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A Place to Grow becomes Cheyenne's newest child-care center

Wyoming Tribune-Eagle - 7/23/2017

July 23--CHEYENNE -- Jessica Buteau believes in hands-on play and no screen time for small children. So that's the policy at her new learning center.

Buteau opened A Place to Grow Learning Center, 2020 E. 11th St., on July 11. She'll be caring for children between 6 weeks and about 5 years old and will keep them until they start kindergarten.

"We just really believe in learning through play, so we will not have kiddos doing worksheets, and we will not do any screen time, like movies or TV or anything like that here," Buteau said.

Instead, the older children at the center will create hands-on art projects, perform science experiments and explore the world around them.

"Finding out what they like and exploring new things -- I think that is really the best way for a child to learn."

Even the infant room has hands-on toys, including a mirror and bar near the floor for babies who are old enough to pull themselves up.

Buteau leased the 2,500-square-foot building with her husband, Ren, and had the building remodeled.

"It was a center before, so we had to do a little light construction and painting. The building sat vacant for a while, so we had to get it back up to good standards," Buteau said.

Her husband helped with some of the construction and the playground, and her father pitched in too.

"It really has just been a whole family event, which has just been fantastic," Buteau said.

With all the work done on the building, Buteau now has room for 36 children total.

"We'll have really small class sizes here, which I think is a great feature for parents," she said.

The rooms are a little plain right now because Buteau and her staff have yet to personalize the rooms, especially the preschool-age room.

"We need kids here so we can get kid artwork up. We will have a lot of artwork down at the child's level," Buteau said.

"This is where they spend their time -- their home away from home. So we want them to be comfortable and for them to take pride in their classroom."

Currently, Buteau has four staff members, including her assistant director, Ashley Reinhart. She said the center might have about 10 staff members when all 36 child slots are filled.

Buteau has a master's degree in child and adolescent psychology. She began working in early child care in 1994.

The state of Wyoming requires all her staff members to have first aid and CPR training. Buteau said she also would like all her teachers to have a degree, if possible.

"We are really looking for people that this is what they want to do -- that they're willing to go to school or they already have a background in it," she said.

Buteau has a 17-month-old son, Lucas, who will stay at the center. She said becoming a mother opened her eyes to how difficult it is to choose a child-care center.

"Now that I've had to do it myself, it just brings a whole new meaning to it. I can tell parents, 'I know exactly what you're going through, and this is really hard,'" Buteau said.

Dani Beach is sending her 15-month-old twin girls to A Place to Grow. She said she'd had a previous bad experience with child care but received a personal reference for Buteau and Reinhart.

"They had prior experience with child care, and I just instantly knew when I called to do the initial interview on the phone that it was going to be good," she said.

Beach said even though her girls have only attended the center for a few days, she trusts that they are safe.

"They send home little report cards about how many times they've gone to the bathroom and what they ate and how much they ate and slept," Beach said.

Buteau said her prices are comparable to other centers in Cheyenne. She charges $700 a month for infants 6 weeks to 12 months old, as well as toddlers 12-24 months old.

That cost decreases to $675 a month for 2-year-olds and to $650 for preschool-aged kids. The cost varies for kids who attend part time, Buteau said.

Full-time children at the center will receive a full breakfast, full lunch and an afternoon snack with all necessary nutritional components, she said.

"For the younger kiddos, we provide necessities, like diaper wipes, and we do sunscreen. We try to provide as much as we can and still be cost-effective."

Buteau said she has just four kids attending right now, but some parents paid in advance to send their children in the next few months.

Spots are filling up quickly, but anyone who is interested in more information about the center can visit www.aplacetogrowcheyenne.com or call 307-514-5999.

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(c)2017 Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne, Wyo.)

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