Respite for parents
Spokane Valley Mall has a new business that offers harried parents a breather from the pitfalls of shopping with children.
Chad and Noelle Wilson recently opened a second Drop In and Play in Spokane Valley, after the success of their first childcare center at NorthTown Mall, which opened nearly two years ago.
Drop In and Play offers short-term childcare in an entertaining environment. Kids can shoot hoops, settle into a giant playhouse, crawl through elaborate tunnels and exit down slides while their parents take care of errands or even have a date night. Movies and video games are also offered — a draw for older kids.
Moms and dads can leave children ages 2 to 11 for up to four hours at a cost of $5 an hour for one child and $9 a hour for two. The center is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. “Some are shopping, so it can be just an hour or two. Others do dinner and a movie, so it can be three hours,” Noelle Wilson said.
Parents wanting to accompany their children while they burn off some energy in the playroom pay a fee of $2.50 an hour.
Dale Jellis of Creston recently spent some downtime at a table inside Drop In and Play while his sons Josh Jellis, 3, and Brayden Jellis, 6, and his 11-year-old nephew, Brandon Megale played with cars and video games. It was a welcome break from the rigors of shopping, the father of two said.
“My wife is over there somewhere. She was dragging us around for a while. We came in here and it was nice,” Jellis said.
The center has a gate that remains locked. Parents must submit identification during drop offs and pickups and carry pagers.
The couple opened the NorthTown business with $40,000 and the hope that they could combine a career with taking care of their own children, now 4 and 7. Noelle, a former elementary school teacher and Chad, a former financial consultant, both work in the business and their children spend time at the centers.
Insurance for the drop-in childcare business costs more than licensed daycare centers pay, Wilson said. The center is always staffed with at least two caretakers and more during busy shopping holidays.
Kim Hadley took her sons Ben Hadley, 3, and his brother Riley Hadley, 6, to Drop In and Play for an hour while she took a break from the demands of fulltime childcare and got a pedicure.
Her kids have visited the NorthTown center about six times, said Hadley, a Liberty Lake resident.
“They would ask to go. They really enjoyed it,” Hadley said. “It was great for Christmas shopping.”