Profile: Deborah Tillman
How one working mother got angry and opened a daycare center
Deborah Tillman took matters into her own hands--she opened a daycare center to provide the kind of childcare she wanted for her son and other children
On a busy weekday morning, you can find Deborah Tillman, founder of Happy Home Child Learning Centers, greeting parents and children as the day begins at Happy Home I or II. Ms. Tillman, as is her custom, is dressed in a suit and heels, but that does not mean she is not hands-on. As the founder and director of a successful daycare center that began in her apartment, her duties are many. She oversees operations at two locations that care for children that range from 12 months to 5 years old. Regina Wynn, Assistant Director, says that Tillman follows the rules, as far as operations, but that she is also “progressive in her thinking”. Tillman hugs children and ushers them into the right classroom. She meets with politicians to advocate for early childhood education. She also changes diapers.
Happy Home Child Learning Centers has two locations, both in Alexandria, Virginia. The first, referred to as Happy Home 1, has 4 classrooms, and 53 students. Happy Home II has 5 spacious classrooms, along with a multipurpose room. It has the capacity for 86 students. One location is the only childcare center in the city that closes at 6:30 pm, giving busy parents extra time to pick up their little ones.
A mother's motivation
In 1994, Deborah Tillman worked outside of the home and she had to place her own son in daycare. She truly has some horror stories to tell about her family’s experiences. Once she picked her son up to find that he had been left in the car seat, wearing his coat, all day. She went through seven childcare providers in all before taking matters into her own hands. The final straw was when she left work early to get Zeplyn and found him facing the wall with a bottle in his mouth. The wall had been used to prop up the bottle and the baby was swallowing air from the empty bottle.
How she got started
Tillman quit her job and decided that not only could she do better for her son, but she could do better for other children as well. Soon the former accountant was licensed to provide childcare in her home, with her son and his best friend as her first students. Four years after quitting her job to care for her son, she had moved out of her home into Happy Home I’s current location and opened a second center. She also went on to earn a Masters degree in Early Childhood Special Education. Tillman also did a lot of training in the methods of renowned educator, Marva Collins.
She chose High Scope as the curriculum because it addresses the whole child: fine/gross motor skills, social relations, and spatial representation. She is quick to say, however, that there is no “one size fits all” curriculum.
At Happy Home, the goal is “not perfection, but excellence,” Tillman says.
High ideals
Tillman is concerned with educating the whole child, so the reach of the school extends to the entire family. Tillman is also not shy about requiring effort from parents. There are family nights--social outings that allow families connected with Happy Home to interact. The school has a Parent Advisory Council comprised of interested parents who volunteer to help the centers run more smoothly.
Just as she has high hopes for Happy Home’s children, Tillman has some goals of her own. She wants to build her own center because Happy Home’s current locations are housed in rented space. She is also interested in doing more to help children with special needs.
Each year, Happy Home, holds a graduation ceremony for its graduates, who will move on to kindergarten. And each year, former students come back to participate in the graduation. Not many preschools get return visits from former students.
