Kepner is founder of PlayTodayDC.com, a new website that seeks to help families find activities for their children in much the same way that sites link customers to travel arrangements. What inspired the website?
There’s no real place that consolidates what actually is going on. … There are some small businesses with really bad websites; it’s a huge data collection nightmare to be a parent and try to do that. As a result, most just take their kids to the park because it’s the easiest thing to do.
Did you have the same problem as a parent?
I have a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old. I actually started about three years ago wanting to build indoor play stuff and thinking there wasn’t much to do. Then I realized there was tons to do; I just couldn’t find it.
How did the site get started?
I’m an engineer by training and worked in capacity planning for last 20 years. I was shocked nobody had done this. Out of pure frustration, I thought it was something I could do. I joke about it being supply chains for families — that’s all this is. It’s an industry where supply doesn’t meet demand yet. Build it and they will come.
What is the main difference between Washington-area parenting and other regions?
This area has things to do with children, but it’s not the primary driver in the region like [it would be in] an area where enjoying your life is a higher priority than working. We’re so disconnected from how we want to work with our children that without a tool, it leaves us disconnected. It’s definitely beyond 9 to 5 here. It’s hard for moms to say ‘OK I’m going to sit back, not have a career and have children’ — and that’s very expensive.
— Brian Hughes
