family Testimonials
Please note that some of these testimonials refer to Mari using she/her pronouns or their legal name, which is Marissa.
“This is a caring place where kids really thrive”
Mari and her husband Chris were a very important extension of our family from my daughter's birth in 2018 until we moved cities in 2022. This is a caring place where kids really thrive. Mari is the ultimate professional, she knows alot about the art of raising children. And yes - this is an ART - everything from nutrition to motor skills to fostering creativity and fun. We regularly asked Mari to babysit on weekends and even invited her to our children's birthday parties! My children were safe, loved and cared for with her. It was a very hard decision to move away from this high quality childcare. We love Mari and Chris!
— Nora K.
“Our family is privileged to have Mari as our daughter’s first and best teacher”
Trust matters at Moro Mou. My daughter has built up a solid foundation of trust since she attended Moro Mou at 4-months old. Autonomy matters at Moro Mou. With Mari’s coherent, authoritative approach to education, my daughter has generated a high sense of self-control and autonomy. Initiative matters at Moro Mou. My daughter also developed initiative with play and imaginative activities at Moro Mou. Mari really adopts Erikson’s psychosocial development required for every child in a home-based nursery and early school. Notably, Mari implements play-based, progressive education inspired by Dewey, Piaget, and Reggio Emilia approach. My family is blessed to send our daughter to Moro Mou for more than 4 years until she starts Pre-K. Mari updates children’s daily activities and their learning via Brightwheel and I know what my daughter is doing at daycare synchronously. Our family is privileged to have Mari as our daughter’s first and best teacher, who is passionate and dedicated to whole person development.
— Sean M.
“This is the right place if you are looking for warm and welcoming childcare”
My daughter started attending Moro Mou in July, 2018 when she became four-months-old. She officially graduated from Moro Mou in August, 2022. My husband and I were very happy that my daughter had consistent caregiving from Mari the past four years without concern over teacher turnover. Also, we appreciate her authoritative teaching style, which is characterized by high responsiveness with clear and reasonable boundaries. It helped my daughter develop self-regulation and school readiness. Last but not least, there is no screen time at Moro Mou. Instead of watching screens, my daughter spent more time being physically active, reading books, exploring her surroundings, and interacting with others during her time at Moro Mou. Overall, my husband and I highly recommend Moro Mou. This is the right place if you are looking for warm and welcoming childcare that encourages your child’s physical, cognitive, language, and socioemotional development with the formation of secure attachment.
— Jin K.
"I couldn't have had a better experience with Marissa"
Marissa was the assistant teacher in my daughter’s infant classroom. Not only did my daughter love her but we loved her as well! As a working mom, it’s always difficult to leave your child with a stranger but once I met Marissa I knew that she was safe and that my daughter was well taken care of. Every evening when we would pick her up, Marissa was always engaged and would tell a story about what my daughter did that day. It was so wonderful to hear! Marissa worked with her daily on her milestones and seemed as excited and invested when she met them as we did. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience with Marissa and I would recommend her to anyone.
— Brie L.
"We know our child is in good hands with her!"
Marissa is extremely talented and gifted when it comes to taking care of kids. We had the pleasure of Marissa being a teacher to our infant son at daycare. The love, attention, and care she provided to him in the classroom was great and made us feel very comfortable as parents. She also babysits for us and we know our child is in good hands with her!
— A.K.
"The girls love her and so do we!"
We met Marissa as she worked at the daycare our two daughters (then 2 years old and 4 months old) attend. As a teacher with toddlers and young infants, we found Marissa to be very reassuring and knowledgeable about the children's needs, while using a very soft approach with infants and an inclusive and interactive one with parents.
After she left our daycare, Marissa agreed to babysit our two daughters from time to time at night. The girls love her and so do we! We know we can count on her reliability, natural authority, kindness and patience as she takes care of the kids for dinner, story and bed time. It is not always easy for a toddler to see her parents leave for the night, but as soon as Marissa takes over with stories or games, our little one seems to forget about us leaving and gets absorbed in the activity right away.
Not only is Marissa comfortable in all kinds of situations with our kids - playing games, soothing a sick child, eating dinner, quiet story time, going to bed, but she also often discusses with us about various early childhood milestones around behavioral, speech (our children are bilingual) or motor development. Everyone in our little family always looks forward to welcoming her back to our home!
— A Chicago family
"We had a great experience"
My children loved playing with Marissa. They were 9 months old and 2 years and running about and she kept them both busy and engaged. She was great about caring for their basic needs (remembering sun hats and sunscreen) but also loved engaging them in play. Marissa would keep them on a schedule and take them outside when it was nice allowing them to explore as I asked. We had a great experience.
— Erin D.