The Child Development Center more than just a day care
Thu, Dec 10, 2009 
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BY BRIAN KEILEN
bkeilen@grandhaventribune.com
FERRYSBURG — At first glance, The Child Development Center appears to be a regular day care center.
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Toys organized by age group are scattered across the floor, children's books are neatly arranged on shelves and play equipment stands just outside the door.
But upon closer inspection, and after speaking with owner/director Dee Poole, it becomes evident that the facility — which utilizes two classrooms in the former Ferrysburg Elementary School, 17290 Roosevelt Road — is something more.
The diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder among young people has shot up in recent years, Poole said — so much so that the generation now in their late teens and early 20s has become known as the "me" generation. Children are being raised with an inflated sense of self-importance, Poole said, which can lead to behavioral problems in later years.
As much of a child's development occurs in their first three years of life, Poole said she is attempting to combat the "me first" attitude with socialization groups where young children can be normalized to be around others.
"Beyond their first few years of life, they have to learn to relate to others or they will lead a lonely life," she said.
The overall goal is to provide a safe environment for children to learn some of the basic concepts of community: sharing and respecting others. While most families have children of different ages, the center can provide children with peers to interact with.
"The best resource we can provide parents is children in a peer group," Poole said.
A Spring Lake High School graduate, Poole began her career as a children's therapist in California after earning her master's degree in marriage and family therapy. She eventually moved back to Michigan to be closer to her family. She worked for Bethany Christian Services, Child Protective Services and a local day care facility before opening The Child Development Center a little more than a month ago.
Poole says the main focus is on developing the children in five different areas: physical, social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. To do this, Poole uses such activities as finger painting, playing instruments during music time and drama time with costumes; and fine-motor exercises such as stringing beads.
"It's all play to them," she said. "But it's play that develops their brains in necessary and profound ways."
Poole said she also hopes to prepare the children in her care for when they do go off to school.
Kindergarten classes now begin reading in their second month, Poole said, so she breaks up the kindergarten curriculum into two years of preschool so they've seen everything by the time they enter school.
Over her first month, Poole has taken on eight children, she said. While most of them are preschool-age, she is licensed to care for children up to 12 years old. And children of all ages can benefit from the pro-social behavior of working and playing with others, Poole says.
"I want to try and change that trend from a generation of 'me' to a generation of 'we,'" she said.
