Our School
Why a Mother of Five Opened a Daycare in Houston
By Ruaa Saeedi, Founder and Head of School · · 4 min read
Most daycares are opened by operators. This one was opened by a parent who had run out of options.
Ruaa Saeedi is a mother of five. Before First Kids Academy existed, she spent years doing what every working parent in Houston does: touring buildings, comparing prices, and trying to work out from a twenty-minute visit whether the people inside would care about her child.
The problem she kept running into
The issue was rarely a bad facility. It was the gap between what a place says and how it feels once your child is actually in it. Warm brochures, then a room where nobody knows your child's name. Advertised rates, then a bill with fees attached to everything.
With five children, that gap gets expensive and exhausting. You learn quickly which questions matter, and you also learn how few places answer them straight.
What she decided to build instead
First Kids Academy is organized around the things she wanted and could not reliably find: a licensed center where every child is known by name, hours long enough for real jobs, meals included so a family budget is predictable, and an open-door attitude toward parents.
Our hours run 6:00 AM to 7:00 PM because that is what a working parent in southwest Houston actually needs, not what is convenient to staff. Meals are included because packing five lunches at 5:30 AM is a specific kind of misery she remembers well.
What we mean by open door
Parents are welcome in the building during operating hours without an appointment. Not on a scheduled tour day, not with notice, just when you want to see your child.
That policy is a promise about how a place is run. If a center is only comfortable being seen at arranged times, that tells you something. We would rather you walk in whenever you like.
The values in the classrooms
Four things get taught here every day, and they are not decoration on a wall: inclusion, so every child belongs here regardless of background. Integrity, so accountability and honesty get modeled by adults. Kindness, practiced rather than announced. Teamwork, because children who learn to collaborate at four have an advantage that lasts.
Southwest Houston is one of the most diverse places in America, and our classrooms reflect the neighborhood. Families here speak many languages and keep different traditions, and that mix is one of the best things about raising children in this part of the city.
What being newly licensed means
First Kids Academy holds Texas license #1832784, issued in May 2026 after the state's pre-licensing inspection process. A new license number sometimes makes parents pause, so here is the plain explanation.
Our building has housed a child care operation for years under previous ownership. When new operators take over a location, the state issues a new license to the new entity rather than transferring the old one. That is standard, and it means the compliance record starts with us.
Our initial inspection produced a short list of items, mostly playground use zones and paperwork, all of which we corrected within two weeks. The follow-up inspection found no violations. We would rather tell you that directly than have you discover it on a directory site and wonder.
The part that does not scale
Every daycare says it treats children like family. What that means in practice is small and unglamorous: a teacher who remembers that your son will only eat the crust, who notices that your daughter has started sharing without being asked, who tells you the honest version at pickup rather than the polite one.
You cannot systematize that. You can only hire for it, keep groups small enough that it is possible, and refuse to grow past the point where it stops being true. That is the constraint we have chosen to run the school inside.
Come see it
The honest test of any daycare is standing in it. Tours take about twenty minutes, children are welcome, and no question is too blunt. Ask about the license, ask about ratios, ask what happens when a child has a rough morning.
Call (281) 568-3386 or stop by 7873 S Texas 6 any weekday between 6:00 AM and 7:00 PM. If we are not the right fit for your family, we will tell you, and we will suggest somewhere that might be.