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Mammoth Kidz Care getting kids unplugged |
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Saturday, 04 July 2009 |
By Erick Sugimura
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
 Mammoth Times Photo/Erick Sugimura. Cherilin Berndt of Mammoth Kidz Care
Mammoth Kidz Care offers a blend of day camp and baby sitting that appeals to parents who want their children to experience the outdoors and not just be ‘plugged in’ to TV or video games while in day care.
“Mammoth Kidz Care is about bringing children back into nature,” Berndt said. “Movies, TV, video games... they’re rotting kid’s minds,” Berndt said.
Summer activities include horseback riding, fishing, skate park visits, birding and bike riding. With the slogan, “Leave No Child Inside,” Berndt hopes to begin a summer camp program.
Berndt envisions the camp program to run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (plenty of time for mom and dad to take that long hike, attend a wedding or just get some time off from the kids) where snacks, drinks and lunch are included. Parents would only have to drop off their kids with “bathing suits, towels and a bike.”
As a licensed, insured and bonded day care service, Berndt and her staff pass background checks, know CPR and basic first aid, have 5-10 years experience, provide a 1:5 provider to child ratio and arrive at the home, condo or hotel fully loaded with art materials, books, games and more.
Berndt, known as simply “C” to friends and clients, moved to Mammoth five years ago from Orange County with a degree in experiential education and experience working with children with disabilities.
“I love being that positive person in a child’s life,” Berndt said.
Her passion for working with children started in a Regional Occupation Program where she volunteered as an Orange County outdoor education counselor when she was 15.
“That was my way of getting out of school,” she joked.
She enjoyed working outside with the kids so much that she stayed with it through high school and eventually started working for the Orange County School District doing outdoor education programs that taught about flora, fauna, scat, tree identification and animal track recognition.
That work led to some time as an independent contractor, which diversified her experience with company retreats, school programs, backcountry trips, inner city youth programs and a few brushes with celebrity, such as the Olsen twins, Wolfie Van Halen and Magic Johnson’s children.
“What picked Mammoth for me is that I love the mountains and I’m still close enough to my family,” Berndt said of her relocation to the Sierra.
In Mammoth, Berndt volunteered for Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra for almost five seasons.
“I loved it,” Berndt said. She taught children with a range of disabilities and learned to pass on the kind of experience “that they want to come back and do it again.”
In the winter of 2008, Berndt decided that her ultimate goal was to work for herself and with kids. With a friend, she started Mammoth Kidz Care in December.
At one point, the business had five employees, including herself. She said she has about half-a-dozen families that call her every time they come to Mammoth. “People are telling other people,” Berndt said.
Berndt provides all her employees with liability releases, report forms to show parents what their kids did and a large plastic bin of educational games, toys and activities to take with them, for which the local Booky Joint gave her a discount to get started.
“We’re bringing toys and games,” Berndt said before emphasizing that Mammoth Kidz Care is the only insured and bonded nanny service in town.
“For starting in a poor economy, we’ve had 50 clients,” Berndt said. “My goal is to do this full time, year round.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 13 July 2009 )
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