We believe that children are often their own best teacher. This means, given the right environment and continuous experiences which build trust, children will grow and develop as they should without us "teaching" them. Because of this, we do not attempt to "teach" children to sit up, walk, and so forth. Nature has equipped all healthy children with an "inner clock" 'which tells them when to achieve their developmental milestones.

Respect is at the heart of all our words and actions

The goal of our child care center is to promote the growth of autonomy and trust within the child. Autonomy means being healthily independent - possessing a feeling of self-confidence and self-worth. lt means feeling comfortable with themselves as competent human beings. The growth of autonomy is fostered in a variety of ways - by having an environment in which exploration is encouraged (with a minimum of no's), where many successes are "guaranteed' with age appropriate activities, and where some challenges exist in order to give the child a sense of achievement and allow him/her to develop further.

As well as having routines and primary care givers, we help the children feel secure by telling them what is happening or is going to happen. For example, when a diaper needs to be changed, the care giver will go to the child, kneel down facing the child, and say, 'Bryce, its time for me to change your diaper. I'm going to pick you up now," and then proceed.

The philosophy of our child care center is that children (infants and toddlers) are deserving of, and thrive on, being treated in a respectful manner. Respect is at the heart of all our words and actions.