Zaira Tinoco, the lovely owner of KidCloud, a drop-in daycare center at The Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks, invited me and my boys to check out her newly opened location last month. My kids moaned and groaned – they hate leaving the house in general, and I can’t say I blame them. I don’t relish going to the mall the way the stereotyped suburban housewife does. But I was game to check it out, plus Tinoco suggested we have our meeting at We Olive, an olive-oil, balsamic vinegar, and wine-tasting shop at the other end of the mall, while my kids checked out the center.
KidCloud is located at the west end of the mall near Macy’s and the pet store on the second level. It’s basically a small indoor playground, where you check in your kids for $12 an hour. They take children from age 2 through age 10, and you get a discount for multiple kids. Need an hour to find a dress for that special holiday dinner, but shudder at the thought of trying on clothes while your toddler flees the dressing room as you’ve got your pants down around your ankles? Drop the kids at KidCloud and shop in peace. That’s the idea.
Check-in is easy – you just fill out a form and a waiver and leave your cell phone number in case the caregivers need to call you while you are shopping. The caregivers are energetic and watchful, and go through rigorous training to be able to work at KidCloud. They supervise the kids as they play with toys or on the play equipment, watch movies, or even play on tablets or WiiU systems set up in the facility.
I was worried that since my kids are older they would be bored. Then I assumed they would spend the whole time playing video games.
I was wrong.
The boys loved the ball pit and the giant plastic building blocks. They were at KidCloud for an hour and a half, and they didn’t want to leave when I returned to pick them up.
Since our visit 4 weeks ago, they have asked multiple times to return. “Don’t have any shopping to do, Mom?”
As the holidays are coming up and the mall might actually be useful to me, I might! And now you can win a chance to try them out for FREE. Enter here to win a 2-hour free coupon for a first-time user (one kid only) by leaving a comment between now and 11:59 PM on November 11, 2014, making sure to enter your email address. A random winner will be drawn from qualified entries and notified directly on November 12.
Readers of Agoura Hills Mom can try KidCloud with a 2-kids-for-1 offer just by showing this post when you sign in! Flash it on your smartphone or print it out and bring it in with you. Offer is good through 12/31/14.
