Nighttime child care center in Jackson serves kids whose parents work late

A child-care facility in Jackson is helping parents who work nontraditional schedules
Children eat dinner, play and have a nighttime routine
Michigan parents often struggle to find affordable child care

JACKSON — Inside a colorful classroom decorated with children’s art, posters and colorful walls, a group of children sit to eat spaghetti and peas for dinner.

They attend Gems of Jackson Childcare and Education Center, a facility that allows parents to work late at night and keep their children safe in the meantime.

Parents say the staff are reliable and kind. Children regularly jump on staff to give them a hug.

The center offers care to children ages 6 weeks to 12 years old. The center is open 5 a.m. to midnight but is willing to be open 24/7 if parents need it. There’s a preschool program and a before and after-school program.

Kids at an evening day care have dinner — Children eat spaghetti and peas for dinner at Gems of Jackson Childcare and Education Center. Some children will stay at the center until midnight when their parents get off work. (Isabel Lohman/Bridge Michigan)

Angela Evans, program director, told Bridge she wanted to help parents with nontraditional work schedules.

“There are so many different places here: we have manufacturing shops, we have the hospital, we have care homes where people are working 12-hour shifts from say 6 to 6 or the overnight shift, and there’s just no resources for them.”

Related:

At Gems of Jackson, parents with work schedules that change weekly can let the center know ahead of time and get child care.

“So many other child cares just do a straight ‘you have to lock in a specific schedule,’ they’re open 6 to 6, and then that just cuts out a huge part of the community that needs the more flexible hours and days,” said Evans.

“The fact that they’re willing to work with you makes a huge difference,” said Katherine Cole, the mother of a 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter.

Cole drops her children off once a week from 1:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Darkened room at a child care center — Children sleep in cots at night before their parents pick them up. It’s lights out around 8 p.m. (Isabel Lohman/Bridge Michigan)

“And when I pick them up, they’re already asleep. Their teeth are brushed, they are in their jammies and I can just come home and lay them straight down.”

The bedtime routine is not unlike a bedtime routine at home. There’s changing into pajamas, changing diapers and brushing teeth. There’s children who don’t want to go to bed yet. Each student has a cot and blanket. They can also choose stuffed plushie from the windowsill

The overhead lights are off, but there are colorful twinkling lights overhead.

Smiling woman in a day care center — Angela Evans, program director at Gems of Jackson Childcare and Education Center, said flexible child care is important for families. Evans has been in child care for about 10 years and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree. (Isabel Lohman/Bridge Michigan)

A few of the Gems of Jackson teachers came to Cole’s daughter’s first birthday, Cole said. Staff communicate well, and Cole, who is pregnant, hopes to send her third child to the facility eventually. Heather Davis, another parent, said the team has become “a second family.”

Evans said roughly 75% to 80% of children are receiving state child care scholarships while the rest are on a tuition system. There are about 52 children enrolled in the program and about 12 part-time or full-time staff.

“We really just develop our teachers and our staff to make them want to be here. They all want to be here for the kids and that but they also need to make a living,” Evans said.

Before bedtime, children finger painted, played with toy trucks and puzzles and danced around with one of the teachers.

Gems of Jackson does not participate in the state’s free Pre-K program called the Great Start Readiness Program but Evans said four-year-olds are learning kindergarten readiness skills.

For children zero to five, “the brain development is just blossoming in those ages,” said Evans. “So we’re really teaching and developing those necessary skills.”