Review 1: N.D.G. Daycare (From Breakfast to Bedtime on Sherbrooke Street O.)

There are many vacant sites, and many small businesses calling it quits along this strip. High rents and lack of foot traffic are culprits. Huge chains like Bureau en Gross and Dollormania are also messing with our neighbourhood's Eco-system. Who buys a $15.00 porcelain vase at the corner flower shop when they can get one for 2 bucks at Dollarmania? It doesn't matter that it's toxic with lead and will crack or melt within a few months, and that these disposable product stores are strangling our oceans with plastic. It's just so cheap to buy more. The endangered breed of family and community businesses should be preserved. But no, I don't mean at any cost. Being a businessman myself, I bargain hunt and demand extra value for my coin. Getting shortchanged or taken for a ride by any size business is a damnable offense. My consumer mandate is simple: I want to spend as little money as possible for the best, most sustainable, equitable products or services, period. Enough preamble. I have a lot of shopping to do today. Off to bring Rowan, my two year old son, to the NDG Daycare.

The NDG Daycare, 3471 Girouard just off Sherbrooke Street Ouest.

My wife and I love this place, and we adore the childcare workers. Our two year old son asks to be brought there in the morning, and he's never in much of a rush to leave the daycare when we pick him up.

The NDG Daycare isn't one of those academic institutions for toddlers that parents are convinced will transform their drooling infants into little geniuses. The highly-qualified staff of sweethearts does plenty of enriching indoor and outdoor activities, and takes great care to balance physical play with art, song, reading, and naps.

Their daily home cooked meals permeate the two-story house with such mouth-watering multicultural aromas that parents linger in the morning just to take a peek in the kitchen. You'll feel warm and welcome in the home-like atmosphere that fosters friendship, cooperation, and respect over rules and rigid curricula. Best of all, they have tremendous love for the kids, and it shows in everything they do.

With the baby safely tucked away, I head off to try a new breakfast spot...

(click to continue reading From Breakfast to Bedtime on Sherbrooke Street Ouest)