Macaroni Kid Bridgewater-Brockton is delighted to continue to introduce you to amazing parents in our community through our Parent with a Purpose column. For July, we are honored to introduce you to the Parents behind The Drop Spot, Nicole, Lauren and Sam! These parents have been working tirelessly over the last year to bring a new kind of child care to Bridgewater.
If you haven't heard about it yet, The Drop Spot is a new kind of child care that merges the feel of a daycare facility with the flexibility of a drop-in program. There is no enrollment and no long term wait lists. While reservations are optional (but recommended as their popularity continues to grow), you are able to drop your child off whenever you need to! Babysitter cancel last minute but you still have to work? Do you work until 7 PM and can't find a child care provider open later than 6? Do you need to get your food shopping done without kids this week so you don't lose your mind? How about a dinner date on Saturday with your spouse....without kids? The Drop Spot is for you!
In their own words:
1. How did you come up with the idea for The Drop Spot?
Nicole, Lauren and I (Sam) had been working for about a year on finding ways to help home daycare providers find subcare when taking a sick day or vacation day. One of my daycare dads had moved to North Carolina and come back to visit. He told me about these amazing drop in programs that were being offered around the country and told us, "you are doing child care wrong". I told him that I did not think that a program like this would work in Massachusetts and about six months went by before the three of us decided that we had built a program worthy of the strict guidelines and safety standards of the other programs operating in this state. We decided in December that we would begin to pursue this new program.
2. Talk briefly about the hoops you had to go through to get the program up and running.
Due to the non-traditional way our program operates, we knew we were not a typically licensed child care program under Massachusetts state guidelines. It was important to us that our program was 100% legally operating and approved by EEC. We worked closely with The Department of Early Education and Care and the Governor's office to obtain a license exemption similar to how the Boys and Girls Cubs and YMCAs run their programs. This allows us to accept children without the enrollment that is required of child care programs. This was a long and sometimes frustrating process, but very necessary.
3. You were so persistent and passionate about this program. Where did that passion come from?
I believe our passion for this program stemmed from us owning family child care programs that are heavily involved with the Department of Children and Families, foster, and low income communities. We know first-hand that families need more options for child care and providers are often over worked, underpaid and feel that they cannot take a day off without leaving their families searching for alternative child care.
4. How do you feel the program will help the community?
We hope that this program will allow families to use us when their provider closes, babysitter cancels, or they just need a break. The program will also help parents who work a nontraditional schedule and cannot commit to a Monday through Friday child care contract.
5. What do you hope your children are learning from you through this endeavor?
Our hope is that children in our program are learning social skills and team building along with various skills that we are focusing on during each ten week program. For instance, during our current sports program children will learn social skills, team building, hand/eye coordination, basic skills of each game etc. As far as my own children are concerned, they should learn to always follow your dreams, never give up, and that we should be looking to do good and help people in everything we do. Our family motto is, "never look into your neighbor’s basket, unless you are checking to see if they have enough."
6. Is there anything else you would like our readers to know?
We are Open Monday- Friday 6am to 6pm and Saturdays 9am to 9pm. We accept children 2 years to 12 years and we are a nut-free program. Parents may provide or pack their lunches. We are open most holidays and snow days. Parents must fill out a one-time registration form at initial drop off. Drop-offs are walk-in or by optional reservation. The program is monitored by 24 hour surveillance for safety. We are located at 27 Perkins St. Bridgewater, MA right off of Route 18. The program is housed in a huge, open and beautiful 5500 square foot former dance studio located inside of one of Bridgewater's historic mill buildings. We are very excited to offer this new program and hope to see you soon!
You can check out The Drop Spot on their Facebook Page HERE.
Do you know a Parent with a Purpose? Please feel free to submit any Parent with a Purpose nominations to your publisher at rachelives@macaronikid.com
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