Community Highlights: Meet Kavita Jain of We Rock The Spectrum Kid’s Gym

Our life took a drastic turn 10 years ago when we had our older son. Even before he was born, we were thrown into the world of doctors and hospitals as we found out that he would be born with a cleft lip and would need multiple surgeries into adulthood. Soon after he was born though, his cleft was the least of our worries. He was not meeting any of his developmental milestones and had a lot of medical complications. At that point, my career more or less took a back seat as my husband and I were completely dedicated to providing him all the help that he needed. We also moved around a fair bit having lived in Portland, Chicago, New Jersey, and finally moving to Nashville in 2019.

As soon as we moved here, the entrepreneur in me realized that Nashville did not really have any high-quality indoor play spaces for kids and I soon started dreaming about opening one here. Sadly for us, Covid hit as we were planning things so everything was put on hold. But I think it was serendipity as in early 2021 I came across the We Rock the Spectrum brand and I was instantly drawn to it’s goal of inclusion and knew that this is what I wanted to bring to our community.

We Rock the Spectrum- Nashville is a sensory-focused inclusive gym that provides a fun and nurturing play space where kids of ALL abilities can come together to learn and play. It’s a space where both my kids, one who has special needs and one who does not feel equally welcome and can be who they are.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Entrepreneurship is never an easy path and it’s especially hard when you are new to it and have to think about things like finance, construction, permits, insurance, things that I know absolutely nothing about. It’s been a steep learning curve, to say the least, and I am still learning as we go along. This is why I am so grateful for the We Rock the Spectrum team that is able to provide their expertise and be a sounding board for a newbie like me.

Also, as a mompreneur, the hardest thing is juggling your kid’s needs with the time it takes to start and run a business. There are days when they watch way too much TV or the iPad becomes a babysitter. But at the end of the day, all this hard work is worth it since it is all towards fulfilling a dream and mission that is so close to my heart.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We Rock the Spectrum- Nashville is an inclusive sensory-based gym for kids of ALL abilities. Inclusion is at the core of the We Rock the Spectrum brand and our goal is to provide a fun and nurturing environment for ALL kids to come together to play and learn. Our motto at We Rock The Spectrum is ‘Finally a place where you never have to say I’m sorry’. Being a mom to a neurodiverse child myself, this is a message that especially resonates with me. We want to give every child who enters our gym, the opportunity to be themselves, no matter what that looks like.

We also emphasize ‘Play with Purpose’ and have 12 specialized pieces of equipment that you will find at all We Rock the Spectrum gyms and these have been hand-picked by experts to help engage all 7 senses. When you come into the gym you’ll see a whole bunch of swings, climbing structures, tunnels, a zipline, trampoline and other play structures that help in developing upper body and core strength and also work on building gross motor skills. We also have an arts and crafts area and other sensory toys that work on fine motor skills. In addition to that we have an imagination station that is a section in the gym that focuses on pretend play which is very important for building social and language skills in all kids.

Lastly, building community is also something we really strive for at We Rock the Spectrum Kid’s Gym. It’s a place where not just kids, but parents can also come together to build friendships and also take some time off when needed. On offer are inclusive classes like gymnastics, music, dance, children’s day camp opportunities, birthday parties, themed events, and more. We also offer to drop off care, parent’s night out so parents can get work done or just have a nice quiet evening. It takes a village to raise a child and we strive to be that village for all our families. We are also constantly looking for community organizations to support and partner with.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Sadly, Covid is still very much a reality bringing with it a lot of uncertainty which is especially stressful for my Type A personality. Recently, my younger son’s school shut down for a week due to covid and that just threw my schedule for a toss.

Living through this crisis has definitely helped me grow as a person. I have learned to adapt and take things one day at a time. On the bright side, We Rock the Spectrum gyms were designated as essential services during the peak of the Covid crisis which firmed up my belief even more that we are a much needed resource for our community.