Our Journey
Opening An Indoor Playground
A Living Cliche.
It’s not that I love cliches, but somehow I’m a living, breathing, walking cliche. I’m often caught telling people during challenging moments or reflections on our journey that everything happens for a reason. I hate the way it sounds, but it’s what I truly have always believed. Probably because throughout my life, it has been proven over and over again. I don’t know if it’s conscious in the way I approach life or just my good fortune, but I have a feeling it’s a bit of both. Nearly every hardship and obstacle has given me perspective, appreciation, and learning. As long as we grow and learn from these experiences, are we not better off for it? That goes for my career choices that weren’t the right fit for me, but I could walk away having learned something valuable about my industry and understanding of what I needed from a job. That goes for past relationships that weren’t the healthiest, but makes me so grateful for my husband and when he showed up in my life. And that now goes for how the concept for House Of Playful Soul came to be.
I never saw my life’s purpose as owning my own business even though I had a psychic tell me when I was 23 that I would one day own my own business. My husband believes this was always in my subconscious, but I’m not so sure. In fact, I often told people I didn’t understand why anyone would want to take on that responsibility and risk. I have a great job that allows me to enjoy what I do, work with great people that give me the space to learn and grow, and be inspired by an incredible boss that is so wickedly smart and supportive that I call her a unicorn. I’m very aware of how fortunate I was to be in this position and be able to enjoy the comforts and challenges of my daily life.
So what happened? In March 2018, my company filed for bankruptcy and started the process of being acquired. This put our business to a near halt as clients were transitioning into a busy season, but saw no reason to engage further with us until we knew our future. That left me with a lot of time on my hands and as a previous boss and continued mentor once said to me “a bored Thuy doesn’t do anybody any good.” What this transition period gave me was space. The space and time forced me to really think about what fulfilled me and what made me happy.
If I thought about the last two years, what really made me happy was playing with my son and his friends. Unexpectedly, I found great joy when my son and his friends wanted to play with me. With me! The validation of a child has always felt so gratifying because they don’t pretend, at least not in the early years. And since my son started school, I now had an amazing network of mommy friends. We would share and visit our favorite indoor places to take the kids when being outdoors wasn’t possible. Winters with kids in NYC can feel excruciating long at times. And because it wasn’t always possible to travel to visit some of these places, we relegated to at home playdate rotations, but this wasn’t always stress free either. There was fighting over toys because the host child always feels a certain right to their stock of inventory, the inevitable mess to clean up after (we have a make-shift ball pit using an old pack & play so fun usually includes throwing all the balls out) and then rounding out the playdate with meltdowns and difficult extractions.
We collectively often complained of not having an indoor play option more convenient in Forest Hills. It’s so incredibly family friendly with so many young children and families that could certainly benefit. After
listening to me complain about it for a few weeks, one day that June, my husband looked at me and said, “Why don’t you open one?” I gave him this look like, ‘be serious.’ But he didn’t let up. He urged me to think about it. He believed that I had the passion for kids as well a practical mindset which would help me succeed but more importantly there was a real need for it. So I thought about it for a couple of weeks. I often teetered between excitement and fear because if you my About Me post, you’ll know that I’m risk averse. How could I take on this risk and jeopardize the well being of my family? We had financial responsibilities that could not be escaped. While there are some really special play spaces, so many were generic in nature with the stock jungle gyms and toys thrown in a room. And don’t get me wrong, they all have value and purpose. Most kids just need a different space to burn their imaginative juices and energy. But if I was going to embark on opening an indoor playground, it was important to me that it offer something more for families than just a reprieve and entertainment.
One day, I was playing with the kids and listened to my older son tell me how his friends had more toys than him. This moment reminded me again of how I wished there were more young child appropropriate community service events I could share with him so that he could begin to understand and appreciate how fortunate he is. I didn’t grow up well off. I didn’t often have cable and at times our heat and hot water were turned off. This isn’t a woe-is-me reflective because I still look back at my childhood fondly and remember it being happy. These were just things that happened from time to time. I mention this because I am often hit with guilt for what we are able to provide for our kids. And often I look around and feel guilty he doesn’t appreciate his privilege because we’ve failed to help him understand and find gratitude for it. I didn’t grow up with much and didn’t suffer for it. It became important to me as a parent to show my kids that there are people and families that need help and it’s our responsibility to do what we can because we’ve been so fortunate in ours. And that was my moment. The moment I realized that a play center was our vehicle to create these opportunities for families to share in the joys of giving and provide family friendly opportunities to give back together. And we could use the space itself to encourage, empower, and support children and families to be more aware and mindful of their worth and what they offer our communities.
So we were going to create an indoor playground with a foundational value of giving back, but I was met with another question. What would be the cohesive theme of our space? That was obvious to me though. Music has been such a pivotal part of our life as a family and because it’s often a tool used to engage and teach children, it was a natural fit. But I wanted to approach differently and less obvious since we weren’t a traditional music facility. Thus we set out to create a space that allows children to find and explore music in playful and unexpected ways. A xylophone made from wrenches in the garage, chimes made of wooden spoons in a play kitchen, a salt shaker now serves dual purpose, or stools that are actual bongo drums.
The combination of play, music, and giving is now the foundational theme for House Of Playful Soul. This journey has proven to be another example of my favorite cliche, in life, everything happens for a reason.