We were lucky to catch up with Lindsay Jones recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lindsay, thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

Life today is over-structured and over-scheduled. Children bear the brunt of parental stress from managing households, schedules, life, and work all while attending school and trying to grow/learn. The education system had an opportunity to re-establish goals and adapt following COVID and it hasn’t, yet. I truly believe that children grow best when given ample opportunity to play, socialize, and create. Allowing children to grow and develop their own personalities and ways of thinking prior to forcing structured and over-scheduled life would change the world we live in. Of course there are some children who truly benefit from structure, however they are still not give then time to really play and socialize in the way their little brains need. If the education system could develop a schedule that accommodated parents work/life balance all while increasing socialization and free play, we could ALL maintain more meaningful and intentional family time. Maybe one day, this society norm will adapt into something better for everyone.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Hi! I am the founder, owner, and face behind The PlaySpace. I am a Speech Language Pathologist by trade and recognized that there was an opportunity to help our community all while serving the children in a way that was being missed at school and home. While in high school, college, and graduate school I worked at a drop-in child care facility and after working as an SLP at a hospital for 10 years I recognized a need for this model in Fort Worth. I took the opportunity to “make it happen” while deciding to start a family of my own. The PlaySpace is an hourly drop-in childcare facility with purpose which allows parents to focus on home, work, life, personal needs while the kiddos are able to play and socialize. Free play is such an important part of development and we encourage socialization among all age and developmental levels. TPS is a well known household name in Fort Worth and surrounding areas now because we address a problem that the community has had for a long time and hopefully it encourages growth within our children!

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

Networking. Before we signed a lease and began growing a plan for marketing I invited a group of friends with children of all ages from around the area to meet as a “focus group” and discuss pricing strategies, locations for building, etc. This strategy set me up for success around the community. It created a buzz of conversation with different friend groups to help jump start the market for The PlaySpace. Following that group meeting, my husband and I hit the community hard attending all events and social activities in the community and talked as much as possible (exhausting but worth it). To this day, 5 years later, we continue to attend events and network to help really show that we are engaged, involved, and that we are available to everyone who drops their kiddos off at The PlaySpace.

Any advice for managing a team?

Honestly, this is the most difficult part of owning and operating a business. Employees are people. They are their own person, they don’t have to do anything you ask, you have ABSOLUTELY no control over what other people do. This is a terrifying realization when you put your entire life into something and someone else is actually doing the work. I have tried many strategies when managing my staff and the best one for TPS is for me to have grace and flexibility. It works best if I give credit where credit is due, allow for my staff to leave when they need to, and have a heart and sympathy when life is challenging for them. For a childcare facility, we have low turnover and I truly think it is because I foster a comfortable and flexible work environment where my staff are able to come to me when they need to.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theplayspacefw.com
• Instagram: @theplayspacefw.com
• Facebook: @theplayspacefw.com

Image Credits
Jason Kindig