Hillsborough County mom creates Kidz Club

By: Alexandra Hackett

Tampa, Florida - It's not a nursery school or daycare center. This is Kidz Club.

Christina Helm, Mom:

"The more I bring him here you see him interact with kids - you took my toy. Wait a minute. He's learning how he's supposed to react to that."

Christina Helm started bringing her two-year-old son Ryan here when Kidz Club opened a few weeks ago. It's a place they can escape the heat and Ryan can interact with other children.

Christina Helm, Mom:

"Because I am a stay-at-home mom and he doesn't have any siblings yet, getting him social interacted with other children is very important to me, that he learns those social skills."

Kidz Club is an indoor playground that also offers educational and creative outlets for little ones up to age six.

Lara Slatniski, Owner:

"Parents can sit here and have a conversation and not worry about their children running out into streets or the perimeters of a playground."

Lara Slatniske wanted to work and spend time with her two-year-old son Brennan and had no desire to return to the corporate world. So she opened her own indoor playground business in Tampa Palms, inspired by one she found last year in St. Pete.

Lara Slatniski, Owner:

"He was kind of a clingy child and he immediately went off and I was like, 'What happened to him? Where did he go?' I didn't even know things like this existed."

And moms like Christina Helm will tell you she benefits from Kidz Club just as much as her son.