Childcare Center Of The Hamptons Looks To Expand

When they were growing up in Southampton, sisters Briana Beck and Danielle Almansa were young entrepreneurs with their own babysitting service. That was just the beginning for the pair.

“We used to say, ‘If we had a day care, this is what we would do,’” Ms. Beck said.

Life moved pretty fast for Ms. Beck and Ms. Almansa. It’s been over two and a half years since the duo signed a lease to use 502 North Sea Road as the location for the Childcare Center of the Hamptons. The building was previously the home of Side By Side Child Care, which closed after two employees were charged with mistreating some of the children.

The sisters officially bought the building less than two months ago. Ignoring the idea of being, as Ms. Almansa said on Friday, “glorified babysitters,” Childcare Center of the Hamptons offers a combination of day care and early education to prepare infants and toddlers for future school enrollment.

The center’s programs, available for children from infants to 5-year-olds, are meant to enhance a child’s cognitive, social, emotional, physical and creative development. These activities range from learning jujitsu to simply experiencing the range in textures between a golf ball and a football.

“At this age, even as infants, kids are sponges,” Ms. Beck said last Friday. “If you can start doing some sort of curriculum with them and start teaching them at this age, it’s just going to help them further when they go into preschool. We always say that we want our kids to be ready for school.”

“As much as they get out of the curriculum, it’s the experience that they get to have” Ms. Almansa added. “With that experience, then they are getting to see so much more than they would see if they were just hanging out at home.”

After starting with only six kids, Childcare of the Hamptons now has 90 kids enrolled in its programs. The programs occupy five of the 10 open rooms in the building: one room for infants, two for toddlers and two for preschool-aged kids.

Childcare of the Hamptons offers year-round services for both local and visiting families interested in either long-term programs or simply temporary day care. Ms. Beck pointed out that most cases involve working parents who sign their children up for the Backup Care Program, where parents drop their child off at the facility for $95 per day. On top of having trained staff on-hand, the facility also brings in local parents with certain expertise to add to the experience for children.

“One of the dads just came in and he’s a fishmonger—he did a touch tank for the kids,” Ms. Almansa said. “One of our dads works for the fire department, and when we practice our fire drills, he’s the dad that comes in to help and kids say, ‘That’s Thomas’s dad, he’s the fireman.’ They feel comfortable knowing. ‘I can relate to that guy, that’s Thomas’s dad.’ We try to use whatever family that can help bring in those different experiences.”

Childcare of the Hamptons also offers its multipurpose room for rent to be used for family events including birthday parties and breastfeeding classes. Ms. Almansa said that there are four other rooms in the building that could be used for daily activities, including dual-language lessons, piano lessons and gymnastics. She added that she and Ms. Beck hope to be able to transport kids to other locations for activities, including swimming lessons at Southampton Youth Services.

“We trying to become more involved with other resources in the community,” Ms. Almansa said.