April 17, 2017

Meet Jamie Wroten of Tender Years Child Care in Los Angeles County

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Wroten.

Jamie, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have always loved children since the first time I interacted with my first niece at the age of 10. I loved feeding and playing with her every day. As I got older I would offer to watch all of my nieces and nephews on a regular basis. While in high school, I worked at a private nursery school after school and over the summer. When I started college, my initial goal was to study medicine so I could be a pediatrician and when I did not go away for college I changed my major to Early Childhood Development. While in college, I went to work for LAUSD for five years allowing me the opportunity to work with grades K-6. When I got laid off from the school district I worked a corporate job with DIRECTV for about six years. I knew corporate was not my career choice and decided to go back to working with children. From that day forward, I put a plan in motion to reach my goal of owning my own child care. After discussing with my mother who was a retired principal, with great knowledge and years of experience with children, we decided we would take this journey together.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The transition was smoother than expected. Once I was licensed, I began to market myself while out in the neighborhood introducing myself to parents while grocery shopping and passing out my cards and flyers. I also posted ads on the internet, in local businesses and slowly but surely, families started to call.

Shortly after I got my first two families and my business grew from that day on. After about a year in business, the majority of my families came through referrals. I work hard and make it my goal to be the best child care provider as well as providing a safe and loving environment.

Today my biggest challenge is being able to expand my business. There are so many childcare homes/centers yet still not enough locations to provide care to all of the families in need of care.

My future plans include excelling in a larger facility that can offer more children the type of care I provide. Ultimately, I would love to have my own Center commercially. I look forward too and have begun to plan and research branching out to a wider audience. My biggest obstacle will come with the transition into a new center but I know it is a challenge I am ready to take on. These types of plans have to be in order and right to ensure a smooth transition. Many decisions are being made of what best suits both my business and the children, it has to be right and it has to make sense before I transition.

Tender Years Child Care – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Tender Years Child Care is a home-based child care. We care for infants, toddlers and preschool children. Our Infant program provides the nurturing, healthy bond and individual attention an infant requires. Our Toddler program introduces your child to the basic elements of early learning such as visual recognition of letters, numbers, colors, shapes, patterns, songs, and a healthy social environment all while building self-awareness and confidence. Our Preschool program builds on the knowledge your child has already learned within our toddler program. Our daily activities will allow your child the opportunities to make decisions for themselves and to develop autonomy. Your child will have many choices throughout the day which will allow them to practice their skill of responsibility and independence. All of these experiences will allow your child to develop the skills to be well prepared for kindergarten.

What I am most proud of with my business, is that we have satisfied parents who continuously send referrals, which says to me, my children are happy campers. We pride ourselves on what we offer our little ones. What sets us apart from others are the intricacies that one would not think about, such as Organic products, learning field trips, a special offering to parents like Christmas shopping evenings while we provide free child care, date nights, a host of perks that ordinarily aren’t offered. We offer annual yearbooks, so parents can remember these years prior to entering grade school. We often see the Kindergarten picture to be the first on the wall; however, the earliest years can be captured with us at Tender Years Child Care.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success to me and in my own words is one who believes in their dreams and fulfilling them, I knew from a young age that children were my passion, I am fortunate to have been able to build such a great business and the reward is seeing the children grow, teaching and learning together.

My criteria are the return on my efforts to be the best that I can be, and offer the best to those parents who have such high expectations for their children. The markers I look out for is the feedback and reviews from others who have experienced what I have to offer. This defines success for me.

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