At the end of a small cul-de-sac stands a two-story house clad in white and brown, its lawn hugging the curved sidewalk and street. It’s nestled there within a truncated stretch of Garfield Avenue and in between a series of homes that could be found just about anywhere in Hazel Park. It may look like an ordinary house on an ordinary street; it’s most definitely not.

It’s upstairs where Beth Nickerson lives, but the main floor belongs to Ms. Beth.

“I’ve always been taught that if you’re going to do something, do it right or don’t do it at all. My dad was a very big advocate of that,” Nickerson says.

As such, it likely comes as no surprise to those that know her that Nickerson has sacrificed her own living quarters to dedicate more space to the infants and young children she and her staff care for here at Little Bloomers Childcare, a state-licensed childcare provider. What started with a dedicated childcare area in the front of the house has since expanded to cover the entirety of the first floor, as well as spilling out into all of her backyard.

Her dining room now has a toddler-sized craft table with toddler-sized seats. It’s here where Ms. Beth and her employees lead the children through crafts and activities at various points throughout the day. And it’s here where Beth Nickerson sits down for dinner after the young ones have gone home – toddler-sized seats and all.

Nickerson wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I have three rooms upstairs, and that’s my living space. So that might be the only thing someone would say is a downfall” of running an in-home childcare business, Nickerson says.

“But when you love what you do, is it really work?”



Close-knit communities

When people talk about community, they talk about Nickerson’s Hazel Park. Family means a lot here, and that definition of family stretches well beyond blood relation. Nickerson moved here in 2010, first as an in-home grandma with her son’s family on Coy Street before moving to her Garfield Avenue home, just two blocks away, in 2016. Nickerson counts her 19-year-old granddaughter among her three employees, all of whom are from Hazel Park. Even her two youngest grandsons attended daycare here.

Of the few hundred children Little Bloomers has cared for since first launching in 2011, Nickerson says that approximately 70 percent of them have been from Hazel Park. Sometimes she runs into them at the store, and sometimes the toddlers from her first year in business have already grown taller than Ms. Beth herself.

“The fact that they remember me makes me feel good. I’ve left a positive impact on that family, which is what I want. I want to leave a positive impact on families and children so that when the kids get older, they want to go to school and they’re not afraid to go to school,” she says. “I want them to be excited to learn.”

Hazel Park can be a close-knit community, she says, and she appreciates how people help each other out. Just one block north of Little Bloomers, on Mapledale, is the Hazel Park Take It or Leave It Pantry. Akin to a Little Free Library one might see in this neighborhood or that, the Take It or Leave It Pantry offers free perishable food items to those in need, humbly provided from an outdoor cupboard built in someone's front yard.

Hazel Park Take It or Leave It Pantry at 569 E. Mapledale Ave.

“My granddaughter Chloe, she’s 13. She’s always asking, Do you have anything you want to put in there? She loves to go over and add to it,” Nickerson says. “And I like that because something like the pantry teaches our youth how important it is to give, share, and to look out for each other.”

That spirit extends through Nickerson’s philosophy for Little Bloomers. It’s why she keeps her rates more affordable than many other childcare centers around the area, in-home or otherwise. And in keeping her childcare services in-home while leading a small staff, Nickerson and her team can provide more quality time to a group of infants and toddlers that never tops 14 children.

“I think it’s really important that the kids get to know us and we get to know them, so that we can better meet their needs,” she says.

“I’ve always been taught that if you’re going to do something, do it right or don’t do it at all. My dad was a very big advocate of that,” Nickerson says.A way of living

As Nickerson decided to offer more and more of her living space to better meet the needs of Little Bloomers, her daycare expanded from her front room and into her dining room-turned-craft area, and eventually into her living room and beyond. One room is designed for toddlers, and a separate room is designed for infants. There are two different toddler nap rooms – one for the easy sleepers and another for those who might take a minute. And her kitchen serves breakfast and lunch to the children as part of the Mid Michigan Child Care Food Program.

Leading a Mother Goose Time-accredited preschool program each September through June, Nickerson plans to focus on providing more science lessons and hands-on activities this coming season. In her downtime, she’s been scrolling social media looking for science projects – she’s found, and saved, many.

Whether she’s upstairs or downstairs, she’s always Ms. Beth.

“I'm always thinking about daycare. I really am. It doesn't stop at five o'clock,” Nickerson says.

“It's like a way of living.”

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