A LOVING AND SAFE HOME ENVIRONMENT

Where children are free to play and be themselves

Parent’s Helper is more than just childcare. It is a welcoming community where children, educators, and families walk together, honoring the hundred languages of childhood and nurturing a lifelong love for learning, for nature, and for creating a community of belonging for everyone.

Meet Our Owner, Melody Robinson

I am an Early Childhood Educator with 40 years of experience teaching and supporting children and families in my community.

My life's mission has been to provide quality childcare and supportive resources to all families.

It is important to me that each child and family feel supported, valued, and seen in our society as they raise their children to be successful in life.

It’s important that they know Parent’s Helper Home Daycare chooses to be a vital part of that village of love and support.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR TEAM

Melody Robinson speaks with Chicago's Women's Gathering for Justice about the case for Home-Based Child Care.

About Our Program

At Parent’s Helper, we believe children are born with a natural sense of wonder. Inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach, our program values each child as curious, capable, and full of potential. We see learning not as a set path but as an individual journey that each child embarks on through exploration, relationships, and discovery.

Our warm and supportive learning environment extends beyond four walls. The trees, the garden, the sky, and the changing seasons become a part of our curriculum.

Every stick, stone, and raindrop is an invitation to imagine, create, and question. By embracing nature as our co-teacher, children experience learning that is sensory-rich, meaningful, and connected to the world around them.

Families are integral partners on this journey. Together, we listen, observe, and document the children’s voices, questions, and ideas.

Through photographs, artwork, and storytelling, we make learning visible. We are always celebrating not just outcomes, but the beautiful process of becoming, learning, and sharing with the natural world around us.

A woman with dark skin and curly hair holding a young child with light brown skin and short hair, both looking at a lighted surface decorated with colorful shapes and letters.

We are committed to creating a fun, peaceful, and loving environment where the skills of every learner are enhanced with the help of our dedicated and knowledgeable teachers. We aim to develop each child’s social, emotional, physical, mental, and intellectual development through play and discovery.

A young child with blonde hair wearing a blue and green jacket playing in a sandbox with toys, surrounded by colorful chairs and a wooden fence.
Logo with text 'A Certified Nature Explore Classroom' including green leaves, a magnifying glass, and brown and green lettering.
Two children playing with plastic shovels and buckets in a backyard with outdoor toys and a table filled with toys and supplies.

Check out one of our engaging lessons

Our Curriculum

Our curriculum evolves naturally, guided by children’s interests, social awareness, and the opportunities that nature provides.

By enriching the environment to encourage curiosity and exploration, children are supported in reaching their fullest potential. Drawing inspiration from the theories of Reggio Emilia, Steiner, Montessori, Gardner, and Vygotsky, our program emphasizes the joy, magic, and wonder of early childhood.

We take a gentle approach to early learning by honoring creativity, imagination, and the child’s natural drive to explore.

In this environment, children are free to express themselves, discover their world, and build their inner strengths and resources. Our role is to guide and support, allowing children to learn through play and bring their imaginations fully to life.

Research on brain development confirms what we see every day: children thrive when engaged in self-initiated, spontaneous play. This kind of independent and social exploration is just as valuable, if not more so, than structured, teacher-planned activities.

The activities we present are broad and flexible, designed to meet the needs of children across different developmental milestones.

While they address key educational goals, their true purpose is to spark curiosity, inspire creativity, and nurture a lifelong love of learning.

Often, structured activities are set aside to honor and extend child-initiated opportunities.  Our environment is intentionally developmentally appropriate, focusing on each child’s strengths rather than age alone.

This creates a comfortable, individualized learning atmosphere where children can delight in independence, engage joyfully in the process of discovery, and develop a deep respect for the world around them.

Words of Praise for Parent’s Helper Daycare

  • "Parent Helpers Daycare is not only a business, its a family!! Mrs. Melody Robinson and Ms. Nicole Robinson provide a top notch daycare & educational learning environment that fosters growth in academics & nature!! Mrs. Mel or Nana Mel as she is affectionately known as, blends her previous teaching experience, love for children and her own family upbringing to create an environment that is second to none!! From field trips & holiday parties, the love & laughs & learning doesn't stop!! The Clark Family has welcomed the Robinson Family & Parents Helper into our family with my son starting there at 18 months, he's 11yrs old & goes back over the summer to help. Highly recommend as "One of the Best Keep Secrets" in the daycare industry for Chicago!!"

    Rodney Clark

  • "Ms. Robinson and staff have been such a pivotal part of our lives as a family. My son started shortly after children started returning to daycares during COVID. Ms. Robinson was so helpful with the transition as a first time mother. Her care and communication is just what I needed for my peace of mind. We stayed for four more years! PHD became family, who taught my son and the other children emotional intelligence and kindness. Between exploring nature and learning lessons, we will always have a place in our hearts for PHD!"

    Rachel Thurston

  • "We have been at PHD for over two years now, and we are incredibly grateful that we found such an amazing day care provider! Ms. Melody and her staff are the most loving and caring people. They welcome children in as family and it feels like a second home for them - exactly what we had hoped for when we decided to leave larger day care centers. Thank you, Nana Mel!!!"

    Catherine Doyle

  • "Parents Helper has been more than a daycare for our family. They have become family. With caregivers from three generations of amazing, loving women, they treat our little girl like their own. Especially with a daughter who has some extra needs for support, it's a rare blessing to be able to place her in someone else's care without worries. They are a wonderful daycare run by incredibly special people."

    Shelley Kraus

  • "My daughter was very apprehensive when it came time to find childcare for my grandson but that all went out the window once she met Melody Robinson the owner of the daycare. They hit it off right away and once I met her I felt the same. She’s an amazing educator my grandson learned so much and started kindergarten with all the tools to help him succeed. As a matter, Ms. Mel is still a part of my grandson’s life and most of the kids she molded the last 30 plus years. I highly recommend her daycare."

    Dinah Huff

  • "I’m so glad I found this home daycare for my little boy. He’s learned so much in the time that he’s been there. The owner is one of the most loving people I have ever met. I can go to work knowing that he is in a loving and educational environment."

    Latrice King

FAQs

  • Monday through Friday 7am to 5:30pm

  • 8 weeks through age 12 years old (B/A School)

  • Yes

  • No