Austin - Community Impact Newspaper

Melissa Mixon
6 | July 2009 Community Impact Newspaper • Northwest Austin Edition
Business Profile North Oaks Country Child Development Center
Patty and Larry Sproul, owners of the North Oaks Country Child Development Center
By Melissa Mixon
Every weekday between 11:30 a.m. and
1 p.m., a small miracle happens at the
North Oaks Country Child Development
Center in northwest Austin.
The staff there is able to get up to 15 5
year olds — all together in one big, cozy
room — to take a nap.
“It’s pretty amazing,” Larry Sproul,
co-owner of the center, said in a whisper
while looking in on the sleeping children.
Patty Sproul, Larry’s wife and the director
of the center, said the trick is turning
off the lights, playing soothing children’s
music and rubbing the children’s backs if
they cannot get to sleep.
It is this personal touch, along with
always having Patty at the door to greet
children in the morning, that has been
making their almost 28-year-old business
a “home away from home” for the
hundreds of children who have gone there
for day care.
“We’ve tried to create a loving and safe
place where a child can grow,” Patty said.
The Sprouls started the center with
another couple almost three decades ago,
after Larry retired from the military and
the family moved to Austin from Oklahoma.
While in Oklahoma, Patty had
worked at a day care and loved the work.
When she and Larry got to Texas with
New Office Policy:
LIGHTS OUT@ 5Pm!
their four high school-aged children,
Patty tried working at a day care again,
but she said that it just did not feel right.
“It wasn’t what I felt it should be, so I
thought, ‘Hey, we can do this,’” Patty said.
The two couples started the center in a
little house on Spicewood Springs Road
that opened with only eight children. Not
long after, however, interest in the day
care increased. The center outgrew the
house and moved to its current location.
The new location, owned only by the
Sprouls, is larger than the original and
has six classrooms and several different
playgrounds that are each equipped with
age-appropriate toys and play equipment.
Classrooms in the center are colorful,
and hallways are decorated with painted
animals and cartoon characters.
The day care is open to children ages 18
months to 12 years old. While there, students
are separated based on age groups
and learn everything from their home
address to how to tie their shoes or what
to do if a stranger approaches.
Patty and Larry said the most rewarding
part of their job is helping children
grow and develop. The saddest part,
however, is when children get older and
no longer need to come to the center.
“They become your family,” Larry said.
Still, many former students bring their
own children to the Sprouls’ center once
North Oaks Country Child
Development Center
8830 Cainwood Lane • 250-5117
www.northoakscountry.com
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they get older and start families.
Each time a former student comes in,
they try to identify themselves in the hundreds
of photos that hang in the day care.
The photos date back to their first classes
almost 30 years ago.
Patty and Larry said they plan to run
the center as long as they can.
“What other job can you do where a
child runs up to you, gives you a big hug
and says that they love you and they mean
it?” Patty said. “I can’t imagine doing
anything else.”
Another year
Larry and Patty Sproul will celebrate 28 years of
their northwest Austin day care facility, North Oaks
Country Child Development Center, Aug. 1.
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N
Broadmeade Ave.
Black Oak St.
Cainwood Ln.
Anderson Mill Rd.