Our family feels very lucky to have found Tender Care. We had actually intended to send our child to another pre-school when we first heard about Tender Care. After our first visit we knew that Tender Care was the right place for our child and for our family.

One of the nicest things about Tender Care is the love and attention that is given to meals there. Children at Tender Care sit down together for meals family style. The food is home-cooked, mostly organic, with a nice variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy proteins and whole grains. The children serve themselves and enjoy a positive social time around their dining table. We don’t have to worry about packing a lunch or that our child will be craving for the junk food brought to school by another child. Besides the lunch, there are 2 snack times and also breakfast available for children who come early. Children help set the table, clear their own plates, and often contribute to the preparation of the food as well.

We love that Tender Care children actively participate in gardening, both at the yard there, and in the community garden down the road. They also get to prepare the food that they have grown themselves, and often eat it as part of their daily meal. Judy and Randy have incorporated environmental consciousness into their home lives and into their school environment with worm composting, rainwater harvesting, active recycling etc… 

Another wonderful thing about Tender Care is Randy’s presence there. It is a gift to have a man who is so deeply involved in the care and education of young children. The children all adore Randy! He is fun and loving and has an amazing amount of patience and enthusiasm. New children particularly bond with him as he has a special ability to make them feel welcome and comfortable in an unfamiliar environment.

Learning at tender care is organic and dynamic occurring through games, play, and fun. While children can partake in structured learning activities they are never forced. They are allowed to engage themselves as much as they want. Many moments of learning come from simple activities like folding towels, or picking vegetables. Judy is amazingly adept at integrating little learning moments into those kinds of fun simple tasks in a way that is very child centered and child led.

When your child is at Tender Care you get sweet little emails with photos of what they are doing. Those photos can come at any time of the day. Sometimes Judy also sends videos, and then once a week we get a summary of what they did each day, included which children helped to set the table, what they ate, what they played, and what songs they sang or danced to.

As you can see, we really love Tender Care and are happy to discuss it in detail with any prospective parents.

The Shakya Family