Coworker spaces are on the rise, offering everything from a temporary office for travelers to women-only spaces that blur the line between office and social club. But with all the growing options, Kids & Company stands alone as the only coworking space in the U.S. that is attached to a daycare. This is slightly different from coworker spaces that offer childcare, as it is the child’s enrollment, not the parent’s, that grants access. But perhaps most importantly, it provides a space for parents who may not need a coworking space regularly but could occasionally need the flexibility to work near their kids.
In a Boston Globe profile on the new Kids & Co daycare center in Boston’s seaport district, one such example is given that may sound familiar to may working parents: A mom who has to pick up her child at 5:30 p.m. is forced to take a conference call while running for a commuter rail. The mother in question, Nikki Miller, recently moved her children to the Kids & Co center because of the flexibility the coworking space would offer. Rather than taking calls on the fly, she can leave her office a little early and finish up at the coworking space, taking calls in private. While parents can work full-time from the coworking space, they also have the option to work a few hours in the morning or a few hours in the evening before pick-up.
This is on top of Kids & Co’s existing services for kids and families, including organic meals and a French program. But even with the current high cost of daycare, Kid & Co’s rates are high: $2,890 a month, according to the Globe. But could it be setting a trend that less pricey daycare providers could offer? After all, as the Kid & Co cofounder told the newspaper, it’s not that expensive to add a room for adults to work in. “The childcare is the harder piece to operate. The desks in the room are easy to deliver.”
The Seaport coworking space is the second that Kid & Co has added to one of their centers. The first, in Toronto, was opened in the spring. In addition to offering desks, there is a nursing room, though the space itself is separate and out of sight of the kids. While it’s early days and no one knows how often parents will take advantage of the feature, the Globe profile looks at how this is an extension of services many nurseries already provide. Daycares in corporate offices have long offered convenience for working parents. Now that a growing number of people are contractors and self-employed, it might make sense to flip that model and attach offices to the daycares instead.
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