Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Ford.
Hi Crystal, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
On January 1, 2017, I established Loving Arms with the intention of launching a Child Care Center located in Calvert County. The center provides child care services to families in the middle and northern part of Calvert County. Loving Arms Childcare Center is located at 700 Yardley Drive, Prince Frederick, MD 20678. Our goal is to eventually have three locations. We opened our second location in August of 2023 in Calvert County.
Employment Background –
I worked as an educator in Maryland public schools from September, 2000 – June 2017. I worked as a special educator for the past 8 years. While working as an educator, I developed skills in lesson planning, administration, and curriculum development. I am looking forward to the opportunity to launch this new career by owning and operating my own child care center.
Personal background –
I am an educator and mother of 4 adult children. I started out in education during my senior year in high school by working at a daycare center through a work study program at my school. Growing up, I never imagined that I would work with children. I always imagined doing something relating to art or the performing arts. However, a teacher approached me one day and persuaded me to give education a try. Like they say, the rest is history. Over the past 33 years, I have worked as a pre-school teacher, childcare center director, and elementary and middle school teacher. When it comes it comes to quality child care, I believe that I have acquired a wealth of knowledge. Early on in my career, when my children were much younger, it was sometimes a challenge to find quality childcare. Often, I had to scramble and settle and hope for the best. I often spent countless days at work wondering and hoping that my children were being cared for in a safe, nurturing, and educationally focus environment. For years, it has been my goal to open a childcare center where the mission would be to care for the whole child.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We were just entering our third year of operations when the pandemic hit in 2020. In February and April of 2020, our daycare was operating at full capacity. We had a great team of staff, who were enthusiastic about coming in to work every day. Our business was at it’s peak of successful. Things began to move rapidly. In early March of 2020, I recall hearing about the impact Covid-19 was having on other parts of the country, and the false sense of security that it would not impact our area. A month later, things began to quickly progress. We learned that businesses would have to shut down, and family would have to shut in at home. In May of 2020, we received notice that all daycares in Maryland would have to close, and would need to submit a request to reopen as an essential business to provide care for essential workers only. This impacted our enrollment significantly, causing us to lose 80 percent of our enrollment in less than one month. Virtual meetings and conference calls quickly became our best means of communication, We had to learn to doing everything virtually, from staying in touch and checking in on our families, creating and sending out videos of teachers demonstrating circle time and lesson plans at home on their kitchen counter, online school, and hosting our annual Christmas progam virtually for the first time in order to provide some type of familiarity to our daycare community.
In 2021, our enrollment started to pick back up. Because of social distancing, we had to control our enrollment numbers. We had to learn how to monitor, identify, report and implement a plan of action when addressing Covid cases. We quickly had to adjust how we approached emergencies and the way we operated in general. Any measure of concern was a cause to close the daycare. Our parents tremendously relied on our services, therefore, if we had to close it affected them.
Fast forward to 2025, since the pandemics end, we have become more confident and fluid in the way we approach emergencies.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
On January 1, 2017, I established Loving Arms with the intention of launching a Child Care Center located in Calvert County. The center provides child care services to families in the middle and northern part of Calvert County. Loving Arms Childcare Center is located at 700 Yardley Drive, Prince Frederick, MD 20678. Our goal is to eventually have three locations. We opened our second location in August of 2023 in Calvert County.
What matters most to you? Why?
Providing our clients with professional service, in a safe atmosphere, is extremely important to me. Our parents are entrusting their most precious assets, their children, into our care,
Pricing:
- Child Care Registration Fee $50
- Child Care Registration Fee $35 if this article is mentioned
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.2lovingarms.com
- Instagram: 2lovingarms
- Facebook: 2lovingarms
