on a theme that week as well, like bike safety. They have book and stuffed animal days in a week and we get a calender with all the events each month. My son loves it! When I compare his activities to other kids his age in other programs, they don't seem to have things like letter worksheets and other learning activities G&G does.I also had another child (Max) who started in the infant room and is now in the 12-18month room. I was really anxious about Max being in daycare since my other son had a nanny. I was worried there might be a lack of attention since the ratio was not 1:1. Max flourished in the room and developed interpersonal skills much more quickly than my other son, although I think a lot of that was his personality. He got plenty of attention and loved having the other kids to play with. He adored his teachers and loved seeing them each morning. His teachers would sing to him, hold him as a baby and play with him as a toddler. The ratio is usually higher than the state guidelines because the owners are often in there as well as many of the other care providers. They all love the baby room. :) Also the benefits of having him in a center, over development with a nanny, was it was a lot easier to introduce foods and sippy cups. I think the peer pressure, and perhaps difference in kids personality, helped with those milestones, which we had difficulties accomplishing with my older son.

My daughter has attended Giggles and Grins since she was 2, and is leaving for kindergarten this week. I can't say enough good things about this preschool. I always felt confident leaving my daughter with the teachers, every one of whom was very kind and interested in the kids. I never hear that "burnout tone" in a teacher's voice that will slip through at the end of a long day. This preschool is obviously selective in hiring practices, and seems to foster contentment in the employees, because turnover has been quite low. Most importantly, the kids all seem happy. For the most part activities are kid-centered and don't over-emphasize tons of worksheets and crafts. Emphasis is on the social play and learning that is more developmentally appropriate for pre-school ages. The administration has been very flexible with us, holding space for us when my contract employment has ended periodically and I needed to take her out for a few weeks until the next project began. The whole center just feels relaxed and friendly, and well-organized.

I would give them zero stars! I went in today to find out about pricing and what they have to offer for my 3 year old. I'm a stay at home mom and would only need something a couple days just to help build her self esteem up. As soon as the woman heard I was unemployed they couldn't help me. She never asked for my name or any of my information. I was instantly told that Giggles and Grins is very expensive and I would need to go to job and family services to find any child care or preschools in my neighborhood that would be willing to help me. I went on to tell her I wouldn't need something everyday and she told me their 3 year old classes are already full and that Giggles and Grins was mainly for working families since it's so expensive. I was in complete and utter shock that someone would speak to someone like that! Just because I'm a stay at home mom doesn't mean I should be treated like that! My husband works hard to care for his family as a Columbus police officer, and for someone to degrade his family like that is just sickening! I would be ashamed to have someone working for me and push paying customers away! Just goes to show how your employees care about the business.