MetroMom Carol Gamble
Carol developed the Learning Tower in response to her own daughter's need for a safe, stable stepstool to help Mom in the kitchen and with other activities. Carol has been trained as a Infant/Toddler Specialist by the Center for Montessori Teachers Education in New York. Creating spaces for young children to explore and discover the world around them is her passion.


MM - 1. How did you come to create the Learning Tower?

When my daughter, Hanna, was around the age of 2 it became apparent that there was no specific product that would allow her to stand in a safe place and participate in what I was doing in the kitchen. I probably bought every step stool on the market and a bunch of other things too, but there wasn’t anything on the market that fit my needs. The biggest problem was that she, like all toddlers, needed room to move around. Toddlers can’t move around on a chair or normal step stool. If they take one step, they can possibly fall off and you can’t tell a toddler to stop or not move because their nature is to move around. I had an idea for a new kind of product so I continued to observe Hanna’s specific needs in regards to safely standing at the counter and continued to envision what I wanted for her. Then I invented it myself.  


MM - Once you decided to introduce the Learning Tower on the market, did you have any unexpected challenges as a mom-preneur?

When I was designing it for my daughter, I did have the idea that we should put this on the market. It needed to be out there, not just for my daughter, but for other toddlers and parents. But I wanted to license it to a big company. It never occurred to me that I would someday end up starting my own company.

Much of the reason for that is because the concept of The Learning Tower was so new there wasn’t a market for it. I walked the floor of the Juvenile Products show for three years with a notebook filled with photos of the product in use. And I would show it to people. A couple of times, companies would look at my product and say, “OK, can we have it for three months?” They do that so they can check it out and see if it’s something they want to put on the market. Unfortunately, during that timeframe, nobody else can look at it, so I couldn’t do anything until they decided yes or no. Then they would come back and tell me, “We don’t want this.” In a lot of ways, it was all very stressful.

During my third year of walking the JPMA show, a company approached me and said, “Yeah, we’re interested. Come and put it in our booth.” I was very excited, so I ended up letting them display my product in their booth. At the end of the show, he told me that the results of the show were very favorable and that I had a viable product for the market. But he really didn’t have the capital to start manufacturing and placing orders. At that point, I just decided I would do the manufacturing and distribution myself.

At that point, The Learning Tower was very difficult and expensive to manufacture. So I hired an industrial designer in the juvenile products industry to help me redesign the product with mass production in mind. That’s really the key; it has to be capable of being mass-produced in order for the product to be marketable. My first customer was the One Step Ahead baby catalog in 1998. After that, I was picked up by the Natural Baby Catalog and that’s what really launched me into a real business, although it was a very small one.


MM - 3. How did you balance Work and Motherhood?

Working full time and being a mom did not work well for me. When Hanna was born I had every intention of returning to my position as a full time Merrill Lynch Financial Consultant and I did for 3 months. When Hanna was 5 months old I was still nursing and I came home for lunch every day to nurse her and see her and this one particular day the lady I had staying with her was strolling her on the sidewalk------at that moment a light bulb went off inside me-----and I realized I wanted desperately to be the one strolling my baby------not just coming home for a few minutes to give her a quick hug and say good bye till the evening. So…for me, balancing being a mom and a full time career did not work. I left Merrill Lynch at that time and have NEVER regretted leaving that career path. I guess I have always had somewhat an entrepreneurial spirit and just loved sharing the joy and wonder of discovery with young children so, on a part time basis, I taught outdoor education to various small groups of young children. I loved being a full time Mom, but I also liked doing other things on a part time basis. Hanna’s schedule always came first and of course as she grew up the schedule was always changing. When little Partners was created, Hanna was 2 years old, the mission was manufacturing and marketing The Learning Tower, but the same philosophy was in place----being Mom was always first. So for the early years of Little Partners I worked ONLY part time and always around Hanna’s schedule and activities. When I took the manufacture and distribution of The Learning Tower back from the company I had licensed it to it became a FULL TIME job. This was in January of 2005 and by then Hanna was 16 years old and living in Halifax, England as a Rotary International Foreign Exchange Student. At this time in Motherhood balancing a full time job (esp. one you control to a certain extent) and motherhood would work. So for Hanna’s last two years of high school I did balance being a full time mom and a full time job. I felt it was really good for me------having only one child------- my hovering would be less------we do have to let our little ones use the wings we help them grow!! High School kids need us just as much as they needed us when they were little-------just in different ways.  

MM - You are very passionate about nurturing a toddler’s natural drive to explore the world around him. What are some activities you recommend to parents who want to nurture that drive?

YES, I am very passionate about nurturing a toddler’s natural drive to explore the world around him. To me this “drive” is the essence of life! This drive is not just to see but to experience life through actual participation. A young child’s whole being is involved in the “discovery.” This drive to explore and discover encompasses the young child’s “SENSE OF WONDER” and this sense of wonder MUST be shared with another to stay alive! The young child will KNOW his discoveries are significant------when they are positively shared with someone he trusts. If they are not positively shared and are greeted with negativism or indifference ---this impacts the young child tremendously. He begins to question the significance of his discovery which leads to the questioning of his worth. Sharing in the discoveries in a joyful and positive manner-----reinforces the young toddler’s positive sense of self. Those that share the joy found in the “discovery”------find themselves bonding with one another in a special way! So, it is not just the discovery that is important-----but also, the bonded relationship that is created through and in the discovery. The natural world calls us to experience it----for in the natural world we find that which is ALIVE and GROWING------that which we all RELATE to and LEARN FROM!! A few activities-------these can all be enjoyed by young children as young as 18 months.

1. Make a Maple Leaf Crown How fun to sport a crown made from the richly colored leaves of the maple tree. I know the leaves on the Maple Tree in my front yard are just starting to turn into rich colors. You don’t have to use Maple leaves, of course. Any pretty, flat leaves will do. Make a long chain of leaves by piercing the stem of one leaf into another. Pull the stem through as far as it will go. (the knobby ends of the stems will help keep them from pulling out of the slits in the leaves.) The next leaf you add to the chain will hide the stem. Continue in this way until you have enough to go around your head. Make a circle by poking the last stem into the very first leaf you used.

2. Go on a WONDER WALK Ask your children: What do you see? The trees? Branches on tree? Leaves on the tree? Grass? Blades of grass? Soil? Insects? Flowers??? Do you see the sun? seeds? What you hear? The wind? Any water running? Cars? Trains? Birds? Dogs? Cats? What you feel? Is it cold? Warm? Do you feel the sun? Do you feel happy?? Do you feel the blade of grass? The tree trunk? Is it rough? Smooth? Hard? Soft? You can keep a little journal about your wonder walks-----with words that the adult writes----collections from the walks --leaves, grass, flowers glued onto to a piece of construction paper—or if the child is drawing let him/her draw something about their wonder walk. This is one of MY VERY FAVORITE activities to do with toddlers!!

3. DON’T FORGET THE WONDER OF THE NIGHT SKY! On a CLEAR night take your child outside and look up at the starry sky! If the moon is out—talk about it as well as the stars. Just standing in the presence of the night sky------brings a SENSE OF AWE that is amazing! Let you and your child be “bathed in the starlight”—I believe strongly that if a young child is introduced to the UNIVERSE at an early age------he/she will grasp with their amazing imagination a understanding of its immensity and magnificence------which is the beginning to understanding one’s own place in the Universe.

MM - Do you have any tips for moms who want to become entrepreneurs?

Do your homework. Although I came up with the concept and basic design of The Learning Tower, I had to learn a lot about design and manufacturing in order to make this business profitable. I have also invested in patents and have learned the hard way that it’s very important that you completely understand your patent. I got help from a friend who was wonderful and competent in many ways, but I don’t think he really understood the product and as a result I got knocked off by the same company that had licensed my product from 2000-2003. I now highly recommend to people to be careful in getting free help from friends. In the long-run, it’s not worth the money you save.


MM - Do you have a parenting motto you would like to share with other moms?