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ADDRESS: 8 CHERRY AVENUE, SINGAPORE 279862
CONTACT: +65 64677600
WEBSITE: WWW.BABIESINC.COM.SG
EMAIL: ENQUIRIES@BABIESINC.COM.SG
I just took my child out of Babies Inc at Turf Club. He is a 19 month old toddler and it was his third day of school and he nearly died when he choked because a teacher was handing out WHOLE seedless grapes of over an inch long to the children during snacktime. What's worse is that the toddlers (aged 18 mths to 2 yrs +) were left largely unsupervised because another child had vomited and the teachers were running about distracted trying to clean up the mess so no one spotted my child choking. Luckily I happened to be near and came to his rescue.
When I complained about the incident (and other observations) to the administrator, here were her responses to my feedback:
1) On the toddlers being served foods which were choking hazards - I saw jumbo marshmallows, whole cocktail sausages, deepfried whole cheeseballs and whole seedless grapes being served during snacktime - the administrator said that it was a children's day celebration and the food had come from various parents so it was not the kitchen's fault and that the teacher had made a mistake by handing the food out without checking
2) My second issue is that the children have no regular assigned teacher. Each day every teacher just takes 5 random children and today was even worse as since it was "Children's Day", no teachers were assigned to any of the children, which resulted in 30 screaming kids running amok in the same bunker gym room. This resulted in zero accountability for any accidents
3) The outdoor area is concrete and there is a little tikes style climber and slide which is over 1m high. I observed a toddler climb all the way to the top of the slide unsteadily when the nearest teacher was a good 4m away and if she fell, she would have broken a limb for sure. The administrator claimed special rubber outdoor flooring had already been ordered but in the meantime this was a clear hazard
4) On hygiene, they were conscientious about disinfecting children's hands and checking temperature. However I saw a small toddler being carried to school by his father, and the toddler proceeded to projectile vomit all over the area next to the shoe rack and was allowed to join the class after that. When asked why, the teacher said that this was bcos the child had been doing that everyday for a month and it was just nervous vomiting. The teachers just hosed down the shoe rack area with plain water and no detergents.
All in all, very disappointed by this experience. The administrator told me that she had been on leave for 2 weeks and it was her first day back so she couldn't comment on most of the incidents other than the choking one, to which her explanation for everything was "sorry it is Children's Day, it's very chaotic", but if your child had a serious accident that is NOT a good excuse! There should be proper accountability and attention given to these children!
Please do not send your child there!!!
Dearest Crystal...
Oh, how i feel your anguish then.
My sincere empathies.
I was in the pre-school industry myself and now a stay-home-mum. I have given up on searching for the right pre-school already. Being Montessori and Early Childhood trained and equipped too with Speech & Drama + Creative Writing skills, hubs has commented i wud be our children's best teacher. No regrets for me.
I've given up on working for the right pre-school. Everywhere i go the team i join do not share the passion for teaching whole-heartedly. Very depressing.
The administrator was just doing her job though i must say... Dun think she has a choice but to cover up every aspect nicely.
But then again, i agree, NO EXCUSES. Thank God, your boy was fine.
Hi Crystal
My empathy to u n yr son.
I fully agree Babies Inc is really offering nothing for the very expensive fees they charge. Lynn is right that it is really very difficult to find the " right" childcare...people running with passion.
Being a 1st time mom, I was impressed with the hardware (enrichment programmes, space,etc)But I neglected the software ie the passion from teachers, teacher assistant, etc. My poor gal was with Katong branch -infant care when she was 11 mths old from Jul 2007 to Sept 2007. I wihdraw her within short period noting that she seems starved whenever I pick her up at noon. She can easily finish 2 biscuits n 1 btl milk on our way home. When I asked how is my gal's food intake, the staff always tell me my gal does not wanna eat. So we withdraw her.
We got the biggest shock when MOH called us in early Jan 2008. There was a teacher with tuberculosis n my gal has a possibility of contracting. The test was done n my gal confirmed with Latent tuberculosis n had to be on strong med " Isonazid" for 9 mths. Tis is a nightmare for us. My gal was only 9 kgs (25 percentile). Our hearts are broken.
On top of daily med, for the 1st few weeks, we have to be looking out for signs like liver failure, no weight gain etc - side effects of the strong med. Next comes the 6 weekly visit to Tuberculosis centre @ Tan Tock seng for follow up n med collection.3 mths into the med, she stopped gaining weight. And we have to visit KKH - infectious disease dept n dietitian dept. Vists to KKH, Tan Tock seng becomes a routine chore.
The mgmt even lie that the teacher is from their enrichment partners when she is actually an employee of Babies Inc who was employed in April 2007. I managed to get tis info from another staff after several visits/calls.
So how this infected teacher actually get thru' the compulsory health check before employment really makes us wonder!
Thank God. All is well n my gal has successfully completed her med late Oct 2008.
Megmom
Just to add to my earlier comment.
No childcare centre is 100% perfect. For me, my most important criteria is the principal n teachers must have passion for kids.Food have to be healthty n of reasonable std.
FYI. Understands that Elfa group has acquired Babies Inc late last year so tis may be good news since I am impressed at their childcare quality of both hardware n software. My testimonial - my niece who is attending Elfa Simei. She is now such an adorable gal with good manners, reasonable speech ability,etc.
yes. U're rite that Elfa Group has bought over Babies Inc without being able to verify the issue of the teacher infecting the infants with tuberculosis. Until by chance I went to Elfa Tampines n yes, the principal of Elfa Tampines is also the principal of Babies Inc, katong. And I confirmed with her that the tuberculosis case is true. Not rumour like wat the original Babies Inc owner has claimed during the nego stage. No point crying over spilt milk but any mother will not wanna their children to go thru' a latent tuberculosis infection. It is a nightmare.
I trust the Elfa Tampines principal will do a good job with Babies Inc, katong cos she's is committed n has a passion for early childhood biz.