We love Angela's Happy Home daycare. She provides the experience that we really wanted for our kids in a smaller, casual setting where they can just be kids and learn through play and some fun learning activities. We have used Angela's daycare for two kids now - one starting from just toddlerhood and the second from infancy to toddlerhood. We plan to enroll our third with her too!
Here's a few things that really stand out to us:
Communication - There are no surprises with Angela. She is very clear with her contract, provides an annual calendar stating ALL paid vs unpaid closures, vacation dates, etc. This makes it very, very easy to plan ahead for your family vacations and such to coincide with her closure dates for the year. She also uses a private Facebook group for the parents to get updates and photos of the kids. She will also text parents directly for anything urgent. I have always experienced timely and clear responses from Angela.
Assistants - Angela's childcare assistants, especially Caroline, are stellar. They LOVE kids and have so much experience. I trust them as much as Angela.
Food - Angela makes homemade, balanced, nutritious breakfasts AND lunches and often posts pictures of them on the Facebook group. Breakfast is between 8-8:30am making it super convenient for parents to have two meals provided for kids eating solid foods. Breakfast can be as simple as cereal, milk, fruit or it can be as lavish as an American breakfast with eggs, sausage, pancakes, fruit. In fact, Angela has even done "Parent's Breakfast" days where she's made to-go breakfasts and coffee for parents to take that morning after drop-off. I kind of feel like cooking is a bit of a love language for her and I truly appreciate that and it gives me so much peace knowing my kids will not go hungry and they're getting balanced meals.
Infant feeding personalization - Whether you're breastfeeding, formula feeding, or both, Angela will personalize the feeding to your desires. Golden! I love the flexibility that Angela provides with this. For example, I took the route of bringing a stash of frozen milk for the week and Angela would store that in her freezer and/or fridge. She would take care of the thawing process and then record on the 'Infant Daily Report' sheet how many ounces were drunk at each feeding. She also kept a few of our bottles at her home and took care of the cleaning for those while we had our own set at home. Again, super convenient. (This report also includes how many poops and naps were made and you see it at pick-up every day.) She had even offered to store extra milk in her deep freezer. As a breastfeeding mom, I also really loved witnessing first-hand on other infants at the daycare that they do pace feeding and cradle the babies while feeding with such care.
Flexible inclement weather policy - Angela does NOT follow the MCPS weather closures, which means MCPS might be closed whereas Angela is open. Angela tends to follow the idea of, "If the roads are accessible and you can get here safely, I'm open." Game changer for parents expected to still work on snow days!
Consistent outdoor play - Unless the weather is super cold or super hot (where it's unsafe to be outside), the kids are outside at least once per day and often twice per day either in her backyard or at one of the neighborhood parks. We always see pictures of them outside on the Facebook group so I know they're going out. She lets the kids be kids exploring nature and the bugs outside or enjoying the playground while supervising for safety.
Very minimal screen time - This is even in her contract about how much screen time to expect and no screen time is given to infants. After 2+ years I can only count a handful of times where I have seen the (small) TV on and it's only during the pick-up hour where it's used to distract the kids while clean-up is happening.
Overall, Angela is a gem that offers flexible care in a casual, intimate setting with a balance of play and learning via fun activities.
Monica Schultz
