One of the best-known landmarks in Birch Cliff, the former TD Canada Trust branch at Kingston Rd. and Warden Ave., may soon be paying dividends for the parents of Birch Cliff.
Local entrepreneur Jennifer Naraine, 30, is transforming the distinctive building at 1448 Kingston Rd. into Little Bugs Nursery, a child care centre for toddlers and preschoolers under the age of five.
On its website, the daycare is advertising a developmentally appropriate approach to child care, structured indoor and outdoor activities, sensory and language development, as well as reading.
Once it’s open Little Bugs will care for 25 children with a staff ratio of 1:4 for toddlers and 1:8 for preschoolers under the supervision of a director who is a Registered Early Childhood Educator.
Jennifer Naraine and son Noah.
Naraine said she hopes to launch in fall and interest from local parents has been high.
“I have a lot of parents emailing me and calling me, saying, “When are you open?” Everybody’s desperate. They need to go back to work,” Naraine said.
Waiting on permits and variances
Naraine said the opening of Little Bugs Nursery is behind schedule because construction has been delayed while she waits for a series of permits, applications and variances to be approved by the city.
In addition to the standard zoning and building applications, Naraine is required by law to build an outdoor play area where the current parking lot is located. But the site also needs to have enough parking spaces for parents, which adds to the complicated situation.
At some point, a Committee of Adjustment hearing will be held and neighbours will be given an opportunity to comment and, if they wish, offer letters of support.
Sneak peek at renovations
Interior renovations will begin once the necessary permits have been obtained. Naraine recently gave Birch Cliff News a sneak peek of the facility and described her vision for the space.
Children and their parents will enter through a small wall of cubbies that divides the open concept main floor into one area for toddlers and one for preschoolers.
Little Bugs Nursery arts and crafts area.
The back of the space will include an arts and crafts room, a reading nook, two bathrooms and a kitchenette. The old TD bank vault is being soundproofed and will be turned into a small staff room.
The basement is being renovated to include a mommy/baby yoga room and a multi-purpose space for parent workshops on topics such as CPR and dental hygiene for children.
“We’re going to have education courses like CPR for parents, which we feel is really necessary. We’ll have a dentist come and help us learn how to brush toddlers’ teeth. It’s a great space. You have to be able to see the vision but it’s worth it,” Naraine said.
Naraine is a native of the GTA who has spent the last 15 years living overseas.
She went to high school in Switzerland and attended university in Dubai, where her fashion design and marketing training led to PR work with brands such as Dior, Carolina Herrera and Disney Paris.
Seeking a change in direction, she moved to Sri Lanka and volunteered at an orphanage. She’s currently studying for a Master’s Degree in Psychology at the University of Toronto.
When Naraine returned to Canada as a single mom in 2019 she said she found it challenging to find the right daycare for her son, Noah.
Among other things, she was asked to pay a deposit to get on a waiting list, a practice that was banned by the Ontario government in 2016.
“I mean no disrespect to any daycares in the city, but I’ve just found that people are very money hungry. And they forget the reason why they opened daycares. I don’t have a vision to be a humongous factory of daycares. I just want to be this small community daycare,” Naraine said.
Eventually, she found a small, “amazing” Scarborough daycare for Noah where the staff was “awesome” and focussed on more than just toys.
“I thought it was really challenging to find the right daycare, to be honest, as a mom. So then, I was like, I’m gonna open my own,” Naraine said.
I do hope this works out, but the outdoor land looks difficult. Frankly, I don’t see why parking space is needed for parents, there are lots of spaces on the street(s) for short-term parking! Maybe they can get some kind of agreement/easement/whatever for the unused space in the adjacent alley? Is Gary onside for this? That existing parking lot is very close to a very busy street; might be an issue. TTC could easily remove their existing stop bang in front of it, and use the stop that already exists about 50 feet north around the corner on Kingston Road(dedicated to #12), since both buses are not terribly frequent! I’ve never understood why there are both stops so close together. Looks like a nice proposed space, in a neighbourhood that surely to Heaven needs it!