In La Conner, a simple idea blossomed into a grassroots solution for summer childcare — built not by institutions, but by parents and neighbors.

Last summer, AshtonTveter, who works at La Conner Elementary School, was approached by a parent from Braves’ Hub. Jules Riske, whose child, Clara, 10, attends the after-school program, pitched the idea of a neighborhood childcare group. “She just kind of said, ‘What if you watched all the kids on Maple?’” Tveter said.

That conversation led to a one-day-a-week summer childcare group, hosted and run by Tveter. Now in its second summer, the group includes a close-knit crew of kids who all live nearby and are entering second through fourth grades.

“Some days I have three, some days six,” Tveter said. “That’s the max — I can only fit six kids in the car if we go somewhere.”

When the group grows to seven, they stay local and explore La Conner on foot.

Though he never expected to work with children, Tveter has spent most of the past decade doing just that. He moved to La Conner nine years ago and a friend encouraged him to apply for a position with the new after-school program. “She said, ‘You’re really good with my kids, you should just try it.’” 

What began as a job quickly became a passion for Tveter.

“It’s really rewarding. They say and do funny things, and when they come to you and need something and you can give it to them, it feels good to be able to help them out and support them,” Tveter said. 

The group is a win for the parents, too. The kids already know one another, and this gives them a chance to spend time together in a way that would be much harder to arrange if you were trying to schedule separate playdates, said Clara’s father, Kai Ottesen.

“It makes our working life infinitely more manageable here during the height of the busy season for us on a farm,” Ottesen said. “It checks a lot of boxes all at once.”

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Staci Baird is the managing editor of La Conner Community News.