Day care center is open for night shift

The Childrens Discovery Childcare Center offers night care for the kids of parents who work very late.

By JOE HUMPHREY

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 2, 2000

UNIVERSITY NORTH -- Michael Hunter pulled into the parking lot of Childrens Discovery Childcare Center at 3 p.m. Thursday, about the same time other parents start picking up their children after work.

But Hunter's day was just beginning. The barber dropped off his fiancee's two kids and went to work at Miracles in Motion on Fletcher Avenue.

The child care center, located at 13101 N 23rd St., is open until midnight, one of only a few places in town where children can stay late while their parents work nights.

Javarise Barber, who turns 2 Tuesday, and 6-year-old Cornelius Floyd used to stay at a day care a few blocks away, which closes before 7 p.m. But when mother Tameka Barber changed jobs several months ago, the couple needed to find night care.

"The only way for her to get the job was to take the night shift," said Hunter. "This was like a blessing."

The children now spend several nights a week at the center, located a few blocks west of the University of South Florida, off 131st Avenue. Kenny Dickinson runs the center's after-school program and is the last to leave at night. His parents own Childrens Discovery, which extended its hours in August 1999.

"A lot of parents said, "Why don't you leave the day care open a little later?' " Dickinson said.

So far, demand hasn't been overwhelming. About 15 children are enrolled in the night care program, and it's rare when all are there at the same time. Most nights, the children are gone by 10 p.m.

Children eat dinner around 7:30 p.m., play games, watch movies and then go to bed. "The hardest part is staying up at night when everyone else is asleep," joked Dickinson, 26.

Hunter said that without the option of night care he'd probably take the children with him to work. Not an attractive idea to the barber, or his boss.

"They'd be at the shop all day, driving me crazy, driving my boss crazy," said Hunter.

Instead, Hunter watches the children during the day and drops them off on his way to work. He usually picks them up by 10 p.m.

Childrens Discovery opens at 6:15 a.m., and is open to children ages 1 to 12. Night care students are not allowed in before noon, Dickinson said. For more information, contact the center at 977-6266.

- Contact Joe Humphrey at 226-3403 or humphrey@sptimes.com

Partners in Care, Child Care Resource and Referral, offers Hillsborough County parents free help in finding day care. The service, housed in Hillsborough County schools' early childhood learning program, provides parents with addresses, hours and other information about child care centers. It can also help parents find in-care home options. More than 700 homes in the county are registered to provide child care. For more information, call 744-8941 extension 229 or visit http://www.beansprout.net on the World Wide Web.

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