Jumping for joy over new daycare center

When stay-at-home mom Lindsay Jenkins decided to return to school, she needed to find care for her 2-year-old son Jaxon. Who did she look to? Those she knew.
Jaxon attends Jumping Jax Kids daycare center in Hayfield, which opened last month and has dozens of kids enrolled. Owner Kelli Jax held an open house and ribbon cutting on Saturday, Sept. 7, and many community members turned out in support.
“It’s a big improvement,” said Hayfield resident Stan Arendts. “People have a chance to bring their children and it gives the community a chance to grow.”
For Jaxon, the transition to a daycare center has been seamless. For his mother, not so much. “I cried. He didn’t,” Jenkins said as Jaxon played during the open house. Jenkins had gone to Jumping Jax Kids owner Kelli Jax’s mother’s in-home daycare herself as a child, and decided to return to the family for Jaxon’s daycare needs so she can attend community college classes in Austin three days a week.
“He really enjoys it,” Jenkins said of Jaxon. “I figured he’d blossom after he got here, and he has. He just goes in and he’s ready for his day. I get here to pick him up and he doesn’t want to go home. He’s like, ‘Mom, I’m good.’”
Finding daycare is a challenge these days, especially for those living in small towns. Jax decided Hayfield was the ideal spot for her daycare center, as it’s positioned near other towns where parents are in need of child care.
“Being on Highway 30, it’s super easy for people to get here,” Jax said, adding that they serve families from an array of small towns in the area.
Jax’s daycare is divided into rooms by age group for the kids. Employee Amy Johnson works in the infant room with eight babies and said, “I like playing with them.”
Kayla Rehnelt, 17, of Hayfield, comes after school two afternoons a week to work at Jumping Jax Kids. Rehnelt wants to become an elementary school teacher and thinks Jumping Jax Kids gives her “a really good opportunity.”
Jax said the community has gone to great lengths to help her get her business of the ground. Rebecca Charles, Hayfield Economic Development Authority director, said the daycare center “is a huge deal for Hayfield. It’s a need. The majority of Minnesota is really struggling with child care needs. When it’s right here, it’s going to save people so much.”