When Santa Fe mom Janine Pearson was trying to find a preschool for her son, it was a nightmare. She couldn't find a one-stop place to find information on Santa Fe schools.

"I went through the phone book and called a bunch of friends to see what school their kids were going to," Pearson said. She'd call preschools to see if they had the services she needed and leave messages, often ending up playing phone tag. When someone would finally call her back, she'd find they didn't have what she needed. She thought, "They should have all the school information in one place."

So she created a website, SantaFeChildren.com, as a resource for mothers, fathers and caregivers.

"I'm a Web designer, so naturally I thought I should create a website so that other parents didn't have to go through what I went through," Pearson said. Although she started the website to showcase what schools were available in the city, it "snowballed from there. I thought, 'Maybe I should do summer programs.' As a new mom, you want to see what's out there and what you want to do with your kids — random activities, story times."

Pearson can usually be found poring over Santa Fe's newspapers and the Santa Fe Public Library bulletin boards to find information for her website, which she launched in February with the help of her computer programming friend Kerry Usry, who owns Corebean Web Solutions. Pearson paid for the site and Usry's services out of her own pocket, because she wanted to create this resource.

"I just tried to think of everything you would need as a mom, grandparent or anybody related to kids," Pearson said.

The site includes several tabs from "Indoor Fun" to "Clubs & Organizations." Information about stores with kid stuff — from toy to clothing stores is available. Local stores are marked by a little star symbol. It features a calendar for local events, to which anybody can post.

"A lot of moms do businesses and they don't have money to pay for an ad," Pearson explained. "I want it to be a place where anybody can get exposure and any mom can get a true sense of what's out there."

Even though a basic listing in the calendar or a basic business listing under the various tabs, are free, Pearson is hoping to eventually generate some ad revenue from the site.

Pearson said she's getting an average of 40 to 45 visits a day.

"I started off by sending the link to everybody I knew and had them send it to everybody they knew," Pearson said. She's approached a few child-friendly businesses and establishments to ask them to create a link to her site.

"Basically what I do — like with the Santa Fe Children's Museum — is say, 'You can put a link from your site to mine,' " Pearson explained. "A lot of people are saying yes just because it's a good resource. It's only going to help them. It's not going to take away business."

Santa Fe mom Linda Holland, who has two small children, has found the site incredibly useful.

"My favorite part about the site is (Pearson) has everything in one place, and I don't have to go anywhere else if I don't want to," Holland said. "I like the fact that it's all organized and that people are starting to post their own comments about local places in town. That's interesting to see what people are thinking."

Holland said she's found a violin teacher for her son through the site and regularly visits the site to check the local swimming pool hours.

"I just wish people could use it more and that more people knew about it," Holland said. "Janine has created an incredible resource that could be helpful for both advertisers who want to reach that specific group and for parents who are too busy to go to all those individual sites."

"I want it to really help parents, so they don't have to do so much legwork like I've done," Pearson said. "There is so much to do in Santa Fe, but all the magazines talk about gallery openings or museums or things geared toward adults. I wanted more information on what to do with kids."

Contact Ana Maria Trujillo at 986-3084 or atrujillo@sfnewmexican.com.