Levelland’s own Kid’s Unlimited is celebrating 50 years in the childcare industry. Virginia Morrison opened Kid’s Unlimited in her renovated garage in 1973.
Morrison’s daughter, Iris Martin has owned and operated Kid’s Unlimited since 1993 after purchasing the business from her mother. Iris studied child development in college and has been involved with the daycare since she was 15.
“It’s just something that my mother really accidentally started,” Iris Martin said. “Just because a few neighbor kids wanted to stay in our house after school. I just know she can’t believe that something she just happened to think of to do is still here 50 years later.”
Kid’s Unlimited continues to be a family business with Iris’s daughter Morgan Martin also being involved with the daycare from a young age and began working with the children at 18 years old.
“I was born and raised here,” Morgan Martin said. “Even as a teenager I would work here, my mom had us on payroll. Whether it was just cleaning at the time, taking out trash, cleaning bathrooms, just cleaning off tables and chairs. I’ve been here about 25 years.”
Iris Martin explained that Kid’s Unlimited is currently striving to become a Texas Rising Star certified child care center.
“It’s called the Texas Rising Star certification it’s a program through Texas Workforce Commission and we are currently enrolled in that program to get our accreditation with the Texas Rising Star,” Iris Martin said. “It’s to promote higher quality childcare and we will be audited, evaluated and go through observations. It’s a very strict process.”
Morgan Martin said Kid’s Unlimited partners with Child Care Services to provide developmental curriculum and supplies for the children.
“We also have a contract with Child Care Services, and they help provide us with any type of training or extra curriculums sometimes that we can help with,” Morgan Martin said. “They’ll come monthly, and they drop off supplies or crafts things that we can get to use for one month and then they come back and pick up things and so we can change it out every month.”
Iris said day care curriculum has changed since Kid’s Unlimited was opened in 1973. The daycare has classrooms and teaches developmental skills.
“The curriculum has changed, our classrooms have changed, teaching techniques have changed and learning styles,” Iris Martin said. “It’s just constantly evolving and developing all the time. Now we have actual classrooms with learning centers that we try to stay on top of the most developed learning styles. We are still teaching them in ways that are appropriate for their development.”
The Martin’s are grateful for the opportunity to care for multiple generations of children and wish to grow their bond with families and the community.
“It means a lot to us. It’s not like it’s a job you go to; it’s our family,” Iris Martin said. “We’ve been here for a long time in this community and have seen lots of families and we still have lots of them come visit us. We have lots of families out there where they were attending students at one time and now they bring their children and that’s so, so special to get to stay in touch with everybody.”
Morgan Martin said she believes her grandmother did not understand the prosperous business Kid’s Unlimited would become.
“I don’t think that she really understood what it would turn into now,” Morgan Martin said. “I think that she is looking at us thinking, ‘oh my word this is a huge facility’ and we’ve done amazing things following in her footsteps, without her knowing what it has become and the relationships that we’ve built with these people who even knew her from so many years ago. Unfortunately, she’s passed away since then, but I think it’s so amazing to know and I feel like she’s here with us every day.”