Response to Daily Herald Headline of 9/4/18
Preparing children for further schooling - starts at an earlier age than you may believe.
Attached is an article that appeared in the Daily Herald as a headline on 9/4/18. We found it most interesting since it reflects on the value of our business and what has been our goal for 45 years !!
That goal - preparing children for further schooling - starts at an earlier age than you may believe.
As a Toddler of 1-2 year old starts to crawl, he/she begins a learning process of socialization to play and share and communicate/associate with others his/her age. That learning continues thru his/hers 3-4 years of age at a great more rapid pace leading to his/her readiness for Kindergarten - Flower Garden's goal for a long long time.
Geraldine (Geri) Podlin, the founder of the school, graduated from Loyola University with an early learning degree, started the business 45 years ago. She and her husband George bought an existing "Nursery School" in Palatine, Illinois in 1973. That business provided 3-5 year olds an opportunity to learn and play with others their age in preparation for their future schooling in Grammar School. (At that time, full time Day Care did not exist). The business under Geri's direction grew and grew and grew. When more and more mothers started going to work, Nursery Schools were becoming a luxury and full time Day Care became a need. Geri changed the business to accommodate this need and the business continued to grow requiring building modifications and expansion - cribs had to be added, food served, and soon much more space was needed.
Fortunately, Geri and her husband, George, found such a space attached to a home on Camp McDonald Road in Prospect Heights, Ill. (their hometown). With that 2nd facility, the growth of the business took off at a much more accelerated rate. In fact, after 3 years more space was required and the attached home was converted to support the business. With the growth continuing in Prospect Heights and with the facility in Palatine full, the couple managed to rent an old Dairy Queen building on Rand Road which obviously required modifications to support the child care business. This also created too much of a work load and they decided to sell the Palatine business.
The business continued to boom in their own home town as the business was obviously doing its job in caring and schooling young children in preparation for their entry to Grammar School. With two separate buildings full, the couple needed yet more space and another building adjacent to the current Camp McDonald facility was acquired. After modifications, the business was now licensed for over 130 children and occupied a total of 3 buildings along with a huge play yard in between.
With the business continuing further growth, all of Geri's 7 children (who obviously attended the Day Care) became employed there until they went off to College and eventually got married and started their own family. After that, all the grand children (14 total) attended the center as well and some of them are currently employed there as well. I guess you would have to call it a "Family Business".
As Geri and her husband approached retirement, they decided to downsize the business, sold one of the buildings and reduced their licensing to its present status of 90 children. Upon retirement, they sold a portion of the business to two of their children (Jeff and Karen, the current Director). Geri continued to help whenever necessary. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2016 after dedicating her entire life to early child education. Her legacy, her influence and her direction still lives on - preparing young children for further schooling - just as the attached article referenced here.