WINSTED — For 22 years, Karen Welcome has been a teacher, but it’s been her work in the last 15 years as an early childhood educator and owner of Smile Face Daycare and Nursery School that have been the most rewarding.
Welcome, a Winsted resident since she was a toddler herself, attended local schools, including Gilbert, before earning her degree from Central Connecticut State University in elementary education in 1987. While taking classes, she met her husband, Bob, and they were married in 1977. Together they have two daughters, Courtney and Allison, who both work at the family-run day-care center.
After earning her teaching certificate, Welcome raised her children and taught fourth grade at St. Anthony School in Winsted for six years before exploring the idea of working outside the municipal school system and opening a pre-school center.
As fate would have it, Welcome learned that a Winsted woman, Mary Ellen Babbins, was moving out of the area and was selling her long-time pre-school business. Babbins opened Smile Face in the 1970s and, according to Welcome, it may very well have been the first pre-school in the Winsted area.
“I happened to just call her because I was thinking of doing a pre-school and wanted to talk to her. She mentioned that she was selling [the business],� said Welcome.
While she said that early childhood education was not her area of expertise in the beginnning, Welcome decided that purchasing the previously established business, complete with an active client base, was a good idea. She moved the site from Babbins’ Pratt Street location, to her home on Smith Hill Road. She then hired Jan Sosnicki, a well-known early childhood educator, to design the curriculum for the school.
“I had to get relicensed,� said Welcome. “We had to make sure everything met all of the state standards, but I was able to get a head teacher certificate.�
When she first took over Smile Face, Welcome stuck with the original program: children ages 3 through 10, for pre-school and before- and after-school care. About four years ago, she added a toddler program.
“We had so many requests,� said Welcome, about the toddler classes. “There really is a need for that age.�
For a brief time she also welcomed infants to the center, but in the end decided that the 18-month to 10-year age range was more appropriate, since infants really need one-on-one individual attention and her school has a strong focus on social interaction.
While Smile Face is a day-care center, Welcome said hers is unique in the sense that they are not a huge operation, which can be intimidating to new families.
“Rather than a large center, it’s more a family center. You don’t get that institutional feeling when you walk in,� said Welcome. “My goal is that I want to look around the room and see happy faces. You want that feeling.�
Welcome’s daughters also work with the children five days a week. Both have educational backgrounds in child development and have worked at the family business for several years.
“With a lot of centers there’s a lot of turnover with staff and it’s very disruptive. [Children] need continuity. We’ve been here and it’s basically a family-run business,� said Welcome.
As for the curriculum, Welcome said her program offers a good mix of academics as well as social/emotional development. While the ABC’s are important, learning how to interact with other children is just as important at the pre-school age.
“It’s the first experience for many of [the children] away from home. So it’s important to get the foundation for everything that follows. Children need to feel love and support for who they are, but they need to understand boundaries and rules and what they are for,� said Welcome.
She said she teaches more now than she ever did in the elementary schools.
“I don’t think people realize with early childhood how much you are a teacher. The parent is the first teacher and the provider teacher as well, especially with the three- and four-year-olds. There’s a lot of learning needed, to be part of the group in the playschool room, because a lot of them haven’t had the experience of being at home or with siblings.�
For those looking for a daycare or pre-school, Smile Face is accepting applications for the toddler, pre-school and before- and after-school programs. The center is open from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, call 860-379-1151.
