Playful Grounds and Tera

Once upon a time there was a girl named Tera. She spent her early adult life having a great deal of fun. She studied and trained. She worked hard and she played hard. She went to nightclubs, spent lots of money on taxis, stayed out all night and ate out all the time. You get the picture. She hooked up with a great guy named Duff (yes, like the beer on the Simpsons), and together they had lots more fun. They traveled to lots of interesting places and lived in Asia for awhile. Then they came home and Tera realized that she was not a spring chicken anymore and it was time for offspring. Enter Kai the complete and utter love of her life. She grew up thinking that all that fun that she had in her 20`s and, um, 30`s was really just for young people; that mothers are no longer interested in that kind of fun. But when she became a mother herself she realized that was, well... utter crap.

On the way to the drop in centre, a place for children and their parents, she found herself walking past cafés and looking longingly through the window at the people enjoying a latte, a sandwich, a glass of wine. She wondered if there were no place she could go that was a place for parents and their children? An adult place. A sophisticated place. The kind of place she went to before she crossed over from being a woman to being a mother. Then she realized that there is no place like that.

So she opened one. Playful Grounds is for us, the parents. It`s not kiddified. It`s a place to relax and enjoy your coffee, your meal, your drink. The difference is that it has everything you need to occupy your child while you enjoy yourself.

Here are a few of the things we`ve implemented so far to make your life easier:

• Bathrooms on the main floor
• little stools in each bathroom stall and a tall stool at each sink
• change table in a large bathroom
• lots of high chairs and booster seats
• spare bibs for use (`cause I always forgot Kai`s)
  
• sippy cups and bowls with suction
  
• dairy and non-dairy kids drinks
  
• small water cups for small hands
• main menu and mini menu with healthy food (available to anyone regardless of age)
• a play area with a kitchenette, train table, puzzles, toys and books for kids and parents
• ample stroller parking inside and out
• a rack of $1 items, the kind of things you run out of all the time such as diapers, baby mum-mums, bananas, etc...
• the list goes on and on.....

The goal is to provide a relaxing ambiance where you can chill out, network with others, have a coffee or a glass of wine or whatever you need to just feel like a person again because this is not a kiddie cafe. We spend all of our time going to places for the kids. This is a place for us but one which accommodates the wee ones in every way.

We will be open before months end. Stay tuned for more!