connect@houseofplayfulsoul.com
Our Mission
Helping Children Grow Personally, While Creating Impact As A Community
About
HOPS
House Of Playful Soul (HOPS) was founded on the principles of supporting our community through learning and connection together to make a bigger impact for our neighbors in need. We call this Play With Purpose.
My
Story
My name is Thuy Petersen. Thuy is pronounced “tee”. I am a mom of three (ages range from 2-8 years old). After having my first son, there were two things that became very clear to me. 1- I had to recognize that I didn’t know how to support his development. Not because I didn’t love him enough or because I didn’t want to. But because I literally was never taught or exposed to teaching development in babies. 2- There was no viable option for me to expose him to community work as a toddler. I was forced to reflect on these two things and how my childhood impacted both of these needs.
My family immigrated here from Vietnam in 1980. I say immigrated but in reality, they escaped Vietnam on boat in the middle of the night with a dream for a better life than what was left after the war. My mother being the oldest, was a single mom also raising her two younger brothers and a younger sister.
This meant she worked at least two jobs to help support everyone but with only an 8th grade education and limited time, she wasn’t equipped to provide us learning at all. Everything academic that my brothers and I learned was in school. At home, we played. and so that was how I thought life for a toddler should be.
But where my mother was limited in providing any education at home, she compensated with her big heart. There was a small population of foster Vietnamese kids where we grew up in LI and my mother became the surrogate mother to them all. Our house was always full and we always had kids in transition with us as they figured out their future. But this is just an example of my mother’s giving nature.
Growing up, I wasn’t able to recognize the impact this would have on me. But I also remember at times feeling resentful. That time and energy was given to others when I felt like I already was getting so little. That some of these people she helped, really didn’t deserve it and they were taking advantage of her. It took years and a good therapists before I realized she passed on this giving nature which I now admire and appreciate. So as I navigated being a first time mom, I would soon find out how significant both these things would mean in my life.
It honestly never occured to me that I had to “teach” my son anything. I mean I wasn’t “taught” anything. I thought I was supposed to lean into his interests. So I did. He loved being outdoors, cars, animals, reading, and big gross motor play. What he didn’t love was learning his letters, coloring or sitting for long periods of time. So we didn’t. What I now know is that I was missing information. I was a new mom and not connected on parent Facebook groups, I didn’t know what Pinterest was and I had no idea what was available to help me make learning fun and organic for him. So what did I do? I panicked and bought a ton of developmental toys and tools. And he wanted nothing to do with any of it….
But with the help of teachers, therapists and a growing community of mom friends, I began to learn. And the more I learned, I realized I wasn’t the only one. We were all learning and figuring things out in different ways and capacities.
House Of Playful Soul
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The time Came TO
Create HOPS
And so I opened a space build for young families. House Of Playful Soul (HOPS) was a space that cultivated learning and development for both parents and children, created connection for families, and provided ways for families to share in the joys of giving back together and meaningfully. Sounds awesome, right?
It was awesome! But we also opened up two weeks before the pandemic shut down. It was a very difficult time to open a new business, especially one that was built on actual connection. But I soon realized that this created a new opportunity to learn and grow and so we did.
Families were dealt with new challenges including us who had a new born, a toddler and a kindergartener who was tasked with remote learning and remote services.
When the time came to reopen, we tapped into the struggles we were feeling and what we were hearing from other parents to be a place to support and comfort.
We reshaped our services because after parents were locked at home with their children for nearly half a year, they were all feeling what I had felt with my oldest, like they weren’t able to support the development of their children that was needed. So we added classes for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. And the feedback from our families cemented the need and value we were providing.
What I haven’t mentioned is that while I was managing the business, creating and planning for these programs, and teaching some of these classes, I was also working a full time job. Why? Because I loved my job, my boss and my team. And I wanted to have it all. And the truth it, as much as I loved all of it, I wasn’t built for owning a physical space. It was really hard on me, but I pushed through it for as long as could with lots of juggling and long nights.
I had so many parents tell me I was amazing and they couldn’t believe how I was doing it all. It’s not how I felt at all and I def wasn’t doing it all. My incredible husband took on more at home, and we had extra help as well but even then, I felt like each part of my life was getting the bare minimum and it wasn’t how I was used to being.
What people didn’t see was the demands of running the business, serving our HOPS families and keeping up with my corporate job, left me with so little for my kids and home life. And as time went on, it was eating at me more and more. Until finally, I had to accept that I couldn’t have it all because all of it together wasn’t working.
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The time Came
for change
The truth it I was beyond scared to close. I was scared to let my family down, the families that relied on us and I just couldn’t accept that I had failed at something I cared so much about. But as it happens, life has a way of showing you the way.
The latest winter surged pushed me to finally launch our toddler learning box, inspired by a mix of all the classes and services we offer. I finally was able to see that closing HOPS wouldn’t mean the end of HOPS. After a few months of closing, I found the space I needed to reset and affirm where my heart and HOPS has always been. Which is to support young families and our community which is what we will continue to do through our services and community intiatives.
Play With Purpose
Create Connection
Nurture Learning
Care For Community
Little hands do big things.