Internet day care service connecting parents, kids

By Robert Schoenberger The Clarion Ledger

For many parents, dropping children off at day care is a terrible moment that must be endured so they can provide for children they do not get to see during the day.

But a growing trend among day care centers and Internet service companies is helping lessen that pain by giving parents access to their children via the Internet.

Several day care facilities in Central Mississippi have Internet-enabled cameras in each room, giving parents the ability to watch their children at any time. They only need an Internet connect and a password.

"I know how her day's been," said Rankin County resident Bethany Pepper, whose 2-year-old daughter, Sophia, attends Internet-enabled Education Depot in Jackson. "I know if she's been crabby. I know if she's lost her hat. I knew that she was playing musical chairs today."

Sean Farmer, a member of the Farmer family that owns Education Depot, said the center began offering the Internet service nearly five years ago in response to parental concerns about safety.

"When you take your child to the day care center, you don't know what's going on. Some of the younger children can't talk, so they have no way of telling you what's happening," Farmer said.

Adam Kilgore, a Jackson attorney whose 2-year-old daughter, Helen, also attends Education Depot, said the service keeps his mind at ease.

"It takes away any kind of concerns you have about a place. It's a very calming thing to be able to look in on her whenever I want," Kilgore said.

In addition to being able to check in on their children themselves, parents say the knowledge that other parents are keeping an eye on things also gives them some peace of mind.

Buck Russum, owner of Ridgeland-based Wee Care, said he began offering the service about three years ago, and he believes his staff is better now because employees know they are potentially being watched at any moment.

"The idea is that we can give Mom the security and confidence that she can continue to work, and her children will be taken care of," Russum said.

Five years ago, equipping a childcare center with cameras cost the Farmers nearly $10,000 and carried a $450 monthly phone bill. Improvements in technology have lowered those phone costs to about $150 per month, and the equipment can be purchased for closer to $3,000.

Those lowered costs, coupled with the popularity the service has seen at centers such as Education Depot, has several firms scrambling to get into the day care Internet business.

Foresight Computers, a Flowood company that supports Education Depot's camera system, is actively marketing such services to other day care facilities. Bryce Lemmons, sales and marketing coordinator for Foresight, said he believes the centers can be a growth area for his company.

"Service is a big portion of the value to the (day care) centers," Lemmons said. "If one of the cameras goes down, we get paged immediately. If a camera stays down for more than a few minutes, Mrs. Farmer is going to be getting phone calls from parents."

ChildrenView.com, a Monroe, La.-based business, opened a sales office in Jackson several weeks ago to pitch its services to area day care facilities.

"Once one center does it, all the others in a market start following suit," said ChildrenView.com President Darryl Garnett.

In November, Vicksburg's Treasures Learning Center added cameras with the help of Jackson-based Internet service provider U.S NetworX and Vicksburg computer support firm Micro Systems.

"Parents love this feature," said co-owner Lisa Tillotson. "It demonstrates the commitment we have to our customers by providing visual proof of the care that their child receives."