PWN032521

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WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 MARCH 25, 2021
Daycare provider makes Mills 58 home
By Elyse Carmosino
PEABODY — In 1998,
Jatinder Kaur was overworked
and overwhelmed.
The mother of an infant son
at the time, Kaur worked long
hours at a Dunkin’ Donuts in
Everett alongside her husband,
Kamal Singh, in order to pay
the family’s bills. While the
young couple took on as many
shifts as they possibly could,
their combined salaries still
weren’t enough to make ends
meet or cover their son’s expensive
childcare costs.
“It was so hard and I was not
making so much money,” said
Kaur, who moved to the U.S.
from India in 1991. “Whatever
I was making, I was just (using)
to pay for childcare.”
It wasn’t until a conversation
she had with her son’s daycare
provider that Kaur thought she
might have found a solution to
the family’s problems.
“The lady who used to take care
of my son, I was trying to explain
to her one day that this is very hard
(and that I) I won’t continue with
childcare because if I make $300,
I pay her $200, so what’s the point
to work?” the mother of two nowadult
children said.
Empathetic to Kaur’s situation,
her son’s care provider
suggested she explore the idea
of opening a childcare center in
her own home.
Doing so would allow her
to not only take care of her
own son, but would also bring
in more money than her job at
Dunkin’ Donuts, and Kaur, 48,
was intrigued.
“From there, I never stepped
back in the daycare,” she said.
“I continued to take classes in
early education, and I started
learning more about children. I
said, ‘OK, maybe I want to do
something better in the future.’”
Kaur signed up for early
education and care classes at
Cambridge College in Boston,
deciding to pursue a Bachelor’s
degree with the intention of one
day making the transition from
running a daycare to teaching or
pursuing a career in education
administration.
In 2001, after two years of
preparation and schooling, she
opened her first daycare based
out of her home in Everett.
However, the experience wasn’t
without its share of challenges.
“I didn’t know all the regulations
surrounding childcare,” Kaur said
of the long months beforehand. “I
was learning little by little.”
The family eventually moved
from Everett to Saugus in 2015,
and Kaur temporarily took a
break from running the daycare.
She found brief employment
as a kindergarten teacher in
Somerville but although she enjoyed
the work, the long commute
ultimately sent her searching for
something closer to home.
While she worked a temporary
job at the Melrose YMCA,
Kaur decided to hunt for a location
outside of her home to open
a new daycare.
She found a place — a small
spot at Mills 58 on Pulaski
Street in Peabody — and went
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Jatinder Kaur, owner of Little Stars Daycare at Mills 58 in Peabody, reads a story to one of the classes.
Jatinder Kaur started Little Stars Daycare in 2001 after experiencing financial hardships.
to work.
“In the beginning, it was
hard. I never thought I’d be a
business woman,” Kaur said,
noting that the undertaking took
longer than she anticipated.
“Once we started the construction,
we were thinking everything
would be done in six
months, but it took more than
a year,” she said. “The process
was very difficult because getting
all the licenses from the
city, getting all the inspections
done — I didn’t know anything
about the business.
“I was putting all of my savings
into this thing that I didn’t
know if it would work.”
Aside from the usual woes of
starting a business from the ground
up, Kaur said she often found
herself at odds with city officials,
many of whom she felt failed to
take her or her business seriously.
While her family remained
unfailingly supportive, she said
that as an immigrant, she often
felt brushed aside by a city in
which she had few connections
and little power.
“Sometimes I feel like there
is public discrimination because
I’m not from America
and (English) is not my first
language. Because I’m a second
language learner, there is some
stuff I might not (understand),”
Kaur said. “I adopt this culture,
but I’m not 100 percent into it.
“It makes a big difference, you
know. Sometimes I feel like some
things I want to do, I can’t because
I’m not that powerful yet.”
She added she often felt she
had to work harder to be taken
seriously, noting one particularly
frustrating instance where
the city seemed reluctant to take
action to reduce the number of
speeding vehicles on the road
right outside the daycare —
something Kaur said became a
serious safety hazard.
“When I opened the center
in Peabody, I felt that the city
should have helped us more,
getting the licensing and all that
help,” she said. “I opened the
business for myself, but at the
same time, I opened the business
to help the community. I’m
giving some people jobs and
I’m helping everyone that I can,
but sometimes it felt like the
city didn’t really want it.”
PHOTOS | SPENSER HASAK
By 2018, however, Kaur’s
business, which she named the
Little Star Child Care Center,
was finally up and running, and
she quickly attracted 35 dedicated
clients. From every angle,
it seemed she had finally made
her dream — nearly 20 years in
the making — a reality.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic
hit last March. More
than 60 percent of her families
stopped using her service, and
Kaur was left to pick up the
pieces, relying primarily on social
media as a cheap form of
advertising to keep her daycare
from going under entirely.
Now, one year on, she’s finally
starting to rebuild, and
this time, she’s hoping to come
back stronger than ever.
“When you try so hard and
you achieve your goals, it really
makes you happy,” she said. “I
enjoy working with the kids. I
love to see them happy and play
all day. As soon as you walk in
the class, you can see the whole
class running to hug you.
“Those are the times I feel
like, ‘OK, I’m doing something
to make somebody happy.”