As seen on the TheMomEntrepreneur, a great site for information regarding working mothers, raising kids, and running your own business.

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Dana Oliver, a single mom raising a two year old daughter, found herself with the typical dilemma faced by many working parents – how to meet the after 5 p.m. demands of her job, particularly when daycare closed at 6 p.m. In her male-dominated brokerage industry, inflexibility was simply snubbed at.

As she struggled with work/life balance, Dana turned to her sister, a stay-at-home mom raising four kids, for answers. Her sister confirmed that babysitters were her only option because she would never leave her children in a “drop-in” center. Dana, armed with this new concept, turned to the Internet for research and discovered that drop-in centers were closing down because they were dirty, kids weren’t having fun and there was no staff/child interaction. Dana started wondering if the concept could work if she created an environment kids didn’t want to leave and gave parents peace of mind.

So, in 2003, Dana left her six-figure job with a dream to create a more balanced life-style for herself and her daughter. She moved from Houston to Dallas to manage a drop-in center and study the concept more in-depth. Soon after, she knew exactly the type of environment she wanted to create and she called it Adventure Kids Playcare.

The next step involved overcoming the skepticism of family and friends who thought she was taking a big risk by starting a business as a single mom. And, the government didn’t take her single status lightly either. They told her she couldn’t get an SBA loan because she wasn’t married and didn’t have a second income to fall back on. Banks just snubbed at her idea.

Fortunately, as a former financial advisor, Dana wasn’t shy about asking for money, and she tapped friends and family for $175,000 in loans. That, combined with her own personal savings, allowed her to open her first location in Flower Mound, Texas.

With Adventure Kids Playcare, Dana created a fun and safe environment for kids ages 6 weeks to 12 years with supervision as late as midnight on weekends. Parents can drop off their kids, with no advance notice for as many hours as needed, to enjoy up to 4,500 sq. ft. of fun, including Xbox games, a gigantic wooden boat which doubles as a jungle gym, a karaoke stage, a mini movie theatre, high-fashion dress-up clothes and much more. And on the weekends, continuously-changing theme nights like Fiesta (with piñatas, maraca- and fruit salsa-making) and Western Hoedown (with stick horse making, horse shoe playing and s’mores) keep children happy and entertained.

In 2006, Dana turned her concept into a franchise after other parents approached her with their need to find work/life balance. Today, Adventure Kids Playcare has six locations in the North Texas region and a seventh slated to open in June 2008. Adventure Kids Playcare will also be offering franchise opportunities in the Austin and Houston markets soon.

With summer vacation in full swing, many parents spend hours trying to figure out where to send their kids so that they don’t have to deal with them. My hunch is that many of these parents also view school as some sort of glorified babysitting service. For them school is not a place to send your children to develop their minds and gain the information needed to be a productive adult, rather it’s a way to get your kids out of the house for 6-7 hours.

Without the pressure of school, parents should use the summer break to forge stronger relationships with their children. For working parents, things tend to be a bit more laid back in the summer anyway, so why not take off from work a couple hours early and do something fun with the kids? Beth Lynne likes the idea of teaching the kids some home economics, as both a way for them to get some practical knowledge as as a bonding method. She says, ” Cooking with a child can be a fun and very rewarding experience. Teaching a child to cook will result in a lifelong valuable skill.”

You may want to include your child in the planning process. Let them choose an activity for the family to do. This will make them feel like an important part of the family ( which of course they are), and make them feel that their opinion is valued. 

Some quality time with the kids will also help build their self confidence as well as keep them off the street. It gives you a way to impart some of your value system to your children in a fun and friendly way. Have a good summer!

Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com , or email aaron@profile-financial.com.