Over the last six months, childcare has faced a crippling crisis in both safety and impact on families. Childcare is crucial for parents to be able to work and is important for children’s development to maintain a normal structured life. 
Safety is the number one concern of most parents when leaving their child somewhere. As the pandemic hit most unexpectedly, people staggered to know what to do and who to trust especially regarding their children. With data and research changing practically daily, there was not anything concrete except that COVID-19 is highly contagious. Parents were worried sending their kids to school would not only get their children sick, but would ignite a rapid effect on other household members getting ill. Many parents pulled their kids out of daycare in what they hoped was a method to stop the virus spreading while essential workers pleaded with facilities to take their kids despite them being deemed a higher risk. Early education centers took instruction from DCF in what must be done to stay open and some were forced to close entirely. Education Centers that stayed open lost employees out of caution and fear as well as significant monetary losses. Once filled early learning centers now had tons of room and bills stacking up. When parents started to go back to work and bring their children back in, you could see the stress all around. Everybody did their best especially the kids that were simply happy to regain some normalcy and fun. Despite new procedures for safety, the children obliged as if it were not that big of a deal as long as they could be in their happy place. Hand washing became each child’s superpower.
It is estimated that 40 million children worldwide will miss out on early education in the critical preschool year because of COVID-19 according to research published by UNICEF. This means children will not be able to have the best possible start as previous years and directly impacts children both academically and psychologically. Early childhood education is the foundation which each child’s development relies on thus the global pandemic is directly hurting a child’s natural development for success. It is being documented that a lot of young children that have remained at home are not getting the proper learning support for healthy development including social, emotional, and cognitive stimulation.
At Turtle Tots Academy, we have remained open during the pandemic to offer essential and non-essential workers a safe place for their littles ones to have some normalcy. We have followed strict CDC and DCF guidelines to provide optimum care and safety to all our families. We have added more sanitizing, constant cleaning, and safety measures to ensure a fun and safe learning environment. We are delighted to see parents happy and children thriving despite the challenges we have all endured the last few months. We have learned more now than ever that children are resilient.
We are open Monday to Friday and always welcome new families to our safe, supportive, and growing community. Turtle Tots mission is to provide the highest quality childcare and educational service that promotes and enhances each child’s development, while assuring a parents’ peace of mind in the care and service rendered. Turtle Tots Academy provides a safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate program which fosters active learning, support for the child, and a child friendly environment that both parents and kids love.
