Learning made fun

A Day In The Life Of Louise, The Musical Minis Durham Franchisee

A guest blog by Louise Emerson, the Musical Minis Durham franchisee, about her typical day.

Like most mums, my days are very busy with 3 fairly young children to care for. Our mornings start at 6.30am when I get up and ready before the girls, as once they are awake, chaos ensues! It feels like everything is on fast-forward; rushing around preparing breakfasts, distributing the outfits I’ve hung out the night before for each of them and doing 3 lots of hair before the school run!

Sadie, my youngest is at nursery school and she starts at 8.30am and so I have to take all of the girls with me to drop her off first. When she has gone in and settled, we head back home to drop the car off before I walk Holly and Phoebe to school.

On a Tuesday morning I have a 10am class so I jump straight in the car and head for Lanchester, which is a good 15 minute drive providing the traffic is good. This is a lovely group and I do look forward to seeing the children and their parents each week, to find out what they have been up to and discovering any new skills such as who has taken any first steps or learnt to clap or can now sing the words to a song they couldn’t before.

Following the morning session, I head back to nursery to collect Sadie at 11.30am. I then pop home briefly to grab a quick bite to eat and leave Sadie with my dad who looks after her while I do my Durham classes. She invariably ends up in a soft play centre or a park or farm! I then go to Durham where I have 2 back-to-back sessions from 1-3pm. It’s always a mad rush to get home to collect Sadie before sprinting to school for 3.25pm to collect her big sisters.

When we get home just before 4pm, the girls have a quick snack before we are off out again to take Holly to Harriers which starts at 4.30pm and finishes at 6pm. We don’t have to stay, which is just as well sometimes as it gives me a chance to get tea sorted.

It’s nice to finally get in for the night even though I then have to sort out housework/homework etc. My husband’s job involves him being abroad for weeks at a time so it’s often just the girls and me. After tea and a bit of a play, they all have a bath and get ready for bed. As they all love books, it’s 3 lots of bedtime stories before I can finally come downstairs to sort through any emails or admin I may have to do for Musical Minis.

My days can be very busy but it’s great that I have a job that I can work around my family. I always do the school run; attend any sports days, concerts, assemblies etc. Plus there aren’t many jobs where you can take your child to work with you – which I do on a Thursday. I can’t imagine going back to my previous role as a full time teacher now. I feel I have the best of both worlds; I still get to work with children, which I love but I don’t have to sacrifice time with my own to do it, so I feel very lucky.

Musical Minis Durham runs classes in Belmont, Chester Le Street, Durham, Lanchester and Newton Hall. For details about classes and to book online please click here . Louise can be contacted by email at [email protected]

Musical Minis – The ULTIMATE Family Business!

 

Our Franchisee Network

Musical Minis are delighted to have won the Best Family Business and also be the overall winner in the Best Home Based Business in the Ihubbub Awards.

 

Our award winning entry can be seen below:

As family businesses go, you can’t get much better credentials than children’s music classes, Musical Minis!

Musical Minis was started by the family, because of the family, has benefitted thousands of families and is still run by the family today!

25 years ago, child psychologist and Play Specialist at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Karen Sherr couldn’t find a fun music group to take her baby son Matthew to, finding everything already on offer either too serious or too musical, so, with just a few friends and their children as her first clients, she set up Musical Minis, gathering together once a week to sing traditional children’s nursery rhymes with their children.

As with any good idea, news of Musical Minis spread fast (yes, before Mum’s Net, Facebook and the mobile phone!)…forcing Karen to start up ever increasing numbers of classes, to cope with the amount of people asking to be allowed to come along and enjoy the fun.

At the same time the dreaded return to work after maternity leave was looming and Karen felt she couldn’t leave her own child to return to work, looking after other people’s children in hospital, so she chose the only route open to her and, after some serious talks with her husband Rob, left her job at Great Ormond Street Hospital and started running Musical Minis as a proper, full time business from home.

Matthew - the first Musical Mini and a drummer at the Olympic Opening Ceremony 2012

In the early years Karen built the business, running more and more classes, learning as she went, but always with the firm support of Rob at her side. To this day he is still a partner in the business, responsible for all the finances and legal aspects of the business. After a long day in the city of London where he works as Head of Credit in a bank, he returns to the family home to what he calls his ‘Evening and Weekend Job’, Musical Minis.

 

 Karen’s day is long too; most of her franchisees are mums with young children, so she usually talks to them in the evenings once they have put their children to bed. It isn’t unusual for the couple to still be working and taking phone calls at 8-9pm at night. Karen picks up the phone to franchisees while Rob settles down at the computer to check on the businesses’ finances, paying outstanding invoices, dealing with trademark disputes, analysing trends etc.

Eventually, in 1994 the couple realised that with now 3 young children, their ‘business baby’ was getting too big and that if they wanted to keep expanding, they’d have to find a different way to grow. They received a number of requests from mums who wanted to attend classes in other parts of the UK and obviously Karen couldn’t run these classes herself, so the only plausible solution was to franchise the business.

In 1996 with their in depth knowledge of how to run the business behind them, they began the franchising process; writing Operating and Training Manuals, seeking legal advice on preparing franchise agreements and clearing music rights, taking expert advice where necessary and putting in long and hard hours to get the new business launched.

As with all businesses, in the beginning Rob and Karen encountered a few small hiccups, including people infringing their trademark on the Musical Minis name, which resulted in successful but lengthy and expensive legal proceedings. They lived and they learned, making improvements where necessary and pushed forwards, recruiting 6 franchisees in their first five years.

Emily posing for promotional material - aged 2

Building the business was hard work but enjoyable and quickly became an integral part of family life. The children had been attending classes with Karen since they were born, literally, progressing from sitting next to her on the floor in their pram or car seat while she took a class, to becoming mummy’s ‘helpers’, handing out and gathering up instruments at the appropriate time, guiding new children in the actions for the songs and generally being a much needed spare pair of hands for Karen.

 

Karen says for her, the biggest benefit of having Musical Minis was that she never had to be a conventional ‘working mum’. She still got the fulfilment and ‘buzz’ from running her own business but equally, she was able to adapt her day to fit the business around her children. She could still take them to school in the morning, attend an assembly and even take them to after school activities; the financial input of the business helped support the family but, crucially, it never took her away from it. To this day, the flexibility Musical Minis offers remains one of the main ‘selling points’ to new franchisees; that rare ability to be able to run a business around a family.

Karen currently has one franchisee who manages to run 18 classes a week, all whilst looking after three children under 4! Karen freely admits that in the early days her children probably ate more fish finger suppers than was strictly good for them; not for her the luxury of making time-consuming, home-made teas every night, but she felt, and still feels, that it was a small price to pay for them having Mum with them all the time, driving them to and from school, listening to them talk about their days and generally being there to support and encourage them.

Alex, Rob, Emily, Karen and Matthew Sherr (left to right) at Emily's 21st

To this day, when a new franchisee joins Musical Minis it’s all hands on deck. A new starter ‘pack’ has to be assembled from the stocks that are kept in every conceivable corner of the Sherr family home. Each franchisee receives a box containing t-shirts, music and a selection of over a hundred colourful instruments that are used in every class (and washed between each one too!) and it is the Sherr children’s job to count them out of stock and into the order. Once they had eight, Government backed Children’s Centres starting all at the same time; eight sets of whistles, eight sets of drums into eight different boxes…the children worked hard that week!

 

From helpful toddlers to school and university aged young people, Karen and Rob’s children took on more legitimate roles within the company, handling general administrative tasks to help their parents as the business grew. Matthew and Alex were particularly good at sorting out any computer-related issues, whilst Emily took on the task of assisting with classes and parties, as well as keeping membership records and databases up to date.

In a move that will see Musical Minis remain a family business forever, Emily, now 21, is starting a teacher training programme through Teach First, where she’ll become an Early Years teacher and fully intends on taking over Musical Minis when her parents retire (which won’t be for a long time, says Karen!) The boys, now 26 and 24 are less involved but still pitch in when needed, particularly if they attend an exhibition when EVERYONE takes turns on the stand, in a true show of family unity!

One of Karen and Rob’s biggest success stories is owner of Musical Minis Oxfordshire, Leena Thakker; Leena used to take her daughter Anya to her local Musical Minis class so, when the franchise came up for sale, she didn’t hesitate in buying it; she paid back her franchise purchase fee in the first 12 months and now runs 15 classes in 7 locations across Oxfordshire. Furthermore, she has created employment for 3 local people, taking on helpers so she can run more classes. Leena is the absolute epitome of a successful franchisee and Rob and Karen are rightfully very proud of her and her achievements.

Throughout all this Karen and Rob have been careful not to grow the business too quickly. They are adamant that they will remain in a position to help each and every one of their franchisees, so that they too can enjoy a balanced work and family life.

Today, to market her business Karen is a passionate advocate of social media, using Facebook and Twitter every day to communicate with her followers and she encourages her franchisees to have their own social media pages too. Anyone who has ever left a message on the company’s Facebook page will know they get a thorough, personal reply from Karen every time, no ‘off the cuff’ responses from her!

She also writes a blog, posting regularly on a variety of subjects surrounding children, music and learning. Her degree in Child Psychology is never far from her writing, ensuring her posts are informative and interesting.

Aside from her work with Musical Minis, Karen is also a great advocate of the EWIF, Encouraging Women Into Franchising, a not-for-profit group set up to encourage more women to buy a franchise, to franchise their existing business or to encourage more women to join their existing franchise network. She regularly attends the London group’s meetings which are held 1/4ly in the Houses of Parliament. She and Rob sponsored their New Franchisee of The Year award in 2013.

Karen says that running Musical Minis has been nothing but positive for her family, embodying that phrase ‘the family who works together, stays together’ (or did we just make that up?)…and that all three children have benefitted hugely from the skills they have learned. Not many children could negotiate their way around an excel spreadsheet as well as Emily when she was a teenager!

Alex, Matthew, Karen, Emily and Rob Sherr in NYC (left to right)

The proof of the pudding must surely be that all three children come home often and still choose to regularly holiday with their parents. Karen notes that each summer Rob calls it ‘our last family holiday’ yet somehow, they all end up joining their parents again 12 months later. Most recently they enjoyed a trip to New York; working together so closely has made them a close family unit, something that is becoming rarer in today’s fast-paced society and something that they treasure.

 

Karen, Rob, Matthew, Alex, and Emily truly believe they are worthy winners of the ihubbub ‘Best Home-Based Business Award’ because, although largely unchanged, Musical Minis is still enjoyed, week in, week out, by generation after generation of children across the United Kingdom. How many other home-based businesses can say they have directly helped improve the development of children in our country? Have given Mums and Dads, Grannies and Grandpas, Nannies and Carers a chance to put down their mobile phones, turn off their iPads and simply enjoy singing traditional nursery rhymes with their sons and daughters, grandchildren and charges every week? Not many. This family business, run by a family who are passionate about running a professional business, for the benefit of other families is a true winner and they very much hope you will help them make that official soon!

Karen’s Top Tips for other families starting up a home-based business!

1 Make it part of the family – get everyone involved so they all feel they have a part to play
2 Set aside some time each day, or each week, when you DON’T talk about the business. Maybe a trip to the park, or the cinema. Get out of the house, which after all is also your office and enjoy some quality family time. Your kids deserve it!
3 Try to set aside a room or even just an area that is your ‘office’. That way you can stop it from spreading to all four corners of the house and hopefully ‘close the door’ on it too.
4 Try to set aside an evening a week to go out with your partner. It is important to have time together away from both the business and the children.
5 Don’t be afraid or too proud to ask for help from family and friends.
6 Use the internet….it is free and all it takes is time; get tweeting and posting!

To read more about the Musical Minis franchise opportunity click here.

 

 

My 4th Child - Musical Minis

This year 2014 is the 25th anniversary of the launch of Musical Minis.

When Musical Minis began in Autumn 1989, I set it up as a group where my 1 year old son, Matthew, could enjoy attending along with some of his friends. He loved music and whilst I could appreciate how music could enhance language, social and cognitive development, I didn't want him at such a young age to actually be taught music. I felt music should be fun and not something imposed on children.

Since Musical Minis was established I have had 2 more children but Musical Minis has remained my 4th child. Just as with my own children it is hard to know where all those years have gone, it seems only yesterday they were babies, it is the same with Musical Minis.

It's hard to appreciate that a group started for a few friends has developed into a franchised business with groups throughout the UK. I can clearly remember the first Musical Minis class in our local Girl Guides Hall, supported by a handful of my friends.

As with my 3 children, I can't spend a day without wondering what is going on with Musical Minis. Those reading this who are parents will know that whatever age your children are, you still always look out and worry about them. In this respect Musical Minis is no different for me.

A 25th anniversary is a time to plan ahead for the future as well as looking back to the past. With my 3 children looking ahead involves them pursuing a career and perhaps settling down and having their own families but their future is in their own hands with my guidance. With Musical Minis the future is primarily dictated by me. I would like to see the Musical Minis franchise network grow, so more children can benefit from its structured programme. At the same time I want to remain the focal point for all my franchisees so the growth will never prevent me from having hands on involvement. I take a parental role with my franchisees, offering them help, advice and guidance whenever they need.

I look forward with optimism to continued success with Musical Minis. In so many ways it is a grown up business, but unlike my other children, I am still able to nurture it as if it was still my baby. With both my 3 children and Musical Minis I will always have their best interests at heart.

Nativity Plays - Fond Memories from the Mum Of A Donkey!

MY children's nativity plays were always one of the year's highlights. They were something I wouldn't dream of missing and luckily being my own boss I could gear the Musical Minis term around my own children. I suggest to our franchisees that they should finish classes early at Christmas time so they make sure they have time to watch their children's plays. This is a great advantage of having a flexible business.

I have enjoyed all the school plays my children have ever been in but a few stick out as being really memorable. My all time favourite was when Alex, my middle child, was 3 years old and he was a donkey in his nursery's nativity. Alex was guarding the crib in the stable with a boy called Bruce who was a sheep. The 3 wise men came and left their gifts, which apparently were left in a position slightly different to the one expected. This resulted in the sheep and donkey having a fight on stage struggling to put the gifts in the exact correct place! Alex won and the sheep was so fed up that he went to sleep and had to be woken up at the end. Little did we realise then, that Alex would end up studying drama at University and obviously exact staging was extremely important to him!

Matthew, my eldest, when he was 3 years old was Joseph in the nativity. The cast then performed the Christmas Alphabet and he and Mary (a girl called Imogen) had 'M is for the mistletoe where everybody kissed'. It was really sweet watching these two 3 year olds kiss on cue. I still love the song and made sure it is on our Musical Minis Christmas lesson. Another one of my favourites when was Matthew was at primary school, aged about 6 years old. They were performing a rock nativity and Matthew managed to lead his whole class off stage at totally the wrong time - they all followed him!

The nativity that sticks out in my mind with Emily, my youngest, was when she was about 3 years old and at nursery. One of the scenes was with a girl, called Georgina and a boy, who I can't remember, doing 'I'm a Barbie Girl' with the rest of the nursery dancing around. I still have no idea why they were doing this but it was really sweet. At primary school, when Emily was 5 years old, she was given the task with a few others of playing percussion instruments to accompany the play. Her years of Musical Minis training paid off!

I would love to hear your nativity play stories with your children. They are a very special part of being a parent and I appreciate all the teachers' hard work in putting on a performance, with such young children, that can be remembered for years to come.

 Photo by Flickr jrwi

Does The Role Of A Parent Get Easier As The Child Ages?

As the Mum of a 24, 22 and 19 year old I had thought by this stage in my children's lives my role as a parent would be easier. In one respect it is but in many it isn't.

When the children were babies the scary bit for me as a parent was being responsible for a tiny life. They couldn't communicate to let me know what they wanted.

When the children were toddlers any problem could usually be solved with a cuddle or chocolate.

At school the children had issues with friends, teachers, peer pressure and general responsibilities of growing up. By discussing their concerns with them, as parents, we could help them with solutions and coping strategies.

As a Mum I have always stressed to my children that I would rather know what they are up to and be told the truth, even if I don't approve of what they are telling me. I feel communication is crucial for surviving the teenage years and supporting my children.

Now the children are young adults, I have found their issues harder to help them with. Whilst I can guide them with job hunting basically it is up to them to promote themselves and cope with acceptance or rejection. Luckily, my 2 eldest now have jobs and my youngest still has over a year at university until she needs to find one.

Relationship issues are also out of our control as parents. There is very little we can do as parents if we disapprove of a girlfriend or boyfriend relationship. Or that we can do to help our children if a relationship ends - apart from being there for them.

I think the main issue is that when the children are young their problems are small and the child can usually be helped to get over them quickly. As the children grow so do their problems. As parents we lose control over our children and have to watch our children making wrong choices but have to accept the fact that they have the right to make their own choices - however hard it is to watch!

The main thing we can do as parents is be there for our children, whatever their age.

Communication is key - your child needs to know they can tell you anything. As parents we can't solve all our children's problems but we can listen and try to advise them. Often I wish a kiss and chocolate would sort everything out but those days are long gone!

Photo by Flickr PhilBailey Photography

Including Visually Impaired Children Into Pre-School Activity Groups

At Musical Minis we realise that every child is unique and will benefit from the Musical Minis programme in a way that fits in with its ability, age and stage of development. The programme is child centred and allows the child to develop at a pace suitable to that individual child.

The Musical Minis programme caters for children from birth to school age and has mixed aged classes. Each child takes from the programme what is suitable for it at that stage of its development. The programme is all inclusive and children of all abilities and cultures can join in. For these reasons we welcome children with special needs and medical conditions as we know they will benefit from attending.

As long as the class leader has an idea of the child's needs they can make sure that the programme can support that individual. As you may know, my youngest child, Emily, is severely longsighted - you can read about how we found out here. At groups like Musical Minis, it was important that she was supported in a way that she knew what was happening so that she felt safe and confident with her surroundings. We have quite a few children who attend Musical Minis with various levels of vision.

How Do You Warn Young Children About Stranger Danger?

Like the rest of the nation I'm upset about the abduction of April Jones and hoping she is safely reunited with her family soon. I remember as a young child being told never to talk to strangers, take sweets from strangers, get into strangers' cars etc. I instilled the same fear of strangers into my 3 children.

The difficulty I have is how to inform children that some strangers are 'bad people' whilst at the same time protecting the child's innocence. It's horrific to go into details about what some strangers may do to some children. As parents, Rob and I can't remember telling our children any reason why not to talk to strangers, apart from telling them some strangers may want to take them away from us to live with them. I know some parents mention sex crimes, murders etc. but I chose not to do so, on purpose.

Childhood, I believe, should be an age of innocence, so how do you explain about stranger danger to young children? With my own children they grew up knowing some strangers weren't nice but the majority were. If they were with Rob or I they could reply to questions from strangers. If they were by themselves then they weren't to speak to strangers just in case they were 'bad' strangers. When my children were young the James Bulger case with the child murdered by other children was in the news. The main way I protected my children was the fact that they were always with a responsible adult. If my children were playing outside an adult was with them watching them.

How have you dealt with the stranger issue and warned your children? It would be great if we could share tips to keep our children safe.

 Photo by Flickr xoxoryan

School Health And Safety - Nepal versus UK

Guest post from Emily Sherr, my 19 year old daughter, who is studying Education with History at Durham University. Emily has just returned from volunteering in a school in Nepal.

One of the things that annoys me most in the British education system is the obsessive concern over health and safety. We really haven’t found the balance of a good, helpful and productive level of precaution and have ended up with a system which is really over the top. Judging by my experiences over the summer in Nepal, we are not the only country which is finding the balance hard. Nepal, however, is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, with health and safety being a nice idea which isn’t really implemented. Which ones better, I’m not sure, but both definitely need work.

I think this point is best illustrated if we look at school trips. I went on two great school trips in Nepal which were really good fun but probably not very safe! In Britain the process of organising a school trip is long, rigorous and excessive. Everything is organised to the very last detail; parental permission is obtained long in advance, forms are filled in (which in my experience are long and pointless!), student to staff ratios are sorted, risk assessments are done, insurance is finalised, back up plans implemented, first aid kits prepared and many more behind the scenes procedures are completed. Everything is documented, checked, double checked and checked again. This intense process must have annoyed parents and teachers alike.

This process is very different in Nepal! First let me just make clear that the school trips were only for the boarders and not the day students and took place on a Saturday. The school trip was announced a few days in advance and on the day of the trip whoever wanted to come just jumped onto the school bus which wasn’t big enough for us all so younger ones were piled onto laps. A dubious head count was done and we set off. Once we were out of the police controlled zone, volunteers were allowed to sit on the roof of the bus which was great fun and had amazing views. As the children don’t leave the school much, when they do, they like to make an effort. One of the girls was in a pink princess dress and others all dressed up for the occasion which was really amusing. On both trips we climbed mountains. The first of these was much more like rock climbing in parts as we scrambled up very steep paths. Paths is probably not the correct word as it make it sound like there was a set route on which it would be difficult to get lost. This would be incorrect. There were many paths and no one really knew which one to follow, especially on the way down when we kept getting lost. The children all went off at different speeds, most of the time without an adult (by adult I mean the 7 volunteers and 1 teacher). I somehow became the first aider as I’d brought two antiseptic wipes and a plaster! It’s was all a bit of an unorganised mess. Having said that, we made it to the top, and then we made it down again. All the children got on the bus and we went back to school. Admittedly it could have been organised better, none of the children had water with them - I lucky did because otherwise I would have got dehydrated. We could have made sure children were always with an adult and that there was a first aid kit - but we didn’t and everything was fine. The same can be said about school trip number two. Leeches were the main problem here and over half the children were leeched. Although not great, leeches aren’t that harmful and it’s more unpleasant than anything else. This time a headcount probably would have been useful as we nearly left a child behind but he was fine and was returned to school in one piece.

So all the kids were ok and had a great time on the school trips so no harm was done. I still think that things do need to change and probably will at some point in the future. It just shows you how different cultures and countries work - neither Britain nor Nepal have got health and safety right in my opinion but both do sort of work in their own way. I’m sure things go wrong in Nepal but they still do in Britain despite the intense and vigorous policies. Either way I thoroughly enjoyed my Nepali school trips and I know the kids did too - for now I suppose that’s sort of all that matters. I wonder if any country or even school has managed to find the balance between excessive and underused when it comes to health and safety.

Volunteering At A School In Nepal

Guest post from Emily Sherr, my 19 year old daughter, who is studying Education with History at Durham University.

I've now been in Nepal for over two weeks and I can safely say that this is a great experience for me, and not just someone else's daughter!! Those of you that read my previous blog will know that my mum was less than happy about me going to Nepal to teach in a charity school for 6 weeks and coined the phrase that it would be "a great experience for someone else's daughter".

Having never been to Asia before, Nepal has been a great culture shock which began as soon as we touched down in the airport in Delhi before getting our interconnecting flight to Kathmandu. The whole experience was highly different to the efficiency present in European and American airports. There seemed to be a total lack of organisation yet everything still managed to work fine! When we left the airport in Kathmandu there was a bustle of people trying to get us to take their taxi or help us with our bags - it was so chaotic but highly relaxed at the same time. Nothing is a stress or problem to the people - it's an odd mix. The culture shock has continued in the school where we use squat toilets and there are only cold showers! Even walking down the street is completely different - pavements don't seem to exist and there's a constant stream of beeping from the motorbikes, cars and buses!

The 5 Best and 5 Worst Bits About Being A Gamesmaker

In a previous post I wrote about being an Olympic Gamesmaker but didn't really express the best and worst bits.

Here are my 5 best things about being a Gamesmaker:-

1. Being a part of London 2012
2. Meeting and working with some great people, the other Gamesmakers.
3. People I met in the street and train interested in my role and thanking me for volunteering.
4. Wearing a uniform! I haven't worn one since school.
5. Collecting pins. Badges from the different federations and countries, to decorate our accreditation badges.

Here are my 5 worst things about being a Gamesmaker:-

1. The early starts. I'm not a morning person and getting up at 5.15am was hard.
2. People in the streets and on the trains asking me questions when I had no idea of the answers as it was nothing to do with my role.
3. Not having time to spend with my family as my shift times meant I left the house whilst they were still in bed or I came back once they had gone to sleep.
4. The training I had received didn't prepare me for my role and I felt the days I had given up for it really were a waste of time.
5. Some of the systems we had to use were over complex and time consuming. Simpler systems could have been used instead and would have given the same results.

All in all being a Gamesmaker was a great experience. I'm pleased that as franchisor of Musical Minis, the Summer is a quieter time for me so I could take time off for The Olympics.