Jennifer Brown | The Colorado Sun
Eight toddlers in eight tiny chairs are gathered around a foot-high table, stuffing corn and edamame into their mouths with fat fists.
It’s afternoon snack time at Bright Start Learning Center, where one boy has his blue Crocs kicked off under the table and a teacher is standing by with a vacuum ready to clean the floor of vegetable bits.
This toddler room, with colorful lions on the curtains and Mount Massive out the window, is the only licensed one in Lake County. And like nine other counties in Colorado, there are zero licensed child care spots in Lake County for infants.
So where are the rest of Leadville’s children?
They’re at the neighbor’s house, at home with older siblings, toted “over the hill” while their parents clean ski condos in Silverthorne or Vail, and sitting in bouncer-chairs next to desks as their moms and dads attempt to focus on remote work.