Hi, I’m Kris,

 

One of the scariest things I have ever done is leave my child with a stranger.  It takes a lot to win a mom’s trust, so let’s start with a little about my background. I grew up in Wyoming and worked my way through three degrees: AS in Business Management, BA in Social Sciences and a Masters in Business Administration.  I started in the Food and Beverage industry in high school, and by the time I was twenty, I was managing an upscale Italian Restaurant and Catering Business. I had a lot of fun in the restaurant business but during my college years, my regular restaurant and bar patrons kept trying to recruit me into sales.  Eventually I took one of them up on their offer of employment and I’m so glad I did. Not only did I get to meet and interact with countless interesting people as well as travel for free, I received valuable management and sales training from top international companies including Darden Restaurants, Abercrombie & Fitch, Cisco, and Lilly USA.  I’ve sold everything from Voice Over IP Communications Systems to new construction homes, to pharmaceuticals. Although I was often a top performer, I didn’t always enjoy the high-pressure nature of some of these positions. I stepped away from sales during the recession and returned to Food and Beverage during which time I met my husband, Chad.  He already had two amazing boys (seriously, I feel really lucky with these guys!) so the flexible nature of the restaurant business was perfect for my new family.

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Before I met Chad, I lived for at least 15 years without any family members living nearby.  If I had a child during that time, I literally would have had no one to turn to if my normal childcare plans fell through.  Once I married Chad, I suddenly found myself surrounded by new family members who were often ready and willing to help. Once my son was born, my mother and step-dad that had been looking to relocate from their home in the Southwest immediately chose Denver after holding their new grandbaby.  It was awesome! I suddenly had babysitters everywhere, or so I thought. It turns out that every parent, no matter how prepared or how much help seems available will eventually run into a situation where they need someone to watch their child, and no one is open. Grandma’s get sick, some Nana’s have jobs, occasionally a daycare facility has to unexpectedly close for a day, it snowed too much and school is closed, you normally work from home but today is the day you have to go into give your big presentation… The list goes on and on.

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When faced with this dilemma, parents often resort to calling in sick themselves, just to stay home with their child.  Even though I was ‘just a waitress’ and had more flexibility than in other prior professions, calling in sick at the last moment is still detrimental to one’s career.  Suddenly you don’t have as many high paying shifts on next week’s schedule. And parents at this end of the pay scale are the most sensitive financially when it comes to changes in their income.  It just seemed to me that parents were at a disadvantage. I firmly believe that as a society, anything that benefits kids, benefits us all.

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I can't solve our childcare crisis, but hopefully we can save the day for a few families here in Colorado.