Bright Horizons, a nationally known child care company will open its doors at the Link in the West Seattle Triangle on May 2, bringing to the community a wide range of care options. The company considers itself a network of centers with more than 600 locations worldwide, including 565 across the U.S. and more than 141 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. They also operate centers in Canada and Puerto Rico.

Headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, it is the largest provider of employer-sponsored child care in the U.S.

Bright Horizons manages child care centers for some of the world's leading corporations, hospitals, universities, and government agencies. They follow standards set by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

While the local center is still under construction the West Seattle Herald paid a visit to the existing location near South Lake Union to get a sense of what Bright Horizons looks and operates like. To enter a Bright Horizons center you must be buzzed in through a security door.

The rooms in the center are large, clean, bright and colorful with cubby's for coats and other clothing storage for pre-schoolers. Each age range is allotted their own space from infants, to toddlers, to preschool age children. Age appropriate toys, and other playthings are available. Each center has an outdoor playground, and West Seattle actually has two of them. One directly outside the Link in a strip next to the building and another across the street facing on Alaska Street. Infants and toddlers are transported outside in strollers with multiple seats.

Each Bright Horizons center has an onsite kitchen where snacks and meals are prepared every day.

Every location has some standard features but they are all unique.

Debbie Highsmith, Bright Horizons Director of Operations said, "We really don't have a cookie cutter approach to what we're doing. We might have some standard branding, or standard design in a center but what happens in each center is really community based. We really feel parents will have resources to help them and they won't feel bogged down by 'they have to do this the corporate way'."

Bright Horizons uses a learning program they call "The World at Their Fingertips", aimed at creating developmentally appropriate educational environments. This program then leads to their Ready for School program for preschoolers working on comprehensive development of each child to get them better prepared for academic success.

"The curriculum is a basic framework of how to do things," Highsmith said, "but those individual teachers and center directors will really formulate that. I'm sure that when the West Seattle Summerfest comes along they'll be doing things related to that."

That means the children will be taken on local field trips. "We're going to try, in this community to do as many walking field trips as we can, because we've got a great wealth of opportunities. We're talking about pre-school age children."

"We've wanted to come to West Seattle for a while," Highsmith explained. "We heard it was an up and coming place with families who came across the bridge to one of our other centers so we've been looking for a while for the right place. We looked at traffic patterns, the rapid transit that serves the Link and being part of that is exciting to us."

Regional Manager Mahira Aleem said, "I oversee six to eight centers and I will be involved in a number of things including moving in, setting up the classrooms, being part of the interviewing process." The company prides itself on a more direct hands on approach to management, for the purpose of supporting local center directors.

West Seattleite Laurie Paul, who has been with the company since 1996 will be the Center Director. She has been serving in the same capacity in their Bellevue location for the past 14 years.

Paul has a background in early childhood and K-12 education with a B.A. and M.A. in Education and Music and a B.S. in Business Administration. She said, "I'm excited to take on my new role as Director for Bright Horizons at West Seattle (…) The opportunities that occur as a result of high quality education and skilled care in these early years are unprecedented. This is what keeps all of us at Bright Horizons dedicated to being the very best we can be for all the children and families we serve."

The costs for child care are sometimes misunderstood since different levels are required for different age ranges and times required. Bright Horizons works to accommodate parents schedules and care requirements. Aleem explained, "Our infant rate is $1920 a month and our Pre School rate is $1450 a month. For our Pre School program we do have some part time options as well; like 3 days or 2 days a week and the rates for the part time program are less than full time program."

They are offering a "Hard Hat Tour" of the center on March 31 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Their address is 4530 38th Avenue s.w. You can reserve a spot for the tour by calling them at 206-932-0820.

Bright Horizons will operate from 7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. weekdays. You can also contact them via email at westseattle@brighthorizons.com or you can visit them on the web at www.brighthorizons.com/westseattle .

The 22 image slideshow for this story will show you what a Bright Horizons center is like and what the new one is like during construction.