JUST KIDDING AROUND
With a ball pit, nap time and crafts, a Montreal couple is launching iChild, a preschool for adults, Marian Scott writes. ‘We want to give people the experience of pure happiness.’
If you feel nostalgic about playing with Lego and snuggling under your blankie at naptime, here’s a chance to relive those happy times.
A Montreal couple is opening a daycare centre where adults can reconnect with their inner child, whether it’s by dressing up or playing Ring a Ring o’ Rosie.
“We want to give people the experience of pure happiness,” said James Turner, who will launch iChild adult preschool with his wife, Inga, on June 16.
The parents of three ran a home daycare in Verdun for three years, but found the schedule gruelling, he said.
“We could never take a vacation,” said Turner, a real estate investor who owns small rental properties.
So when Inga, who worked as a pediatric nurse in her native Russia, saw a report on a preschool for grown-ups in Brooklyn, N. Y., a light bulb went on.
“She said, ‘I wish I could do something like that so I didn’t have to change diapers and be responsible for kids’ safety,’ ” he said.
Featuring a ball pit, karaoke and home-cooked meals like shepherd’s pie and mac ‘n’ cheese, the centre will give stressed-out professionals a chance to forget their cares, Turner said.
The couple invited staff members at their gym to try it out for a day and got rave reviews, he said, with one participant saying it was better than a month in Cuba.
In the past two years, nursery schools for grown-ups have been popping up from St. John’s, N.L., to Novosibirsk, Russia, and Melbourne, Australia.
In 2015, Michelle Joni Lapidos — a.k.a. Miss Joni — started Brooklyn’s Preschool Mastermind, offering weekly classes costing between $333 and $999 U.S. per term.
Turner said groups at iChild are limited to 10 at a time, with no cellphones allowed.
A typical six-hour day starts at 11 a.m. with games to get acquainted. After lunch, there’s a 30-40 minute nap, followed by more games and a snack of crepes with Nutella and syrup. Participants can choose between arts and crafts, exercise or social games, said Turner, a former physician who was born in eastern Ukraine but grew up in the United States.
Open Thursday through Sunday at 2210 Pie IX Blvd., it costs $80 per day on weekdays and $120 on weekends. For information, call 514-662-7064 or visit their Facebook page.