Even at the end of the day, with some kids gone and a trickle of parents coming through the door to fetch the remaining ones, Tumbleweeds Child Care hums with energy.
Celeste Oberg, owner and director, sits in a rocker in the section of the Wilton center that is dedicated to infants. But even then, her vigilant eye doesn’t miss much, spying a child playing with one of the gates that divides up Tumbleweeds into sections for different ages.
It’s an instinct that’s been honed by 28 years of experience. But this week, Oberg’s home and business, which share a property, will be going up for sale as she looks to retire.
She’s hoping, though, that Tumbleweeds or a worthy successor is able to survive her departure. She’ll be looking to sell the child care center as a turn-key business, and that the right person will want to continue providing day care services as she has in the location for nearly 30 years.
“My hope is that there will be someone that wants to keep the integrity of Tumbleweeds intact,” said Oberg. “And keep my morals and high standards. It’s a perfect situation for someone like myself and my husband, who perhaps has a family and would lie in the house. It worked well for us.”
Oberg opened Tumbleweeds in October of 1989, when she purchased the property at 31 Prince Street, a mere stone’s throw from the Florence Rideout Elementary School in Wilton. At the time, she and her family lived in Milford, she said, and rented out the home on the property and transformed the barn into a child care center.
“I looked for about a year for the perfect place,” said Oberg. “This was perfect.”
At the start, Tumbleweeds was a much smaller organization. Now, they’re licensed to care for 59 children – and are currently near-capacity with 57.
Oberg said she knew when she bought the property that she was looking to start a daycare center – she had previously run a licensed daycare out of her home for six years, and worked with special needs children and in kindergarten classes.
“I just really love everything about it,” said Oberg. “The families especially. It’s a safe place people can bring their children and not have to worry about it, and it’s a good feeling to know that I can provide that.”
Since the daycare has been in business nearly 30 years, it’s not unusual now that children in her care are second generation, said Oberg.
Recently, Angie Calo, 16, of Milford, has begun working as a carer at the center, which she remembers fondly from her younger years, when she attended.
“I loved it here. I was always excited to come,” said Calo, who said both her mother and her sister have also worked at Tumbleweeds and recommended it to her as a first job. Now, she gets to experience things from the other side.
“I love hanging with kids. They all have different personalities and was they interact.”
That’s something Oberg can attest to, as well.
“Things make you laugh all the time, just the things that the kids say,” she said. “I should have been writing them down all these years, because I could have written a really thick book.”
Oberg said she will miss the people and children, but she’s reaching an age where she’s ready to step back and focus on her own grandchildren.
“It is a bit double-edged, because I am going to miss it, the staff, the families, and my Victorian home, but it’s time,” she said. “It’s not that I’m burnt out, because I still love coming in every day, but it is a lot of your life. Even on weekends, there’s things to do.”
The house and business will be sold together, listed through Colliers International.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.