It wasn’t the peas and carrots that scared this little fellow, it was the scary reporter who was trying to get him to smile for a picture. A quick cuddle from the Y staffer corrected the problem.
Food was going into some mouths, but not all of it. Some ended up on bibs and high chairs of the wee little ones who were sweetly being fed by Amanda Carlson and Olivia Pehrson, two smiling young ladies who were gamely trying to wiggle spoons into wandering little mouths. There were a few tears from one little boy who was frightened by the scary reporter, but he was quickly comforted by YMCA Director Emily Marshall who plucked him from his high chair and gave him a great big hug, which ended his tears.
Welcome to lunchtime as the Cook County Community YMCA Little Ladybugs Daycare.
The daycare crisis in Cook County was slowed—if only a little— when the Cook County YMCA opened its newest daycare center on Monday, May 1.
The facility is open from 7:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Monday through Friday. It is located in the former teacher’s lounge at Cook County High School.
Little Ladybugs accepts infants as young as six weeks and toddlers up to 30 months. At 30 months, said Marshall, kids transition to the Y’s Busy Bees Daycare.
“Right now we serve about 17 kids a day between the two daycares and we’re at full capacity. We have a waiting list for 12 infants and 10 for older children. I seriously get at least three calls a day asking if we have openings. I tell women that as soon as they conceive, they need to call and get on the wait list,” she said with a laugh.
Cost is $39 per day per child, but the Y isn’t making money, said Marshall. “Even at full capacity we are losing about $5,000 per year. We feel this is part of our mission to help the community.”
While the new infant care center can handle seven children each day, it currently serves 15 families because some children attend part-time. “It’s a puzzle to figure out the schedule,” Marshall added.
When Busy Bees Daycare opened in January 2015 Marshall said, “It filled instantly and we had a waiting list of 30 kids, with 19 of those being infants.”
Meanwhile more and more babies have been born to Cook County families. Last year 52 babies were added to the community, and there were almost as many born the year before. With all of the new additions, and despite the Y’s best efforts, there is still a critical shortage of daycare in Cook County.
To help alleviate that, Marshall said the Y would offer to help people who wanted to learn what to do to start a daycare.
“We don’t feel like we are in competition with anyone. What we have done is just a minor step to fixing the daycare crisis in the county,” she said.
A toddler’s day at Little Ladybugs starts with breakfast, transitions to music and movement, then free play (diaper changes), large motor time/mingle with Busy Bees kids (outside or gym), lunch; Turtle Time: books, nap, quiet learning time (diaper changes); sensory activities, fine motor activities, snack, books, finger plays, rhymes, songs, free play, and then ends with more diaper changes. In between there is also lots of cuddle/lap time.
Children who attend either Busy Bee or Ladybugs get to use the Y’s many facilities, including the pool and gym. Marshall said the Y would soon fence in the grass area in front of the facility to make it an outdoor play area. “Kids from both programs get to play together occasionally,” said Marshall. “Some are brothers and sisters, so it’s nice for them to see each other during the day. This will also help the little ones to transition to the Busy Bees because they will know the daycare providers working there.”
If parents need financial assistance, Marshall said the Y works with a variety of county and state programs that can garner as much as $7,000 per year per child to help pay for tuition. This will help working parents whose combined income is too low to meet the tuition. One of the programs that helps meet that need is Minnesota Family Investment Program, but there are other programs that help as well, said Marshall.
Five full-time jobs have been created between the two daycares, a fact Marshall is proud of. But the daycare crisis in the county still looms, and while Marshall and her staff would like to do more, others need to pick up the ball for now. “We may look to add more daycare services in the future, but not this year. We are done expanding this year.”
Leave a Reply