Focus on.... Franchises with Children
16th April 2008
Organised baby and toddler sessions are becoming increasingly popular, and with constant progress in the understanding of effective children development, parents now have a wide array of choice of extra participative activities when it comes to giving their child the best start in life.
Today, the pressure is on for many families to be taking advantage of the latest opportunities in child development that will help aid everything from co-ordination, early speech, stimulated senses, good health, happiness and friendship. www.femalefranchise.co.uk investigates the scope and range of services available offered through franchised and licensed business opportunities.
The popularity of baby, toddler and children development sessions and, consequently, this growing trend towards involving ones children in such activities is largely down to franchising. Principally, because a national franchise network is able to market itself with both the brand recognition and credibility to satisfy even the most sceptical of parents, the perceived benefits of the sessions far outweigh the cost or time inconvenience of doing so.
One leading franchise network is Baby Sensory, winner of the recent ‘Best Baby Development Class’ award founded in 2004. The Baby Sensory franchise programme comprises over 40 unique, themed sessions for parents and their young babies. It draws on current research, the work of theorists, early year’s experts, and over 30 years of personal experience of founder Dr Lin Day.
Up to 20 parents and babies attend each session and the sessions are typically run at a hired venue such as a local community centre. Activities are based around stimulating the baby’s senses using lighting, sounds and touching as the parent takes part in each activity with their children.
Ian Sharland, Franchise Manager of Baby Sensory, explains why demand for their classes, and for early children development activities are on the increase: “With the growing number of time-poor, cash-rich families, there is a growing demand for services that will give children the best start in life. Every parent hopes their child will be healthy, happy and develop well, and so our classes can create an environment to achieve this”
Of course, its not just demand for places within the classes that is growing, but also the desire to run such classes as part of the franchise network themselves. By becoming self-employed as part of a franchise, many women are finding a solution for generating a second household income whilst maintaining control and having flexibility, mums in particular are finding their ideal post-children next career step in a franchise.
Social factors that have led to the increased requirement for baby and children development programmes include the growing number of working families with both parents working. The growing trend in flexible working, with more home-based activity has also had an impact on the number of parents swapping home-based employment for self-employment.
Vicky Chubbs, one of Baby Sensory’s newest franchisees signed up to run their own classes after attending sessions with their own Babies. Vicky, a registered nurse, started running her own Baby Sensory franchise classes in April 08. Vicky had attended classes in Wirral and decided to open classes in Hereford following a house move.
“I wanted a career which allowed me to continue to spend time with my son Dylan. We had both enjoyed the Baby Sensory classes in West Kirby so much that it seemed like an ideal role for me following our family relocation to Hereford” says Vicky. “I loved watching Dylan and the other babies at the classes. I was amazed to see how well he responded to the variety of activities and I loved seeing his development through each term.”
Musical Minis uses a structured franchise programme to operate classes for pre-school children to assist them with their early development through using music. Musical Minis has 20 franchisees across the country. Each 45 minute session they run contains music ranging from classical to modern, concentrating on rhythm, song, sound and movement and promoting early musical expression.
Karen Sherr, Founder of Musical Minis, advises why demand for classes is on the increase and says “Since 1989, when Musical Minis was established, the number of groups offering music related activities to babies and toddlers has grown significantly. Accordingly, awareness is now far higher than it has ever been which has seemed to coincide with a greater number of aspirational parents who want to give their children the best start in life. The Government has also placed greater emphasis on early years development and certainly the cognitive, language, social and emotional focus of Musical Minis fits in perfectly with Government objectives.”
Karen also suggests why the Musical Minis franchise is becomingly increasingly appealing to mums who attend their classes. “Because of the growing demand for pre-school activities, running a Musical Minis franchise can be a full time highly profitable venture. Yet, in a complementary way, the freedom afforded by running the Musical Minis franchise in the way that the franchisee wants ensures absolute flexibility, enabling the franchisee to operate the business around their family and to grow at the pace they want. This combined with the level of support that we provide at Head Office makes for a compelling proposition.”
Other franchise and license opportunities focus on developing children in developing additional skills, such as foreign languages. La Jolie Ronde, for example, and LCF Clubs (Le Club Francais), both are license opportunities that run structured class systems that can teach children to learn French or Spanish languages. These franchises both offer flexibility and scope for the franchisee to develop their business to take on as many classes as they wish to suit their needs.
Colette Leclercq-Hallam, Founder of La Jolie Ronde, says “Speaking a language is crucial to the ability to learn it and we have found that oral activities come easy to young children. They have a keen ear and are very receptive. At this very young age, the strategies and language skills, which they use for developing their own language, are very active. It is the ideal time to immerse them in the sound of the language and they enjoy being able to show their parents how much they have learnt too!”
Julie Wilson, Marketing Manager for La Jolie Ronde adds “The demand for children's French and Spanish lessons is very high, and the earning potential is there for those who want to succeed and want to turn their potential into success.”
As well as flexible. part-time franchises involving working with babies and children, there are also many other franchises business opportunities that present a larger investment and offer a full-time management franchise opportunity. Soft Play Centres, such as Funky Monkeys and Jungle Mania combine safe and fun adventure play facilities with café facilities, offering multiple income ventures that appeal to children of all age ranges.
Some business opportunities also provide absolute choice and flexibility. The Keepsake Company enables licensees, called Keepsake Consultants, to choose certain activities to be trained and to offer services in, such as clay impressions, 3D casting, shoe bronzing or silver fingerprint jewellery. The Keepsake Consultants can develop their business around their needs and desires and grow as much, or as quickly, as they wish to.
Whatever franchise opportunity may fit, the number of opportunities designed for women looking for the flexible alternative to employment has never been greater. Femalefranchise.co.uk is the essential resource for information on flexible franchises for women, and for franchises involving working with children.
