As a first time parent one of the most concerning things was to figure out where my child would be while I worked my full-time job and my husband worked over the road. We were so blessed to have had the most wonderful early childhood facility built not 2 miles from our home. From the moment I walked in I knew this was the exact right place for my son and we have been so thankful for the people that have taken care of him and have taught him so much for these first two years of his life. 

Now, at the end of 2021,  after a crazy couple of years. We , along with many other families, are  facing the possibility of losing the only place we would want to send our Children because of the world that we live in.

Our teachers at Willow Tree Academy in Murfreesboro Tennessee are some of the best people I know;  and are on a very short list of people I would want to care for my child. They work long hours and are responsible for the most important beings in our life, are children. Yet, they are the least paid and monetarily underappreciated people I know. I have learned a lot about the early childcare business over the last few months watching them struggle to retain staff and to hire more. As parents we have tried to do anything we can to show love and appreciation to them. But what I’ve learned along with many other parents is at the end of the day if our Willow Tree doesn’t get funding to pay employees more money they will eventually have to shut their doors

There are more people in this world currently that don’t work and choose not to work for various reasons. But on top of that when big-name companies can afford to pay whatever people want to get them in the door, there leaves no reason for people to apply at places such as Willow Tree because they simply cannot compete.

The point of this petition is to simply ask our local, state, federal government to make it a priority to help our daycare system to take care of our children. They deserve much more than they get for what they do for our families.

As parents we want to be able to keep our children there  but we want them to be there with the right people, in the right place. We don’t choose to put our children in daycare for fun. It is a necessity and in order for us to continue to do our jobs well we need them to be somewhere we trust somewhere that is safe somewhere that helps them thrive.
So as a parent I am simply asking the state, to find a way to support our center financially and all of the daycare centers so parents can get back to work, and our families can get back to learning and loving and living in this amazing country the way we should be.

Thank you in advance❤️