WILD About Learning Academy - Bentonville, Arkansas

Audrey Kissinger

My daughter started at Wild West when she was 14 months old, she’s now at the 2 and up facility which is Wild About Learning. I truly don’t think I could’ve picked a better day care for her. They are so thorough, attentive, and truly care about the kiddos. Trusting your child with anyone is hard, but they’ve always made me feel so comfortable. Any concerns are immediately dealt with. I have and would recommend this day care time and time again.

Collin New

Like any first time parents, we were extremely nervous about dropping our 6 week old off at ANY daycare. It took no time at all to see the staff take our daughter in as one of their own. She has been going here nearly 6 months now and absolutely loves it. The staff, from teacher to director, greet her by name each day and make it clear they are dedicated to her safety, care and development. The ease of mind we have knowing that our daughter is in good hands is priceless.

Lindsay Moore

We started our daughter at Wild when she was 4 months old. They very quickly became family and have always showed so much love and care for our monster! This is a wonderful school and family not just a daycare. I always appreciate the thoughtful curriculum and guidance they give our kiddo!

Sarah Hall

A thread —— My daughter spent 11 months at the WILD About learning daycare. 10 of those months were at the infant facility that see takes care of newborns until 2 yrs old. We had a good experience there w the exception of teacher turn over causing a lot of anxiety. It’s hard to drop your child off with someone you don’t know. It’s heart breaking actually. Other than that, I felt like admin and the front desk staff were always helping, kind and consistent with their greetings. We did get attach to several teachers there. I felt that they genuinely loved and cared about my daughter. They listen every time I had a concern (1st time mom) and always made it a point to tell me how each issue was handled/resolved. Great communication. I brought up a concern and they would handle the resolve. We made plans and worked together well. I especially loved that the chef was knowledgeable about managing my daughter’s gluten and dairy allergies. We did have to bring all of our own replacements which was VERY taxing. Subbing roughly 16 things a week was not fun. 4/5 stars for the infant center.
Main campus was a much different story. I knew going in that there was a violence issue - kiddos hurting each other and teachers. Dina Ford had sent out a message to all parents a few months before we moved addressing the violence and that it needed to stop as well as a few other things like stuffies, blankets and children coming in with their own breakfast or drink. It caused too many fights and it’s wasn’t fair to the other children that went without. That message was my first red flag. The overall tone was irritation from the administration and that concerned me. But the real issues for our experience were communication, tracking meals, allergens and the way administration handled our concerns. I had a meeting with administration on my daughters 3rd day bc she had form the worst rash she’d had since removing her allergens on her very first day. I brought her in with a wet diaper and pants that day bc we have a long commute and she owed through. When I brought her into the school I notified her teachers it wasn’t done and laid out everything they needed to change her. They didn’t post her diaper change for over and hour and then back logged it when I messaged. I was worried my daughter didn’t get changed enough and was suffering for it! In stead of Dina, the owner, simply stating that she watched the camera and my daughter had been changed within 10 minutes if arriving; she added after I expressed my concerns, “And how did you bring her to us this morning? Soak. Yeah.”That’s when I knew I needed to get out. She called herself the “dragon” bc she grieving protected children but in my experience it just meant that she was a hot head that was an expert in passive aggression.

Breanna Gall

We absolutely love Wild About Learning! We are new to the area and our son struggled with the transition. Thanks to Miss Abby’s love and support he quickly overcame his nervousness and has since bloomed in her care. Along with amazing teachers, they also have an excellent support staff and food program for the kiddos.

Tamara Turrin

We arrived to Wild after emigrating from another country, and they were always attentive to the needs of my daughters, who spoke another language and were going through many changes. We feel very grateful to them and are happy that our little daughter is still a part of the Wild’s Family.

Janna Corsini

Our girls, 3 years and 1 year, started at Wild and Wild West in October 2022. It was a very quick and unexpected transition for us and they made it as smooth as possible. We were able to get spots for both girls immediately and the process was so effortless.

We are SO thankful for Wild and their staff. They really know and love our girls. It isn’t just their main teachers that know them but everyone and that is such a comfort to us. They celebrate the little and big things. If one of the girls is having an off day they reach out to let us know which really speaks volumes.

They use the Brightwheel app to keep us updated throughout the day which is so great and communication in general is just outstanding.

We are so confident in our decision to place our wild ones here and we are so excited to continue to watch them grow and thrive!

Austin Gilbert

A thread from Sarah--- I have a few more instances just like that. They were so unexpected it was like I was in the twilight zone. How does a daycare owner run a business this way, acting so superior and patronizing. So strange.
I’ll end with how we parted. We were about 1 month into the transition and this was going to be my 3rd meeting with administration. All 3 were present this time. The last time it was just 1. I should have known… I came to address the fact a plan we had created together in a previous meeting regarding communication had failed. I wanted answers and a better plan. I had previously been told to LITERALLY lower my expectations about communication through their app. Meals, diaper changes and every were late or not posted. That was unacceptable. Our daughter has health issue and allergies, we need the info. I message and ask what she ate for lunch and afternoon snack at 4pm. No answer 45 minutes later so my husband calls. He was spoken to in a very disrespectful manner. The front desk worker spoke to him like she was upset with him for asking about what his daughter had eaten and if she had gone to the bathroom. She told him it was state law that they didn’t have to post the days report until 5pm daily. But if we called after 5 no teacher that knew the answers would be there which defeated the purpose of trying to call. Dina told us, when and doubt just call. Someone would always help…. We did not feel like they wanted to help us. Every one but 2 teachers and 1 administrator made us feel like we were just trying ti make their lives difficult. To them it’s was clear the we were the issue. I, again, expressed my concerns and did not receive an apology for the way my husband and I were spoken to or the fact that the system Dina created for us to receive the communication we needed to build trust had failed. She thought we weren’t a good match. I agreed stating my daughter had been on a waitlist for almost a month but she wouldn’t be able to start somewhere new for 3 more months. Dina asked me a few different ways in a few occasions why I would leave my daughter there in the first place if I didn’t trust them. The owner of a state funded facility mom-shaming me for having no other option. We have to work. Period. If I had a third option I would have used it a long time ago. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Admin that ganged up, forced your standards down and then didn’t even meet those new, lower standards. Dina said, “I’m going to do what should have been done a while ago and end this. Your daughter last day is on Friday.” It was a Tuesday. She knew we had nowhere to go and gave me 3 business days to figure it out. I went in to discuss attitude then left, fired from a daycare for what I felt like was accountability and persistence in communication. I have never treated by anyone in the professional world the way Dina Ford treated me. I’d give her and her main campus 1/5 stars.
Extra: The first week my daughter was out of WILD her behavior and mood improved significantly. She isn’t an anxious child but she was in their hands.