I felt sick with grief reading this article. What they described was atrocious. It's difficult and painful to imagine what those small children went through. If it has only scratched the surface, oof. My heart hurts thinking about that.
I'm sorry that your child(ren) went through that. Do you know if your child suffered any abuse? How are they doing now? Do you still have them enrolled at the same center?
Our Bright Horizons switched to Cadence Academy right after we started. They're owned by private equity, but my kid had a great experience. Better than the mom and pop places he was in before. But you never know with these places.
It’s tough. In nyc home day cares are a dime a dozen. And they don’t have much better reputations. We have to make so many decisions for our kids and it sucks how complicated it can be
These corporate places also have lobbyists that aim to keep daycare expensive and fight against programs like free universal prek. I can’t stand the thought of paying them via tuition regardless of the quality of care I think they’re getting.
Private equity is an essential driver of economic growth and skills building in America and it’s flourishing across the world as well. Does wonders in pushing other daycares to be better.
When reading that a private equity-owned daycare is habitually abusing its charges and failing to support its staff while still turning a profit, I'm hard-pressed to think how that's in any way encouraging the industry as a whole to do better. If anything, that would be lowering standard, since it proves you can do less than nothing and still be successful.
It’s exhausting trying to find good childcare. We thought we had a place, but in the last month, 90% of the teachers left, exposing some very shady shit happening behind the scenes. I’m so tired 😭
a few months ago the UK Government named and shamed several companies who were stealing wages from their employees. The top 20 included several nursery chains
People talk about “better childcare,” but when it comes to very young children, I think a better societal model would be one in which babies and toddlers spent most of their time being taken care of by their parents, guardians, and/or relatives. Yes, there are abusive or just shitty parents; yes, there are highly-trained and professional nannies. But the vast majority of the time, hired workers from outside the family have nowhere near the same level of investment in children’s wellbeing as the children’s own parents do.
I don’t know what the solution would be to making that model a reality.
Better and more expansive parental leave. Much like the US being one of the only developed countries without universal healthcare, we are also one of the only developed countries with trash parental leave.
The current administration wants people having more babies but are doing nothing to make it so that parents can actually spend time with their children. People get less time spent with their newborns (6 weeks, if they’re lucky) than dogs with their puppies (8 weeks).
If a parent isn’t qualified to educate their age 3+ child, it is much, much better to get them with a qualified early childhood educator.
Early childhood education is crucial. This is where student begin to form number sense and where they start to learn how to be a peer. Having a parent stay home with an infant for the first year or two is good, of course, but preschool with a well paid, properly trained ECE educator is crucial for ages 2 and up, even if it was just a couple hours a day.
Our society would benefit immensely from universal free pre-k for ages above 2 or 3 years old. This isn’t just so parents can go back to work, it gives a massive head start on education.
(With all that said, we pay ECEs shamefully low for how important their role is in students’ learning.
This is not true and it’s wrong to push this on parents.
There are no credible studies that talk about the importance of academic learning in a 3 year old. In fact they show the opposite.
The AAP recommends play as the primary vehicle for learning.
Of course parent should have the choice, and providers should be paid what they are worth, but this academic rhetoric is just not true.
I think both options and having choices is preferred!
I'm extremely, extremely lucky that my mom retired to watch my daughter. My mom worked in a courthouse for 20+ years and....basically refused to let me put my daughter in daycare before she could speak. She witnessed so many horror stories from childcare centers. So it's tough. I wouldn't say any one option is a silver bullet since family configurations can look so different these days.
Respectfully, I was referring to the commenter who states "Our society would benefit immensely from universal free pre-k for ages above 2 or 3 years old to...get a massive start on education."
The data doesn't support it and parents should not be made to feel that they are "not qualified."
It was owned by it for several years, now just publicly traded. And the article mentioned a few other chain daycares that are owned by private equities
TranslatorHaunting32 | 19 hours ago
As a parent at one of the centers mentioned, I can tell you that this article (which was good) only scratched the surface
nettika | 5 hours ago
I felt sick with grief reading this article. What they described was atrocious. It's difficult and painful to imagine what those small children went through. If it has only scratched the surface, oof. My heart hurts thinking about that.
I'm sorry that your child(ren) went through that. Do you know if your child suffered any abuse? How are they doing now? Do you still have them enrolled at the same center?
espressocycle | 19 hours ago
Our Bright Horizons switched to Cadence Academy right after we started. They're owned by private equity, but my kid had a great experience. Better than the mom and pop places he was in before. But you never know with these places.
[OP] crayonbox | 18 hours ago
It’s tough. In nyc home day cares are a dime a dozen. And they don’t have much better reputations. We have to make so many decisions for our kids and it sucks how complicated it can be
hayguccifrawg | 15 hours ago
These corporate places also have lobbyists that aim to keep daycare expensive and fight against programs like free universal prek. I can’t stand the thought of paying them via tuition regardless of the quality of care I think they’re getting.
NotYourGa1Friday | 4 hours ago
Could you go into more depth since the article only scratched the surface?
koeniging | an hour ago
Read some r/ECEprofessionals and you’ll immediately know what they’re talking about
Either_Sherbert3523 | 19 hours ago
Good lord, if there’s anywhere that it seems like an entity should be not for profit, it’s childcare.
copperreppoc | 18 hours ago
Private equity seeping into every aspect of life will do more to hurt capitalism's survival than any leftist political movement alone
bubblegumonyourshoe | 9 hours ago
Private equity is an essential driver of economic growth and skills building in America and it’s flourishing across the world as well. Does wonders in pushing other daycares to be better.
herroyalsadness | 9 hours ago
It’s flourishing across the world because they are running out of things to take from us. They’ve just finished dentists and vets.
Quouar | an hour ago
When reading that a private equity-owned daycare is habitually abusing its charges and failing to support its staff while still turning a profit, I'm hard-pressed to think how that's in any way encouraging the industry as a whole to do better. If anything, that would be lowering standard, since it proves you can do less than nothing and still be successful.
[OP] crayonbox | 20 hours ago
Archive link: https://archive.ph/3HEGW
Shhhhhhhh____ | 7 hours ago
It’s exhausting trying to find good childcare. We thought we had a place, but in the last month, 90% of the teachers left, exposing some very shady shit happening behind the scenes. I’m so tired 😭
shiroyagisan | 8 hours ago
a few months ago the UK Government named and shamed several companies who were stealing wages from their employees. The top 20 included several nursery chains
M0506 | 18 hours ago
People talk about “better childcare,” but when it comes to very young children, I think a better societal model would be one in which babies and toddlers spent most of their time being taken care of by their parents, guardians, and/or relatives. Yes, there are abusive or just shitty parents; yes, there are highly-trained and professional nannies. But the vast majority of the time, hired workers from outside the family have nowhere near the same level of investment in children’s wellbeing as the children’s own parents do.
I don’t know what the solution would be to making that model a reality.
CheapSeaweed2112 | 17 hours ago
Better and more expansive parental leave. Much like the US being one of the only developed countries without universal healthcare, we are also one of the only developed countries with trash parental leave.
The current administration wants people having more babies but are doing nothing to make it so that parents can actually spend time with their children. People get less time spent with their newborns (6 weeks, if they’re lucky) than dogs with their puppies (8 weeks).
blissfully_happy | 12 hours ago
If a parent isn’t qualified to educate their age 3+ child, it is much, much better to get them with a qualified early childhood educator.
Early childhood education is crucial. This is where student begin to form number sense and where they start to learn how to be a peer. Having a parent stay home with an infant for the first year or two is good, of course, but preschool with a well paid, properly trained ECE educator is crucial for ages 2 and up, even if it was just a couple hours a day.
Our society would benefit immensely from universal free pre-k for ages above 2 or 3 years old. This isn’t just so parents can go back to work, it gives a massive head start on education.
(With all that said, we pay ECEs shamefully low for how important their role is in students’ learning.
LetMommySleep | 8 hours ago
This is not true and it’s wrong to push this on parents.
There are no credible studies that talk about the importance of academic learning in a 3 year old. In fact they show the opposite.
The AAP recommends play as the primary vehicle for learning.
Of course parent should have the choice, and providers should be paid what they are worth, but this academic rhetoric is just not true.
Source
iridescent-shimmer | 10 hours ago
I think both options and having choices is preferred!
I'm extremely, extremely lucky that my mom retired to watch my daughter. My mom worked in a courthouse for 20+ years and....basically refused to let me put my daughter in daycare before she could speak. She witnessed so many horror stories from childcare centers. So it's tough. I wouldn't say any one option is a silver bullet since family configurations can look so different these days.
M0506 | 9 hours ago
>If a parent isn’t qualified to educate their age 3+ child, it is much, much better to get them with a qualified early childhood educator.
I specified that I was talking about babies and toddlers. Not preschool-age children.
LetMommySleep | 6 hours ago
Respectfully, I was referring to the commenter who states "Our society would benefit immensely from universal free pre-k for ages above 2 or 3 years old to...get a massive start on education."
The data doesn't support it and parents should not be made to feel that they are "not qualified."
M0506 | an hour ago
Did I somehow reply to you and not that person? On my end it's showing that I replied to them. Huh.
espressocycle | 19 hours ago
Bright Horizons is a publicly traded company, not private equity.
[OP] crayonbox | 18 hours ago
It was owned by it for several years, now just publicly traded. And the article mentioned a few other chain daycares that are owned by private equities
echocharlieone | 11 hours ago
Bright Horizons went public for the first time in 1997, had five years of PE ownership from 2008-2013, and has been listed again since 2013.
That's five years of PE in forty years of operation.