Family experiences
The City of Espoo regularly evaluates kindergartens through online surveys that parents and children can answer.
Customer satisfaction survey 2022
The latest survey carried out by the City of Espoo (2022) shows that the kindergarten has succeeded in its work. The result is considerably higher than the ratings for the City of Espoo overall and for other units in the area.
In both kindergartens, parents' answers highlighted how much their children enjoy the kindergarten, the communication between families and the kindergarten, and the wide range of activities and play.
In their open feedback, parents described the atmosphere of the kindergarten as gentle, respectful, homely, attentive and considerate of everyone.
The children themselves named their friends, games and teachers as the very best things in both kindergartens. Things they found boring included books, putting on outdoor clothes and having their play interrupted.
“We moved to Honey Monsters from a municipal kindergarten when our children were 3 and 5 years old. Changing kindergartens felt like a big step, and at first we weren't sure whether anything other than the monthly cost would change. We believed that resource shortages and changing staff were a problem across the whole early childhood education sector.”
“After the first few weeks, we noticed that the same smiling teachers greeted us and the children every morning and told us about the children's day in the afternoon. Thanks to the Special Friend scheme and the kindergarten's focus on emotions and friendship, the children became part of the group very quickly. Daily Class Dojo photos and messages also kept us parents up to date on the children's days and how they were going.”
“Although the daily routine changed a great deal, the biggest change could be seen in my own children within a month. My older, shyer child truly came out of their shell in a safe environment. Their joy shows in every movement and gesture, at home too. Our younger three-year-old no longer runs away in the morning when it's time to get dressed for kindergarten, and on days when they have a cold they sigh: "Why can't I go to HoneyMonsters today!?"”
“Every day I am grateful for the environment where my children spend their days. We are truly happy that we are all now part of the HoneyMonsters family.”
A Honey Monsters family, May 2022
Thoughts from new HM families
“We chose Honey Monsters as our firstborn's day care primarily because of the teaching in a foreign language. We both use foreign languages at work, and our circle of friends includes many people from different cultures. We wanted to give our child the best possible inheritance – a new language – in addition to a safe and loving family.”
“Our first visit to HM stayed with us, because they genuinely wanted to talk about our child as an individual and get to know him and our family at an unhurried pace even before the actual care agreement. As a kind gesture and a sign of belonging, our child was also invited to the kindergarten's annual photo shoot before his care had even started. That way, Santeri was already part of the gang before he began.”
“Our positive first impression came especially from the way the whole staff welcomed our entire family so warmly and openly.”
“When choosing a day care place, it was important to us that most of the staff have stayed the same from the very beginning. That says a lot about the staff's wellbeing and their commitment to their work.”
Thoughts from more experienced HM families
“Looking back, our child has developed enormously during his time at HM. Much of the credit goes to the knowledgeable and always engaged carers. Santeri's huge motivation to learn a new language has been supported throughout his 1.5 years in care. The relaxed daily chats with his key teacher have brought our whole family closer to HM.”
“Our positive experiences are also related to the fact that HM's groups include children of different ages, from 4-year-olds to pre-primary pupils. We feel this helps build social skills and encourages helping the younger ones. Besides the language, we see HM's special features as its exceptional interaction, feedback and practice in performing. At least for our own child, performing has become a natural part of his skills.”
“We are convinced that HM is the best possible place for our younger child too, who will begin language immersion next year.”
“We parents have been surprised by how quickly our child learned the language. On a family trip, after 1.5 years of everyday language immersion, our child chatted fluently in English with the locals.”
“Once I went to pick up my child in the middle of the day for a check-up at the child health clinic. The sight was lovely: the children were playing their own games very calmly, and the teacher was playing soothing music on her guitar in an armchair. I would have loved to watch that scene for longer. Thankfully, the current image of kindergartens full of chaos, noise, staff shortages and stressed carers is not the reality here!”
“As a mother, I was delighted to hear that Honey Monsters has worked together with experts from THL (the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare) on nutrition. The kindergarten conscientiously follows the national nutrition recommendations and avoids unnecessary hidden sugars.”
My 5-year-old daughter usually tells me about her day something like this, mixing Finnish and English:
“Ensin me leikittiin home centerissä, sitten changattiin Book n' Buzzleen, sitten oltiin Simon saysia, Pepi laittoi mulle handcreamia, sitten piti cleanata ja lunchiksi oli lasagnea. Emma silitti mua ennen kuin menin bediin. Ja sun pitäis tarkistaa mun pencil case. Oli tosi kiva päivä!”
In English: "First we played in the home centre, then we changed to Book n' Buzzle, then we played Simon says, Pepi put some hand cream on me, then we had to clean up and lunch was lasagne. Emma patted me before I went to bed for my nap. And you should check my pencil case. It was a really nice day!"