THE DALLES — Last October, a unique facility opened in the Gorge, an area without enough childcare for everyone, let alone bilingual childcare. Rivera’s Bilingual Childcare Center provides care to children aged 0-3 years, and fills a community need. Rivera's already has a waiting list until June, said Ana Rivera, founder and director, at a ribbon-cutting on March 26.
Rivera also operates a childcare center for school-aged children. A third center, is set to open in June.
“It took me a year to open this place. It’s not easy,” said Rivera. “I had to hire a contractor. Engineer. I hired an architect. Construction.”
Thus, a house-full of little rooms was transformed into an airy gallery of child-friendly spaces, complete with a fenced yard. Toys and posters color the walls.
“That was a challenge,” Rivera admitted, almost inaudible over the noise of guests and playing children.
Staffed by a cook, bilingual teachers, and a substitute director, Rivera’s provides breakfast, lunch, nap-times, and bilingual learning activities in everything from math and science to motor skills. Babies get special care, of course, following a schedule provided by the parents, who “know them better than we will,” Rivera explained. Several slots are still available for infants.
Spanish is the main focus language, with English coming second. “We’re not going to sit them down in here to do the exam,” Rivera said. “So everything is pretty much hands-on learning.”
Ana Rivera, left, meets with staff and visitors while children play.
Flora Gibson photo
And everything is edible. For this reason they can’t use sand, so when the teachers need a sandy substrate — for instance, when they need something for an educational bug to sit on — they use ground-up Oreo cookies. “You talk about, like, what kind of bug is it? What color is it? Where do you think it comes from?” Rivera said. “You got to remember, they put everything in their mouth.”
The children soak up this bilingual education, she said. “Their brain is like a sponge ... So we have kids that are more fluent than in English.”
Rivera started her childcare businesses after caring for her child’s allergies and commuting to a traditional job became incompatible. She educated herself for the work, starting with community college classes, and is currently studying for her master’s in education.
“When I had my child, I wasn’t able to go back to work because we have very few places that cater to kids between the ages of 0-3,” said Substitute Director Winter Marcum. “This center gives us a place for parents to have their kids have a safe environment. And they can know that their child is cared for when they go back to work.” Marcum, who spent the last few years studying early childhood education, runs the center’s day-to-day activities.
Rivera’s Bilingual Childcare Center provides care to children aged 0-3 years, and fills a community need.
Flora Gibson photo
“I hope it grows,” Rivera said. “I’m the first actually Hispanic provider that has a center.” She gets customers from across the Gorge, where such childcare is in demand; and places like Dufur, where childcare facilities like this are absent, she said.
Rivera’s takes private, military, and DHS payments. She said this center is fairly accessible, although care for infants can be expensive. “They’re the most delicate ones. They require so much attention,” she explained.
She takes on that much work because “This is my passion,” said Rivera. “Kids. My favorite are preschoolers because they pretty much say whatever. They’re eager to learn.” Of babies, “I love it that I get to cuddle and love them and then they go home,” she noted, laughing.
It’s Marcum’s passion too. “They’re just experiencing the world for the first time,” she said. “And I just like, being able to experience that with them, and teach them and kind of be part of that journey.”
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