Building community was a challenge Becca Bailey knew all too well when she moved to Boise in 2021 with her children, ages 1, 3 and 6.

“We moved here and I didn’t know anyone,” she recalls. “We had no connections.”

Throughout their marriage, she and her husband had moved around for jobs, living in places like Chile, Nebraska and Pocatello before Boise. A desire to live “in the mountains” brought them to Idaho.

As she had done in each new place, Bailey researched activities for her kids, pediatricians, summer camps – the whole production.

The difference was that this time, she decided to share what she learned.

In spare moments, Bailey began documenting her Treasure Valley experiences on “Boise with Kids,” launched Jan. 1, 2022.

“It was a fun passion project, and it got the creative juices going. It was something outside of homemaking and motherhood that was just fun and creative. But it’s pretty wild to think about, ‘how did I do that?’ I think I went into it with an entrepreneurial spirit, and just really enjoyed it.”

Bailey grew her website, focusing on “supporting moms.”

“I love making connections. And so the more it grew, the more it powered my desire to keep going. I can help people get connected. Because I knew what it was like not to be.”

What started as a collection of blog posts has grown into a website with 230 articles, a weekly email newsletter with over 3,000 subscribers, an Instagram with almost 20,000 followers, a Facebook page with 17,000 members, and more.

Visitors flock to the event calendar, the website’s most popular page, to discover daily happenings across Treasure Valley.

Parents can find articles on parks, holiday activities, hikes, and more on the website and Instagram, and the Boise with Kids Facebook page provides a community forum for sharing advice on everything from preschools to playdates.

“Introducing my kids to the variety and the community that is the Treasure Valley is so fun for me,” Bailey explained. “And I’m hoping to encourage other families to do that too.”

Starting and running with Boise with Kids

Becca Bailey, the only girl in a family of six, began her education at a private Catholic school in Omaha, Nebraska. By second grade, however, her parents’ disagreement with some of the school’s practices prompted her mom, a former first-grade teacher, to transition to homeschooling all their kids for elementary and middle school.

With her mom’s educational background, “every outing turned into an educational outing,” Bailey recalled, referring to these activities as “Mom’s adventures.”

“There was a bird migration that happened every fall in Nebraska. So we drove an hour to see it and then we would write up a report about it. Or we would volunteer at a nursing home and she would make it educational somehow. So that was ingrained in me, too, that any outing with kids is something you can learn and grow from.”

What Bailey didn’t know was that one day, she would be helping facilitate different types of “mom’s adventures” for thousands of moms in the Treasure Valley.

Though Bailey didn’t set out to create Boise with Kids, her educational background uniquely supports the website. She minored in business in college and then entered Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), a program comparable to Teach for America.

Bailey ultimately decided not to teach full-time, preferring the flexibility of an entrepreneur’s schedule, especially while raising kids.

Yet, she sees her teaching background as an integral part of Boise with Kids, explaining, “that creative side that teaching brings out is definitely woven into different blogs and creations over the years in Boise with Kids.”

Bailey admits that balancing running her own business and raising three boys hasn’t been easy. “There have been multiple times where I’m like, ‘why am I doing this?” she shared, recalling her husband pointing out that she’s “working so hard” and is “totally underpaid.” Sometimes, she has thought of quitting.

However, it’s messages from thankful parents that help shift her perspective. “Okay, it really is worthwhile. It’s more than the money.  It’s really powerful to know that it’s been a helpful resource and good guide for truly making a positive impact on our community and in people’s lives.”

As Bailey continues to run Boise with Kids, she strives not to be what she calls “influencer-y.” “I was never in it for becoming an influencer or [talking] about our personal life.”

Even so, Bailey must generate income to sustain Boise with Kids as her full-time job and business, which involves filtering promotional and advertising offers.

Though Bailey “loves having the ability to be a real local mom going through it with actual recommendations,” it can be tricky for her to decide how to talk about an outing or event that she personally doesn’t love, but might be a good option for other families. “I’m very aware of not being salesy and having that trust and not being a sellout for something.”

Bailey plans to continue expanding Boise with Kids, a goal now more achievable as her 5, 8, and 10-year-olds will all be in school full-time at a local private Catholic school, following in her and her husband’s footsteps.

She’s hoping to facilitate her website with “a team of moms or different people. Having a bigger base to get recommendations from and experiences from would be great.” She also wants to run more events like the Early Education Fair she ran back in April.

Utilizing the talents of a friend with young children who used to work as an event planner, she organized this free event with over 24 different schools for community members to come learn about educational opportunities in their area. She hopes to make this an annual event.

Check out Boise with Kids here.