11
Happy Amongst
Her Cubs …
Annette Larkin reflects on decades
in child care and helping her community
WORDS: Bre Jones Mulock
PICTURES: Whitney Patton
When life swells uncomfortably
out of proportion and the phone
buzzes impatiently every ve
minutes, Annette Larkin – the gregarious,
charismatic director and owner of Happy
Cubs Child Care Center who has a talking
speed fast enough to challenge any
auctioneer – knows exactly where she
needs to go for a deep breath and recentering:
The baby room.
Turning her phone on silent for a few
moments, Larkin beelines out of her ofce
and down an outside hall with her long,
jet-black hair trailing behind and enters
a room where little round faces peer up
from tummy time or rest peacefully in cribs
neatly lined up in rows.
“When it gets crazy in here, for me, I head
to the baby room,” said Larkin, leaning in
with a sly smile and raised eyebrows as
if revealing a secret. “I can take a break
and sit and rock a baby or watch one just
getting ready to walk. Children for me
have always been a grounding.”
Larkin, a long-time Bradenton resident
with a 35-year career in child care that has
unfolded like well-loved pages of a favorite
storybook now touching generations of
Manatee County residents, has poured
heart and soul into her community.