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October 31, 2001
Internet Helps Employees Watch Their Kids
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Though only a few firms supply this service now, the number is growing in response to demand by parents, according to Bruce Loften, president of Watch Me Grow, a Washington firm that provides internal and Internet-based viewing products for the child-care industry.
"Parents really want to know if their children are prospering but usually have no idea what's going on at the center," said Loften, whose firm serves 100 day-care centers and has annual revenue of close to $2 million. "But now, at any point in time, when parents feel separated from their children, they can go online and see exactly what's happening."
Loften told the Tribune that it's "heart wrenching" when parents of young children don't know how their kids are doing. "I've always thought there must be a way to provide some peace of mind," he said. "And now there is."
When Leah Nelson opened a child-care center in suburban Aurora, Ill., in 1981, one of the parents who worked in nearby Chicago "dropped her infant off at 6 a.m. and picked her up at 6:30 p.m. and was miserable because she missed her so much," Nelson recalled. "But she had to work."
Nelson began thinking about how to bridge the gap. In 1991, she introduced a closed-circuit camera.
"Parents could come in and watch the tapes at the end of the day," she said. "I encouraged them to do so because I wanted them to see how well their children were cared for."
That was her solution until 1997, when she signed up with Watch Me Grow. "At first, parents subscribed individually and the provider billed them separately," said Nelson, who has 85 children in her care at Honey Tree.
"The parents were impressed with the service, but few wanted to take on the additional expense. So I arranged to pay the service a flat rate and each parent pays Honey Tree $10 a month for it. All of them subscribe. I want parents to be part of the program and this is the only way I could think to do that. They can access it from anywhere; we even have a grandparent in Singapore who watches."
Honey Tree has seven rooms, each with two cameras. Parents are given the code to get into the system; other relatives must have permission from the parents and Nelson before getting access.
"Parents get an immediate and secured snapshot of their child's activities," she said. "And that means a lot."
To view the Chicago Tribune article, click here.
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