Calico Kids Day Care was established in 1980 as a Family Child Care in the state of Massachusetts.  The birth of our third child in 1979 caused us to reconsider our employment situations.  Until Julie’s birth I worked outside of our home, but upon her arrival we decided to begin a family day care in our home.  At that time we were not sure how it would go. I had no formal training.  I did, however, love children, enjoyed being a Mom and had a desire to provide good, safe, quality care for other children.  Apparently, we made the right decision since we are still here, although several license changes later!

 

In 1985 we moved to Windham, N.H. and changed our license to Group Family Day Care.  This allowed us to care for 15 children, 12 full- time and 3 after school age.  It also allowed me to hire someone to help with the day to day running of the day care.  During those years we took many classes in Early Childhood Education and improved the quality of the care we were able to provide.

 

In 1995 we realize there was a need and a great demand for infant care.  We spoke with the licensing worker and continued to work with their plan to enable us to increase the number of infants we could care for (the state of N.H. considers a child to be an infant until they reach their third birthday). At that time we were working towards a dual license of Group Day Care/Day Care Nursery.  After many hours of school and a lot of work we satisfied the state’s requirements on January 1, 1997, and they sent us our new license.

 

In August 1997 we were scheduled for our re-licensing visit.  At that time the state told us they would no longer issue a dual license with Family Group Day Care.  After many discussions and careful consideration we decided to change our license to Group Child Day Care Center/Day Care Nursery.  Although I do not like the word “Center” in our license, it still doesn’t change who or what we are, and that is “FAMILY”

 

Currently, we are licensed for a capacity of 17.  The ratio of employees is directly related to the average age of the children in each of the groups.  We are where we want to be, caring for the younger age children, and do not anticipate any further changes in our license.  Our purpose is to provide loving care with familiar role models, activities, and atmosphere.  We also want to offer a positive and practical learning experience for your child.  When I say learning experience, I want to include a structured learning program as well as life style learning.  Very young children need to be nurtured more that they need to be educated.  We feel that it is very important for young children to see the same people day after day and not have staff constantly changing.  We hire our employees with the consideration that they commit to a minimum of one year.  We feel this is one of the most important issues in child care, children need to be able to bond with their caregiver and if the caregiver is constantly changing they will not be able to do that.  Our staff sees their role as nurturer, comforter, guardian of safety and as one of the child’s first teachers

 

Our request is that you visit many child-care situations before making your final choice.  Once you make your choice, whether it be here at Calico Kids or some place else, be committed to make the situation work.  Children need the continuity of going to the same child-care for as long as possible.  Thank you for considering our child-care and we would appreciate any comments you would like to share with us after your visit.