Grow at Eden expansion would add 48 spaces

Grow at Eden child care center in Parsons has Kansas fire marshal approval to expand, so it is ready to hit the ground running whenever it gets all its financial pieces in place.

Grow at Eden administrator and owner Kandy Rushing’s background is in kinesiology, so her passion is teaching adults and children how to care for themselves, inside out. When she and her husband returned to Labette County, she didn’t know where to take her children for child care, so she took herself out of the workforce. After having their second and third children, Rushing said they made a decision to give back to the community and meet a need, and child care was the most resounding need at the time. Focused on that, she used her business background, found an incredible program director and as a team they opened Grow at Eden in August 2021. The 4,000 plus square foot facility has spaces for 60 children. Those spaces are now all filled.

The 7,000 square-foot expansion would place the day care at just under 12,000-square-feet total.

“And we will add on 48 spaces, making us licensed for over 100,” Rushing said. “We will add on a gymnasium, so the children can play in a safe environment inside when we have inclement weather … and then we will have a safe shelter room as well for storms.”

The space will also provide for a larger kitchen to serve more children, a larger laundry facility and a larger director’s office and a conference room. 

“We are currently busting at the seams in the 4,000-square-foot (plus) that we have, so we do need this expansion and the community needs this expansion,” Rushing said. 

Grow at Eden is also opening a second location in another county the end of May, Rushing said. 

Parent and LC3 (Labette County Child Care) Coalition member Travis Ball is thrilled with the news of Grow at Eden’s growth and expansion and the formation of the new coalition working to address infant care in the county, among other child care needs. He has three children now, two of which are old enough to be at the center, and one that is not, so she is on a waiting list for when she is old enough and there is an opening.

“It has been a wondrous time. I can’t sing praises enough about the staff here about their care, diligence and the curriculum,” Ball said, while adding his appreciation for their transparency and app for parents, to see meal plans and pictures of the activities their children are doing throughout the day and why. 

“With Eden’s faith-based, moralistic-based, well-rounded teaching, you can come into an environment where — out in the world you are inundated with screens, telephones and everything else —you come into here and its very technological free (with the) Montesorri approach,” Ball said. “Also, the amount of outside play in a safe environment is great. Risky play for a developing mind teaches a lot of self-control, balance, adventurousness and independence, which is so wonderful to see blossoming in kids that maybe don’t get outside as much in a home environment.”

Montessori inspired is a curriculum that teaches children to be independent and develop fine motor skills from a really young age. Rushing said they have given hundreds of tours since opening to all kinds of coalitions and groups trying to meet the need in their community and have been asked to consult with school districts locally, as they have opportunities to expand early childhood education opportunities.

“I think that’s an incredible idea. I fully support that. There are so many children out there in our communities that we need school districts to be a part of that,” Rushing said. “We need school districts to do that, and do it right and do it in a way parents want their children to be there because it feels homey, welcoming and full of love and just a little bit different when they are in that early learning environment from when they go to kindergarten.”

“Child care is such a relevant trickle up approach to community betterment,” Ball said. “You can’t bring jobs to this area if you don’t have a place to bring children to. One of the places to start is to have adequate, healthy and thriving places for child care.”

Besides the expansion of the building, Rushing said she is also planning to expand services, addressing the need for child care for children with special needs to allow for that early intervention.

“We have formed Eden Early Learning Academy, which is focused on helping children with neurodevelopmental disorders. When we receive our letter of designation from the IRS we will officially hire an occupational therapist who will provide non-therapy services for all children here at Grow Eden, and we will reserve a set amount of spaces for children with neurodevelopmental disorders,” Rushing said. “I get a lot of calls from parents asking, ‘Do you take kids with autism that are on the spectrum, that are non-speaking, that have sensory processing disorders? And while we want to say ‘Yes’ to all of them, we can’t say yes to everyone. We do have children that are non-speaking at 3 and 4 and then they thrive once you start to sing with them and talk to them. Once they see a person and see their mouth moving and there is less of the digital world, digital music and digital TV and screens, they start to form their words, because they are seeing someone talking to them. We do have children with sensory processing disorders and children who go to speech therapy. We do have a child with autism, so we are looking for resources to accommodate these children and the only way to do that is by supplementing Grow Eden, by starting the Eden Early Learning Academy, which will be an inclusive school within the school here at Grow Eden.”

The search for a good day care is definitely a difficult job for parents, as they most often put themselves on a waiting list when they find out they are expecting. Available spots vary, and not just with parents moving or children aging out. It is a balance of staff to children. If a staff member is lost, it reduces the number of available slots a child care can offer until that slot is filled. The changes are not always reflected on websites which share the availability of slots, making it even harder on parents to find available child care, especially at preferential places.

“It’s just one of those things that at anytime you could lose anybody unfortunately because of changes, but we have a very strong group of women here that are our leads and they are committed 100 % to their job, because they do it not for a paycheck, but because they love what they do here and that makes a huge difference,” Rushing said. “You know the ones who are invested for the long term and who are going to stay and it really makes a difference for the children and staff honestly.”

She has faith she will find the same kind of caring, loving personnel to fill the positions the expansions will provide.

Program director Laurie Griffin said while many businesses struggle to find employees, Grow at Eden has created a brand within the community, making the center a place people interested in early child care want to work. In addition, the center has a robust staff in the summer because they have additional paras come on so they can take a few spaces for just summer care for children who are around 5, 6 and 7.

Ball said there are times Grow at Eden is also closed for professional staff development, which, as a parent, he finds refreshing. 

“I think as we expand and there is a bunch of excitement with the expansion, and they learn of what we are offering, I feel like we will find the staff,” Griffin said. “It’s just finding the next best one. I know as a community we are struggling with the workforce, and getting people motivated to go back into work, and getting them into child care, but the state of Kansas has given incentives. We now have scholarship opportunities, where you can get your CPR for free. You can take CDA (child development associate)  classes for a reduced rate. You can go back to school and get some teaching credits on a KDHE scholarship and we can help people get some of those things they always wanted to do, but they never had the finances to do it. So we support continuing education here and the state of Kansas has made it a lot easier for us to give those opportunities out.”

With the expansions, and the formation of the LC3 coalition to assess community child care needs in the county, Rushing is very hopeful that child care in Labette County will grow to serve the needs of the community and its children. She is also hopeful of sharing the Montessori techniques across the county, so that homes, daycares, and schools all can incorporate these Montesorri techniques  by using techniques the center has developed, sourcing curriculum used, and everyone working together as a whole.

“It’s important for me to build relationships with our community leaders and principals in schools, because if we want to address, as a community, the next generation being successful and being ahead, which we want for our children, then we have to tackle it as a community. It cannot be one center. It has to be all the other daycares. It has to be the school districts, and we need to be cohesive and on the same page, because the ultimate goal is to really help our children achieve even more and at a higher level.” Rushing said. 

Until the need for infant care can be met in Labette County, Rushing said parents interested in helping their children start out successfully from the beginning, can access books and audio podcasts by Janet Lansbury. She recommends two books, one is called “Elevating Child Care: A Guide for Respectful Parenting” and one is called “No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame.” Rushing said Lansbury focuses on Resources for Infant Educators (RIE)  which is dedicated to improving the quality of infant care and education through teaching, supporting and mentoring. The resources are meant to help develop children who feel secure, independent and able, with parents respecting an infant’s ability to learn and develop naturally, and giving them room to do so.

“When people come here, they are just amazed by the difference because their children bring it home. What we do here follows through at home and parents really notice it and appreciate it,” Griffin said. “We have built such close relationships with all of our parents and they are not afraid to ask us any questions, which is amazing, because I think a lot of times parents go to bring their child to daycare, there is lack of communication. Here it is open door policy, whether it is through the app or talking to one of us. It makes a difference.”