Cary playspace to offer some mask-free time slots
Family support, repeater campers, amazing staff and a slow return to normalcy are all things Benjie Davis is over-the-moon grateful for this year. February 7th, marked the first anniversary of opening the indoor kid playspace Over the Moon in Cary.
His plans for the space started before the pandemic. It's of course been a huge challenge that wasn't part of the original business plan. But he has adapted and so has his family.
I first introduced the Go Ask Mom family to Over the Moon last year after we held our daughter's birthday party there. It was a blast (see what I did there?).
I caught up with Benjie to talk about celebrating his first year of the business. From babies taking their first steps, to celebrating more than 300 birthday parties to taking 16 metric tons of carbon out of the atmosphere by purchasing carbon credits, it's certainly a lot to celebrate.
Just today, the business announced plans for offering mask-free play during selected time slots. Most play times do require masks though, so pay attention when you are booking your time slot. Read the announcement on their Facebook page here.
Over the Moon is also celebrating their anniversary with some new play equipment and more camps.
Over the Moon opened its doors one year ago! What has been the biggest challenge in terms of navigating Covid concerns?
Benjie: Well, you may have noticed that there are some… strong feelings about… everything right now. We have our own feelings, and they have also changed over time as the situation has changed. The biggest challenge has been making sure we’re balancing the current scientific understanding and the comfort level of all of our guests. It seems like we’re walking on the tip of a ridge with a precipice on both sides, trying to make sure our guests and employees can be as safe as possible, while also not angering people who think we’re doing either too much or not enough.
Our family and business has been on the very cautious side of things, but I think the coming challenge for all of us as a society is: What now? Now that Omicron is dropping rapidly, and everyone 5 and up can be vaccinated with hopefully younger kids coming soon, when is the right time to ease restrictions? How do we weigh the very real but impossible to measure long term impact of all the restrictions on our kids (and ourselves!) against the very real but decreasing risk of Covid? And how do we all start to feel comfortable again with things that used to be normal but we’ve learned to fear in the last two years?
How did those challenges shape your business decisions?
These challenges have clarified for me the need to support small local businesses, but not just for the reasons we usually think about. Big corporations have only one goal, which is to make money for their shareholders. Any policies they may have regarding Covid, or anything else, really boil down to: Which decision will make us more money?
Small businesses need to make money to survive, but they also live in the community and care about the people who are walking in the door. So as we have slowly increased the number of people who can play at once, we’re thinking not just about our bottom line, but also about our friends who work in hospitals, our kids’ classmates and teachers, and our employees' families. We have all had to make hard decisions in the last two years, but I’d rather have those decisions being made by someone who lives in our community than by a spreadsheet in another state.
In order to make it through this year, we have had to be creative and flexible. We had always planned to offer camps, but accelerated those plans to meet a pressing need for families. With the help of our amazing employees, we started offering Track Out Camps and Summer Camps, and we’ve gotten great feedback from kids and their parents. We have already had many repeat campers, and our summer camps are filling up.
We’re also starting to do in-school field trips, which have allowed us to bring creative STEM projects to the kids where they already are, at a time when they’re not able to come to us for field trips.
One of your goals is to inspire kids through STEM education. What are some ways you incorporate STEM in your programs?
My personal not-so-secret mission is to one day have a kid who played at Over The Moon land on Mars. But space exploration is just a tiny piece of the STEM puzzle. We use games, design challenges, cool demonstrations, engaging books, and open-ended building/creating time to help kids learn to love science. We want kids to feel excited to engage and challenge themselves to learn and try new ideas.
On any given day at Over The Moon, kids may be building a tower out of our giant magnetic tiles, pretending to be astronauts in our spaceship, experimenting with gravity using our tube wall, or joining our daily STEM & Story Time (with a new activity each week!). Each week of our camp focuses on a different STEM theme. Campers create their own slime, shoot off rockets, and explore the sand for dinosaur fossils.
It’s also really important to us to create an inclusive environment where all kids feel empowered to explore their STEM side. We know how important it is for kids to be able to envision themselves as scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. We make sure to highlight scientists from all over the world, scientists who are women, scientists of color, etc.
I feel like working moms always get asked this question so I'd love to have your perspective as a dad and business owner. What are some of the challenges or conflicts you face trying to balance both roles?
Honestly, this is really hard in so many ways. Opening a kid-oriented business during a pandemic has been extremely stressful for our family. While I’ve been working a bajillion hours trying to get a new business off the ground, my wife is the one with a stable job, and she has certainly felt pressure to take on more than her share of parenting tasks as I’ve been working so much. We keep thinking we see the light at the end of the tunnel, but can’t tell if it’s actually an oncoming truck.
In the meantime, I try to be mentally present as much as I can when I am physically present, but I must admit that I’m writing these answers while my wife is starting the bedtime routine.
On the more positive side of things, one of the most rewarding parts of the last year is the sense of pride and ownership our kids have about the business. They have been included from the beginning, whether it’s putting together chairs and tables, picking out the best climbing structures and toys, or coming up with ideas for camps. My family has been so unbelievably supportive and understanding through the ups and downs of this year.
On the evening of our first anniversary, my kids made congratulatory posters and surprised me with cake and sparkling grape juice. I don’t think I’ll ever forget how excited they were that night!
Tara Lynn is a former WRAL reporter and anchor. She lends her 15-plus years in journalism to tell visual stories through love-filled photography for families of all kinds. The mother of three little humans and one senior rescue dog believes in celebrating magic in the little things, the big loves, and the imperfect moments that make the most remarkable memories. Her vision is to help families celebrate and share their love through photography and curated album artwork that become timeless keepsakes connecting multiple generations...because moments often pass in the blink of an eye, and the photographs we take connect us to our memories and our great loves, forever.
You can find Tara Lynn on Instagram at @TaraLynn_andCo and TaraLynnAndCo.com. Learn more about her photography at TaraLynnAndCoPhoto.com.
