Meet Jill Jarvis: Blogger & Owner of BKSCGroup

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jill Jarvis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jill, as a parent, what do you feel is the most meaningful thing you’ve done for them?
I used to worry that I was not doing enough for my children, but over the years I’ve realized that the best thing I’ve done is to give them my time. There have certainly been busy seasons of life when I could not give my full attention, but being deliberate about sharing what time I have has proven to be the best thing I’ve done as a parent. So, while I may not have taught my kids to read by preschool, I did send them off knowing they had a comfortable place to come home.

What should our readers know about your business?
JillBJarvis.com is a BigKidSmallCity.com blog for things to do in Houston, with kids. I provide resources for parents to make it easier to spend time with their children. I am the mom of four kids and started the website nine years ago when I was exhausted and sick of constantly cleaning up the same mess in the family room. Another mom showed me that you could just go do fun things in Houston, without hours of planning. This inspired the blog and changed everything about how I enjoyed life in Houston, with kids. When I started the website I was working as an engineer, traveling a lot for work, raising little kids and struggling to juggle it all. Growing the blog was certainly difficult, but it also helped me to focus on what was most important in my life. I did not have a lot of time, but the tiny goals that I accomplished each week eventually added up to something significant. Over the years, lots of blogs have popped up with my exact business model and this used to worry me. Most eventually lost interest and disappeared. For the others, I’m fortunate that my audience is fully capable of gathering information from multiple sources!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I had guests coming to Houston, this is what we would do: 1. Head to Hermann Park to walk the trails, relax at the McGovern Centennial Gardens and visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We’d be sure to grab pizza at Fia’s before we went home. 2. Uncover secrets at Rice University. We would take a self guided tour and find goofy carvings, a marble wall that makes a croaking sound, whispering niches, angry dolphins and so much more. 3. Take the train to Downtown Houston. If this was the post-pandemic world, we would take the tunnels from Main Street to Discovery Green and play at the playground and splashpad and then try out the Listening Vessels. Then we would grab some food at Phoenicia. 4. Take a trip to Arts District Houston. We’d walk the trail and take pictures at the Art Alley by the Silos at Sawyer Yard. Along the way, we’d grab coffee at Cafeza or Toro’s or lunch at Henderson and Kane’s. 5. Get some exercise at Buffalo Bayou Park. We would park by the Sabine Street Bridge, snap photos of the downtown skyline and take a walk along the trails. If the group was old enough, we’d take a tour of the old Cistern. And if it was late enough, we would watch the bats emerge from the Waugh Street Bridge. 6. Go to Chinatown. We would grab some groceries at the Hong Kong Market and then find some pastries at a local bakery or a crazy dessert at local spot (like Red Circle Ice Cream).

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My friend, Felicia, believed in me from the start. While others were telling me that my business was “cute”, Felicia was handing out flyers and telling me to keep building it up.

Website: https://www.jillbjarvis.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jillbjarvis/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jill-b-jarvis-5813aa1/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JillBJarvis
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JillBJarvis/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFvSf7AoOz1MyM4dVu3j3qA

Image Credits
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