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Coffee, Tea,
Mommy, & Me
The New
Play Cafés
Tumble & Tea, Play
Café bring new parent-child café concept to East
Bay
BY KATE MADDEN YEE
© COPYRIGHT 2005
This article originally appeared in the December 2005 print edition
of Parents' Press.
Susan Older holds office hours
in the back of her minivan, parked in front of 4210 Telegraph
Ave. in Oakland. It's the future site of Tumble and Tea, an innovative
play space-cum-café that Older and her business partner,
Georgina DeCarlo, will open on New Year's Eve. In between meeting
contractors at the building and picking up her older son, Deylan,
from daycare, Older waxes enthusiastic about the new venture.
Daughter Sadie, 11 months, snoozes in her car seat.
The two women met at a playground
when Older was pregnant with her second child; DeCarlo had 3-year-old
Leila in tow. Their kids were enjoying themselves, but there
was nowhere for the grownups to sit and really relax.
"Why aren't there any places
where the adults can get a cup of coffee and sit in a comfy chair
while the kids play?" DeCarlo lamented, and the idea for
Tumble and Tea was born.
Fortunately, both women had skills
and experience to bring to a fledgling business. DeCarlo comes
from a mortgage lending background, while Older has worked as
a video editor and as a business and personal organizer.
Both had also learned firsthand,
in the early months of motherhood, the benefits of connecting
with other parents. Older found this connection especially crucial.
"I had postpartum depression
after my son was born, and talking with other new mothers really
helped," she says. Their own experiences made them want
to establish a place where adults, as well as children, could
be nurtured.
The formula? Cozy, adult-size
seating, good coffee, healthy food, and an enclosed play space
for newborns to 5-year-olds and excellent soundproofing.
"We want the atmosphere to be soothing for everyone,"
Older says.
They chose Oakland's Temescal
area for its easy walking accessibility from surrounding neighborhoods.
The 1,500-square-foot, enclosed indoor play space will include
a jungle gym, a giant jumper, an interactive train table, and
a playhouse. Babies and toddlers will have a separate space with
soft toys and climbing structures. The adult space centers around
a coffee bar and living room area adjacent to the play space.
Tumble and Tea also plans to
offer classes such as baby yoga, children's music, CPR certification,
and parent support, as well as ready-to-go birthday parties.
To use the space, patrons will
buy passes in one-day, monthly, or six-month increments. Older
and DeCarlo also plan to offer discounted passes or work/trade
arrangements, and to establish a scholarship fund. "No one
will be turned away," Older says.
Another key feature of Tumble
and Tea is its availability: since it's open all day, parents
and caregivers can drop in with their charges whenever their
schedules allow, rather than having to work around a particular
program's constraints.
PLAY CAFES
The idea of a café that caters to adults and children
seems to be taking hold, particularly as new moms become increasingly
aware of the need to nourish themselves while caring for their
children. While play cafés are new to the Bay Area, there
are a few already operating in other regions: Brujitos Play Café
in Salem, MA; Child's Play Café in Bellevue, WA; and a
brand-new Play Café (with store) in Los Angeles.
But the real boom is in Korea,
where the menus include Japanese noodles and fried rice, and
children's cooking lessons are a popular activity. There are
more than ten parent-and-child cafés in Seoul alone, according
to the English-language Korea Times.
Even in the East Bay, Tumble
and Tea isn't the only café of its kind: Nancy Cecco and
Kelliane Lamb opened Play Café on Keller Avenue in Oakland
last August. Play Café also carries an entrance fee for
day use, and offers yearly memberships; its services include
birthday parties and rental of the entire space on weekends for
private events. In addition to unique kid and adult spaces, the
café also boasts a toy store.
"We wanted to create a place
where parents could enjoy themselves, have a wonderful, healthy
meal that's something they want to eat not just kid food
like chicken nuggets while their kids had fun, too,"
Cecco says.
Some other cafés in the
East Bay, while not exclusively aimed at parents and children,
are also luring moms and dads by providing play spaces for kids.
Zocalo Coffee House in San Leandro, a community-oriented business,
has a thoughtfully planned play area for pint-sized customers.
At Kensington Circus Pub, the grownups can enjoy beer and pizza
or fish and chips while their offspring amuse themselves in a
dedicated space.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Tumble and Tea's grand opening New Year's Eve party will be in
the late afternoon, so that both kids and grownups can experience
ringing in the New Year. "We're going to drop a ball and
everything," DeCarlo says. "The kids hardly ever get
to do that."
At Tumble and Tea, Play Café,
and other spaces like them, adults find a place to be nurtured
while also nurturing young children. "The saying is that
it takes a village to raise a child," DeCarlo says. "Well,
for a lot of people, there is no village any more. We want to
provide support and community to the caregivers of young children,
so they can relax, too."
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