“Another waitress comes in and she has her kids, and she puts her kids on this back table, and it clicked in my head that they’re bringing their kids here because they have nobody else to watch them, so their kids are literally going to work with them,” she said.

The island without childcare for babiesKaua’i spent at least a decade without a single opening for infants or toddlers at childcare centers, causing moms to quit their jobs or leave the island. Now, an effort is underway to change that.19thnews.org