W&H: Jenifer Neil

Friday, February 19th, 2010 in Stories, Who and How

Full name: Jenifer Neil

Kids (ages): Girls 7,5,2

What do you do? Co-Owner of Lifestyle Kids Club and Lifestyle Fitness

Tell us a bit about Lifestyle Kids Club and Lifestyle Center and how it got it’s start: My husband and I have been through a few babysitters over the past seven years. Trying to work around their schedules as well as five different schedules in my family was a job in itself. Often times we wanted to go out to dinner and see a movie, or simply go grab some lunch together to talk, but the babysitter was unavailable.

Being a mom, I never had a positive image of the drop off world. In all honestly I had never been to one until a year ago, when my husband talked me into visiting Just Kiddin Around, ran by Denise Sullivan. He kept telling me “this place is different, just come and see for yourself.” I was absolutely amazed from the moment I walked in, all those negative images were immediately replaced by new fresh positive images. The only element we felt it was missing was fitness, an acti ve play center for kids. This is where the conception of the Lifestyle Kids Club was born.

Dallas, Denise, and I collaborated for a year until we felt we finally had the concept completed. We felt this was going to be a perfect fit as we already owned Lifestyle Fitness (formerly Gym II). Lifestyle Fitness added 3000 sq feet to create Lifestyle Kids Club.

Denise Sullivan, who owned and operated Just Kiddin Around, became our partner in this endeavor. We implemented things that have never been done before in this community. Lifestyle Kids Club is truly in it’s own league. It’s an active drop off play center with kid sized treadmills, active games, healthy snacks and meals, and a great atmosphere for kids up to 12 years old. We offer kids fitness classes daily and we are open to the public, whereas most fitness facilities allow only members.

Lifestyle Kids Club is also open until 10 pm on Fridays and Saturday evenings to give parents the flexibility of being able to go out and enjoy one another knowing their children are in a positive and active environment. Now, when dropping our kids off I don’t feel guilty because I know they are either doing a kids fitness class and in a healthy environment…its good for them. Our kids need more of that. A babysitter can not always provide the social atmosphere that they need to grow. Owning a Kids Club is no easy task, but knowing that we are providing a healthy active environment for kids make it worth everything.

Contact info: located at 3075 North Reserve Street. Contact Jenifer for more information.