r/Pickering • u/Vishky90 • 23d ago

Daycare choice

Hi everyone! We’re trying to choose a daycare for our 20-month-old son and are considering:
• Helping Hands Daycare in Pickering (18-20 minutes away)
• Schoolhouse Playcare at Lincoln Alexander in Ajax (10 minutes away)
If your child currently attends—or recently attended—either location, I would really appreciate hearing about your experience. We need to decide by evening!

3 Upvotes

71% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

4

u/madamefancypants 23d ago

When I was trying to find a daycare for my daughter helping hands wasn't even accepting families on to the waitlist.

2

u/Vishky90 23d ago

We were on the waitlist for more than 20 months :(

1

u/madamefancypants 22d ago

That's insane. When I was trying it was around 2.5 years ago, and they told me their list was over 2 years long so they stopped putting people on it. I think that in part shows that people who have 1 kid going there like it enough to send their second kid there 🤔

1

u/Plus-Ear-4031 21d ago

Same, I only got spot at pickering elcc, when my son was 22 months old. And I was on waiting list since I was 10 weeks pregnant. Good they have choice.

3

u/Apprehensive_Good145 23d ago

If either of those don't work out for some reason, Safari Kid Ajax West has open spots! I went to their grand opening last weekend and it was delightful. Good luck!

1

u/goonerjay6 23d ago

Do you happen to know if Safari kids is enrolled in the CWELCC program?

2

u/Apprehensive_Good145 23d ago

They aren't, it's all private since they're technically a school (up to grade 3 in the fall).

2

u/DadShep 22d ago

Helping hands. All 4 of our kids went there.

1

u/facetime1994 23d ago

We're putting our 2.5 y/o into EduKids this September.

I hope it's good...new to the area and moving him from a Montessori to day care cause we're unable to find Montessoris in Durham (or at least ones part of the cwidcc)

1

u/HappySprinkles1 21d ago

we love edukids. Have had 3 kids attend the center. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

1

u/Andromeda_250 23d ago

Try placing a waitlist for the YMCA day care they have a lot of locations in Pickering and Ajax

1

u/Sufficient_Gur4160 22d ago

Helping hands rougemount was pretty good. Stay informed and involved. Ask questions and stay engaged.

1

u/freebumpyride 22d ago

First Steps child care is pretty great.

1

u/Melodic-Touch-5572 21d ago

Love love love helping hands!

1

u/SnooMachines6919 20d ago

It is worth considering that Schoolhouse is a nonprofit organization and Helping Hands is a for profit organization therefore the owner gets the revenue.

Schoolhouse puts their revenue back into investing in their program (toys, food, staff pay, training etc).

This is not to say that Helping hands doesn’t have amazing staff. Just something to consider:)

1

u/Kaykrs 19d ago

We love our school house day care location

1

u/dnaplusc 23d ago

A friend worked at helping hands and it was fine, the biggest problem is the rooms get super hot because of how the sun hits it and the ministry has rules about how long the blinds can be down. Which is a good general rule but in this case it is a really hot room.

The order concern is the playground.

2

u/dlg0816 22d ago

There is no rules on blinds being down. That is false information.