WEBVTT - In-Home Daycare 101 w/ Bridget Garsh 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:05.040 Welcome to Katie's Crib, a production of Shonda Land Audio 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:08.200 in partnership with I Heart Radio. Can you tell us 0:00:08.240 --> 0:00:12.959 like the difference between neighbors, schools, and daycares for someone 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:16.760 who was weighing it out? Sure, um, there are lots 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:20.880 of differences between them. The ones that I think don't 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:26.840 always spring to mind are thinking about the experience of 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:31.840 the caregiver directly. Part of it is meeting that person 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:35.600 and feeling like we're going to have open communication, we're 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:39.200 going to have a strong partnership. And you can really 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:41.279 only do that if you're meeting the person and you 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:44.760 understand who that person is. Now, in home daycare, that's 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:49.479 different because the person who's the set like running the 0:00:49.600 --> 0:00:52.800 daycare is also the educator, and so you're meeting that 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:56.320 person from the get go. But even in a home daycare, 0:00:56.800 --> 0:01:08.680 if they have an assistant, meet the assistant. Hello, everybody, 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:13.080 Welcome back to Katie's Crib. WHOA Can we ever have 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:20.880 enough podcasts about childcare? No? Because it's impossible. And the 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:24.560 guest I have on today is making waves and moves 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.520 in this arena and we need to talk about it. 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.280 Her name is Bridget Garsh. She is the co founder 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:36.200 and chief operating officer, who excuse me of Neighbor Schools 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:39.200 is what it's called, It's awesome. Neighbor Schools is a 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.720 Boston based startup company that provides a platform to help 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:48.160 parents find trusted childcare while enabling childcare providers with all 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:52.640 the tools they need to successfully run their own home daycare. 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:58.040 Bridget also hosts Neighbor Schools podcast called Work Like a Mother, 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.040 and the show shares story is of incredible women who 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.880 are juggling work life and motherhood. Bridgets based in Boston. 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.000 She's the mother to two little boys, Hudson and Brooks. 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:12.639 I love those names. Thank you for coming on Katie's crib, Bridget. 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:18.840 I am so excited to be here with you. Katie. 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.120 I was on Bridget's podcast called Work Like a Mother, 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:26.079 and I told Bridget that Brooks was on our list 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.680 for our second child's name if we had had a boy, 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:32.760 because Adam and I made our Broadway debuts together at 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:37.600 the Brooks Atkinson Theater. So Brooks was like, I'm very 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.239 impressed that you used it. I think it's a dope name. 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:43.400 Oh well, thank you so much. It's actually inspired by 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:48.880 my mom um. We lost her to cancer. Um, and 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:53.320 so we I wanted a b name for Brooks. What 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:58.160 was your mom's name? Bobby? Oh, I love that name. Yeah, 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:01.320 it's such a beautiful name. And her made a name 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.400 was Howard. But my father in law's named Howard, so 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:07.239 that was a that's a no go, that's a I 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:12.120 can't do that. That's fulfilled, right, Um, So tell me 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:16.359 walk me through. You have two boys. What are their ages? Again? So, 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:20.919 Hudson is four and Brooks will be two in two months. 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:25.079 I can't even believe it. What were the childcare What 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.760 was your child care experience? Overall? My kids have been 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:33.800 in every form of childcare I think, except in O pair. 0:03:33.960 --> 0:03:36.640 So they've had a nanny, they've been in a big 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:40.520 corporate daycare center. They've been in a small independent daycare center. 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.200 They've been in home daycare, they've been in home pre school, 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.000 they've been taken care of by family. I mean, they've 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:52.240 they've had everything, and we've pieced together this crazy solution 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:57.920 because the child care system is just so broken. And 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.720 I want to also recognize it away that like, I 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:07.120 have this immense privilege that I have options, right, and 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:10.240 I could afford those options in the first place, because 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:14.440 most families don't write like there are fifty one per 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.000 cent of families in the US actually live in a 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:21.840 childcare desert where they have no option at all, and 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:25.839 in most states, childcare is often the cost of in 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:29.880 state college tuition. So I want to recognize that I 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:35.200 feel incredibly privileged to have had those options available to me. 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:40.560 And part of starting neighbor Schools was because of this 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:45.599 personal experience in which I saw how broken, you know, 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:51.599 the childcare system really is. And when our CEO and 0:04:51.640 --> 0:04:54.880 my co founder Brian asked me to to build neighbor 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:59.480 schools and work on solving this crisis, I was an 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:03.000 enthusiasm plastic yes. But the irony of all ironies is 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:08.240 that I couldn't actually join full time because of childcare, 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:15.080 because I couldn't go salary free with paying for childcare. 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.720 So I worked nights, weekends, everything until we raised a 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:21.120 little bit of money and then I could join join 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:28.360 full time. But the challenges surrounding childcare and finding childcare 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.159 are just really near and dear to my heart. Do 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:35.360 you have a couple of memorable moments when you were 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:40.560 juggling running neighbor schools on weeknights? On weekends and raising 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:46.160 your children into pandemic. Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness. Um. 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:52.440 So I had joined Neighbor Schools full time before the pandemic. Um. 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.960 But one of my one of my favorite funny memories 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.479 was we were doing an event. So this is in 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:04.080 the very early days of the company, and Brian, our CEO, lives, 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:06.479 you know, maybe three or four miles away from me, 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:09.240 and we met in like a Whole Foods parking lot 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.280 to exchange flyers for an event, and we kept joking like, 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:15.560 are the police gonna It was like midnight, you know, 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:21.000 there's nobody around it, shady and yeah, and here we 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:26.680 are exchanging flyers for like promoting childcare and recruiting more 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.719 educators to join our network. So um that that's always 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.919 something that springs the dive in like this crazy juggle 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.760 of that was the time that worked was midnight, midnight, 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:50.880 Whole Foods parking lot. Let's meet. Yeah, you were telling 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:55.719 us why why you feel so passionate and personally inspired 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:59.919 and invested in the Neighbors School's idea. Can you explain 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:05.360 into us the start of at the very beginning, Well, 0:07:05.400 --> 0:07:08.880 I think, like so many couples, I had never really 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:12.600 thought about childcare before I got pregnant with Hudson. I 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.280 went back to work with Hudson when he was twelve 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:19.720 weeks old. Um, my husband and I had done a 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:23.960 lot of research and we were very fortunate that his 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.600 employer at the time actually had child's care in the building. 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:32.160 So we thought, we have struck gold. This is amazing. 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:37.000 We are just set. And then it was probably about 0:07:37.040 --> 0:07:41.720 when Hudson was eight months old that his favorite daycare teacher, 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:47.200 ms Quella left the daycare center, and then maybe like 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:51.720 two to three weeks later, his other favorite daycare teacher, 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:57.040 Ms Meg left. We were panicked. I mean we were devastated, Like, 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.880 these are the people who, when Hudson was twelve weeks 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:03.560 and he's this tiny, you know, human and I'm going 0:08:03.600 --> 0:08:08.520 back to work that they learned everything about him. They 0:08:08.600 --> 0:08:15.560 knew his you know, sleep schedule. They helped us navigate food, yep, naps, 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:21.280 his first coals, all of it. Yeah, everything, everything, absolutely everything. 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:25.320 So we were really wrecked. And it was at that 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:30.080 moment that we actually realized that even though we were 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:35.040 paying an absolute fortune, that ms Quella and Miss Meg 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:39.080 were making nothing. I mean, our money wasn't going to 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:44.000 these incredible caregivers who we, as you just said, trusted 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:48.120 so deeply and had become part of our family. I mean, 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.079 had since spent more time with them than they did. 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:56.559 But it was going to overhead expenses. And I say 0:08:56.600 --> 0:09:01.599 that not not to make daycare center sound mean and malicious, 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:05.920 because they're not. It's it's the reality that the economics 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:10.440 of the whole daycare center model don't work, right, Like, 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:14.440 there's only so much money that parents can pay the 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:19.400 cost of like rent and maintaining a building is super expensive, 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:23.280 and then you need all this administrative staff to keep 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:26.440 things running. So once all of that is paid for, 0:09:26.760 --> 0:09:30.760 there's such a little amount of money to pay the 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:35.120 educators who are just essential to making childcare work, right, Like, 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:42.400 childcare doesn't work without the humans there. And so when 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:47.079 we started Neighbor Schools, it was with this vision of 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:51.320 making child care better for everybody, right like parents and 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:55.640 the teachers, for the teachers and for the children. And 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:58.640 and the way that we do that is by supporting 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.679 the caregivers, because like I was just saying, if there 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:08.839 are no caregivers, there's no childcare period. So our platform 0:10:08.960 --> 0:10:15.679 is helping these incredible caregivers open and operate small licensed 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:20.800 daycares that they run in their homes. And because they 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.559 run these daycares in their homes, there are like two 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.800 really interesting things that happen. Number One, all of those 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:32.600 overhead expenses that I was just talking about God completely gone. 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.280 So so that means they're typically thirty to more affordable 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:41.200 for families. But the most of the majority is going 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:44.280 to the person exactly. So instead of making thirty thou 0:10:44.480 --> 0:10:48.840 dollars a year, which is the typical salary um for 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:53.319 a preschool teacher, educators can earn up to seventy to 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:58.040 nine dollars a year doing what they love. That's so great. 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:01.240 That was part of the inspiration for neighbor schools. And 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.840 then the other part of it because starting, you know, 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:08.360 one company wasn't hard enough. We have a marketplace where 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:11.400 we worry about the educators and we also think a 0:11:11.480 --> 0:11:16.679 lot about the parents, and we want the process for 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:24.559 parents to be better. I remember calling around so many places, 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:28.679 leaving voicemails, I mean voice, never hearing back and never 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.040 hear back. I know, I know, I know, it's really 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:35.559 it's really true. I haven't had the same experience for sure, 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:40.000 and you can't blame you know, it's because they're totally overextended. 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:42.199 It's like, you want to be so pissed that you're 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:46.079 paying all this money for a daycare or preschool and 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.480 someone should be fucking calling me back. But honestly, the 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.440 one person who's heading up the entire thing and running 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:55.120 the entire administration and trying to, you know, be held 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.679 accountable by all these parents, I mean, it's fucking impossible. 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.080 They also need to like have boundaries. I get it. 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.320 Like it's all a mess, which is why I think 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:06.520 it's so amazing that you're spending the time to change 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:11.880 this and change people's lives. Um, you start neighbor at schools. 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:17.240 You're doing this on weekends and week nights. I mean 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:23.800 it's just insane. Um, what were the first schools you started? Yeah, 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:30.480 we really built the neighbor Schools platform around our very 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:36.240 first educators. So our first educators were Miss Debb and 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:41.920 Miss Martha. Ms. Deb has this incredible background of working 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:46.280 with early intervention and working with all of these children 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:51.520 to help them learn and grow. And Miss Martha, um, 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:55.120 she was a nanny for many, many, many many years, 0:12:55.920 --> 0:13:01.520 and so as they were going through the entire licensing 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:06.840 process and you know business set up process of getting 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.400 their E I N and their business bank account and 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.439 all of these different pieces. Um, would you help them 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:17.920 do exactly? We built the product around them to know 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:21.199 at every step of the way what is it that 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:24.360 they're they're needing and like what they're required to do. 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:26.760 It's like I try to put my nanny in this situation. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:31.040 It's like, okay, like you guys are holding these amazing 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:34.880 caretaker's hands. How do we file taxes? How do we 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:38.520 get insurance? How do we make sure my house is 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:42.520 set up appropriately? What things do I need to purchase 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.000 that each child needs to have? Is there a limit 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:48.840 to how many kids can be in each neighbor school? Yes? 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:52.720 So I think this is a really unknown fact is 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:58.960 that licensed home daycare is incredibly regulated and it's controlled 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:04.720 by the same licensing agency that oversees you know, daycare centers. 0:14:05.160 --> 0:14:09.560 So the same health and safety standards, the same environment 0:14:09.720 --> 0:14:13.640 are the same, and the ratios are very strict as well. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.520 So in Massachusetts, just as an example, um, you can 0:14:17.600 --> 0:14:20.600 have six children. I think a lot of us were 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:25.320 sort of scrambling during covid um, which did you notice, 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:30.000 like a huge neighbor school boom during the pandemic. Nobody 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:32.440 can say, of course, like I'm nodding away at you, 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:34.920 and nobody can actually see me, Daddie at you. Yes, 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:37.680 I'm nodding at Katie saying yes we did. We did 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:42.200 see this real spike in um educators actually looking to 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:46.120 open their own daycares, and then also families, Oh my god, 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.440 and families being like, holy crap, I'm still I'm working 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.640 from home right, my children can't go to preschool or 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:57.480 whatever we were doing before because of COVID. What the 0:14:57.480 --> 0:14:59.600 hell am I supposed to do? Is there some sort 0:14:59.600 --> 0:15:04.480 of say for option, especially before we knew how COVID 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:08.080 worked in little ones. But like you know, I was 0:15:08.120 --> 0:15:11.920 hearing about all these sort of home school situation pods 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.960 popping up of like these are the six kids with 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:18.160 one teacher that we can get tested and everything's you know, 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:21.120 so you were noticing a big spike. What did you 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:24.760 learn from the first month that you provided services to 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:31.360 our initial educators and the families. That's such a good question. Um, 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:35.880 I think they're different. They're different, but they're they're similar. 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:40.560 So on the educator side, we realized how community was 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:45.120 going to be really important for all of the educators 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:48.440 who were becoming part of Neighbor Schools that if you 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:53.000 think of it right to be an entrepreneur, to start 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.840 your own business, to work with children all day long, 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:02.359 you want that connection and that learning and your colleagues. 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:05.600 You want colleagues to be able to turn to. And 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:09.840 so that's another part of Neighbor Schools is the community 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:15.240 for educators to connect and learn from one another. Whether 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:18.400 that's like we do a show and tell where people 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.280 show off their spaces and everybody talks about, well, this 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:25.160 is how I set up my you know, UM reading center, 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.480 and this is how I set up my STEM area 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:31.479 and they're all learning from one another, or it's connecting 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:35.280 like in the pandemic, you know, we had UM, the 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:40.360 lead UH doctor for who was building and working with 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:45.480 the licensing agency on COVID protocols come and talk and 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:49.040 answer all of the questions. So that was something I 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.320 don't I don't think we fully knew when we started 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.640 the company UM, but that we really evolved as we 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:58.000 were working with the educators themselves. And then on the 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:04.919 parents side, you're at this incredibly overwhelming, very vulnerable time 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:09.879 where it's just information overload. And so many of the 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:11.720 first nine parents that we've talked to you had no 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:14.479 idea what to expect, right Like, they just had no 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:17.600 idea what they were looking for or what to even imagine. 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:20.879 So we knew that we needed to make the parent 0:17:21.000 --> 0:17:26.920 experience better. We needed to make that modern and educational 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.640 so that people were learning as they were finding child care. 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:36.720 So with the parent experience, what we've done is you 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.959 take a short quiz right where you're sharing all the 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.239 basics of you know, what days you need care and 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.040 what your budget is, but you're also we're presenting you 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:49.960 with things like here twenty five activities, pick three that 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:54.359 are important to you. And then we're doing that like 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:57.560 heavy lifting on the back end to say, Okay, this 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:02.120 person is really interested in nature, right like, that's outdoor 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:04.879 space is going to be really important to them, and 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:10.640 building almost like there their unique profile of what their 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.520 needs are, and then teaching them about the things they 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:18.040 should be thinking about while they're going through the whole process, 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:22.080 so that when they hit submit on that quiz and 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.840 then they start to see, Okay, here are the recommendations 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.760 We've taken out all those voicemails and those phone calls 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.720 right like, you know, right away, if we have a 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:35.240 spot available, what are the values to that to those 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:39.120 parents exactly? And then surfaced all of that information like 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:44.440 the educators story and their background and reviews from families 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.920 so that you're not hunting and searching for it, because 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:50.840 when it comes down to it, it's all about transparency, 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:54.879 and everybody wants to feel like you are making a 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:59.800 really good decision because this is the most important decision 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:02.840 that are going to make. Like I dropped Albie off 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:04.879 at eight thirty today and he's getting picked up in 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:10.359 four So he's spending a lot of time with people 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:16.720 who I trust, and I am completely rest assured that 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.040 they know what type of parent I am, how I 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:22.880 like to parent my child, and we are in constant communication. 0:19:23.200 --> 0:19:26.199 It's just because the kid is spending more time with 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:30.560 them than they are with you. So these are very important. 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:32.240 So it's cool. It's like you're giving them like you're 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:36.560 you're really making a profile and making sure that everyone 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:40.320 is transparent of what their wants are, what their expectations are, 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:44.720 um and also that we're learning together, you know, like 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:48.280 we don't know who this kid is yet you don't 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:52.159 know how to parent perfectly. You've never done it before. 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:56.959 It's all a huge group effort, you know. We talked 0:19:57.000 --> 0:20:00.280 to so many parents and it was informed, you know, 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:06.760 by our personal experiences as well. But this feeling, and Katie, 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:09.760 I don't know if you had this when I remember 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.480 being pregnant and starting and my mother in law was 0:20:12.520 --> 0:20:15.560 like constantly, you know, what's happening with childcare? What's happening 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.080 with childcare? Have you found childcare yet? What's going on? 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:23.240 And I couldn't even imagine like holding a baby that 0:20:23.400 --> 0:20:27.520 was mine, let alone, let alone these women who are 0:20:27.560 --> 0:20:31.639 like on lists to like, like you said, of women 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:35.399 have no options, then some women who do have options 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:38.680 are literally trying to get on lists for daycares at 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:41.240 their work that might be offered to them while they're 0:20:41.280 --> 0:20:44.040 pregnant because the list is years of a waiting list. 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:46.159 Like I have friends that work at different you know, 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:49.439 studios and uh in Hollywood and it's like, yes, there 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:52.280 might be a daycare center in the building, but they 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:57.160 can't even get in. It's really hard. And then just 0:20:57.320 --> 0:20:59.800 the mind boggling nature. How was it for you that 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.160 transition of like dropping your twelve week old baby off, 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:05.600 like you said, like you're dealing with the hormones and 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:08.120 the identity shift. You just became a mom less than 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:12.960 three months but before, I mean, it's horrible. Yeah, it's 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.080 just horrible. I think, well, and for me, you know, 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:22.119 I found maternity leave really hard. Like I had gone 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:25.159 from running this big team and working with all of 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:28.080 these people and seeing people all day every day, and 0:21:28.160 --> 0:21:33.760 I felt super alone and really isolated, and I kept thinking, 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:36.359 I can't wait to get back to work. I can't 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:38.320 wait to get back to work. And I was sort 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:42.560 of counting down from the minute that my husband went 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:45.080 back to work, especially he didn't even have that he 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:47.720 had no paternity leaves, so we took two weeks quote 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:52.600 unquote vacation so backwards. We do a bunch of episodes 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.120 on that on Katie's Crib about the pay family leave 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:57.679 and things. I mean, it is a fucking mess. And 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:01.040 whoever picked like the three month mark is also insane. 0:22:01.760 --> 0:22:03.840 We are not set up. We are not set up. 0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:05.399 And this whole thing of like you can have it 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:09.480 all now, No you can't. You can't. It's impossible. It's 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:12.879 so hard unless you're bridget and you're making moves to 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:16.400 make changes in support the mothers and the care givers 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:29.960 out here. Tell us about neighbor Schools successes. Please brag 0:22:30.000 --> 0:22:34.720 a little bit, would you? Yes? So, so far since 0:22:34.720 --> 0:22:38.160 we started the company, we've launched more than seventy daycares 0:22:38.440 --> 0:22:43.040 and we are just getting started. And through our research, 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:46.359 I think something that's so exciting is we've found there 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:51.879 are a hundred thousand people, mostly women, who want to 0:22:52.160 --> 0:22:56.600 open home daycares, and you know, the sad part is 0:22:56.640 --> 0:23:01.000 that ninety percent of them will fail because of the 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:05.960 administrative and like regulatory hurdles because there are literally a 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:09.760 hundred and twenty seven steps to go through this whole process, 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:13.280 and educators are expected to go through it alone. But 0:23:13.560 --> 0:23:17.520 that's we see that as opportunity because we know there 0:23:17.520 --> 0:23:20.159 are a hundred thousand people. Think of all the child 0:23:20.200 --> 0:23:23.360 care spots that that is going to create for families. 0:23:23.400 --> 0:23:26.920 Think of all of the jobs that is creating right 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:29.720 for people who want to work with children, these well 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:34.520 paid jobs. So we see that as an incredible opportunity 0:23:34.680 --> 0:23:37.679 and we're not going to stop until there's a neighbor 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:42.240 schools in every neighborhood across the country. Oh my God, 0:23:42.280 --> 0:23:46.480 I'm have goose bumps. This is fucking amazing. How okay, 0:23:46.480 --> 0:23:49.359 you've told us that a caregiver can make anywhere from 0:23:49.440 --> 0:23:52.840 seventy nine a year from opening a home school. How 0:23:52.880 --> 0:23:56.240 can a parent find a neighbor schools for themselves? I 0:23:56.280 --> 0:24:00.200 know you're predominantly based in the Boston area. Yeah, I mean, 0:24:00.320 --> 0:24:03.719 first and foremost come to our website. Um, you know, 0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:06.720 find me, find me. I'm on I'm on Instagram, I'm 0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:09.159 on LinkedIn, And I want to hear from people, right Like, 0:24:09.200 --> 0:24:14.159 this is such a deeply personal mission um to me 0:24:14.440 --> 0:24:16.840 as a mom and as a founder, that I want 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:20.280 to hear from from everybody because we see this as 0:24:21.200 --> 0:24:25.160 a movement. We see this as an opportunity to change 0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:29.560 the child care system for the future and to make 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:34.800 child care accessible and affordable for families across the country. 0:24:34.800 --> 0:24:36.800 So we want to hear from people, and we want 0:24:36.800 --> 0:24:40.040 to know where people are really looking. I mean, we 0:24:40.040 --> 0:24:43.280 we look at maps, we look at you know, childcare deserts. 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:45.680 We think about all of those things as we're expanding 0:24:45.760 --> 0:24:50.640 and adding you know, new locations. Um, but knowing the 0:24:50.720 --> 0:24:53.720 humans and the people that are in need right now, 0:24:53.920 --> 0:24:56.639 or the people that could step up to help with 0:24:56.720 --> 0:24:59.640 this crisis and that we could help open their own 0:24:59.680 --> 0:25:02.399 day hairs. Those are the people were trying to connect 0:25:02.400 --> 0:25:05.240 with each and every day. A little bit of a 0:25:05.320 --> 0:25:09.359 dark question, But I know a lot of moms, especially 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:11.800 with a twelve week old going back to work, are 0:25:11.840 --> 0:25:16.240 struggling with a lot of anxiety about passing their kid off. 0:25:16.760 --> 0:25:19.920 How do does neighbor schools make sure that safety is 0:25:20.080 --> 0:25:23.199 enforced within each child care location? I mean, Jesus, we 0:25:23.240 --> 0:25:27.560 don't even want to talk about. I mean, I remember 0:25:28.119 --> 0:25:29.880 I never thought I was going to be this kind 0:25:29.920 --> 0:25:31.439 of mom, And then I remember I had to go 0:25:31.480 --> 0:25:33.880 back and shoot a scene and my son was eight 0:25:33.880 --> 0:25:40.240 weeks old, and my postpartum anxiety was rearing its ugly 0:25:40.280 --> 0:25:45.720 head in this NonStop, obsessive thought of my night nurse 0:25:45.840 --> 0:25:49.520 shaking my son because he was not sleeping, and I 0:25:49.560 --> 0:25:55.240 know she was really tired, and I was convinced just 0:25:55.320 --> 0:25:57.960 because my brain was looking for a villain that made 0:25:57.960 --> 0:26:03.119 no sense. How are you guys enforcing the safety? Yeah? 0:26:03.160 --> 0:26:06.160 I mean, first and foremost, that's why we're focused solely 0:26:06.240 --> 0:26:11.520 unlicensed home daycare because the rules and regulations right, and 0:26:11.720 --> 0:26:15.080 that means I don't I don't think even people understand 0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:18.119 fully what that means, right, Like that means CPR, first 0:26:18.119 --> 0:26:24.320 Aid certified, like medication administration, safe sleep, child development, all 0:26:24.359 --> 0:26:28.000 of these pieces. They everybody is background checked in the home. 0:26:28.080 --> 0:26:30.800 So it's not just the educator, but it's everyone who 0:26:30.880 --> 0:26:35.919 lives or is frequently in the home. They're all background checked. 0:26:36.320 --> 0:26:41.679 The home is um inspected by the licensing agency to 0:26:41.760 --> 0:26:45.440 make sure that it is safe for kids, and they 0:26:45.520 --> 0:26:50.600 do drop in visits. But so that's licensing. The other 0:26:50.680 --> 0:26:54.119 piece where you know, we my co founders and I 0:26:54.160 --> 0:26:56.879 all come from a technology background, and where we see 0:26:56.920 --> 0:27:02.439 technology being so powerful here is is every time a 0:27:02.520 --> 0:27:06.360 family goes to tour a daycare, right, we are getting 0:27:06.520 --> 0:27:11.200 information from that family about their experience when they were touring. 0:27:11.680 --> 0:27:16.560