Have you heard the one about the kid in the phone store?

This is not Kelly's child. This is my child. Trapped on an airplane just like Kelly was trapped in a Telstra store. Not happy. You get the picture.

 If only it were a joke. Well, it was a joke, but not a funny one.

I'm talking about my business partner and fellow working mum Kelly who had to spend 40 minutes in a phone store recently with her 2 year old in tow.

Kelly was in there for around 40 minutes while the staff member went about bundling her telephonic services. The two staff members glared at her when her child began playing up after the first half hour. There was nothing to occupy him (except the same old stuff mum carried along in her handbag which, in toddler eyes, was sooooo boring), he had exhausted her snack supplies and the staff showed absolutely no interest in helping her by providing, say, a pen and piece of paper, or an old mobile phone out of the recycling bin or, well, ANYTHING.

And Kelly was trapped. They had gone so far in the bundling process with it's interminable form filling and whatnot, that to leave would mean coming back again for another stressful session. As it was, the staff member forgot a crucial element in the process and Kelly was called back the following week for another 40 minute session in the store. The frustration levels for everyone concerned (staff, customer, child) were ridiculously and unnecessarily high.

Could she have gone to the store without her child? Possibly. But on the days when he is in childcare, Kelly works. Domestic matters like shopping and paying bills and bundling your telecommunications have to happen when you're not at work. Which means taking a toddler with you.

The banks get it. Our client Westpac was the first bank to put in a dedicated play solution. Now most of the banks are doing it in one way or another. They know that over 85% of parents do their shopping with their children and they want to make the banking experience easy and pleasant for those parents. A parent whose child is safely occupied is also more likely to stay longer in the bank and is open to discussions about home loans or financial planning. And what a wonderful customer service initiative!

It's time for the telco stores to follow suit. The research is undeniable. Customers with children prefer to shop in a store where their child is welcome, where their child is safely occupied, where they can conduct their business without stress or glaring looks from staff.

Considering the vast sums the telcos spend on store fitouts, including a compact play solution is a relatively minor investment.

Including a half hour session into the next staff training day on how family friendly customer service practices can help generate additional sales would be of enormous benefit, not only to the customers, but to the staff who would be well-armed with a tool-kit of techniques and much more confident the next time they are faced with a cranky toddler.

Not to mention the store's bottom line. A customer with a contented child is more open to cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.

So come on telcos. What are you waiting for?

Child Friendly Solutions has been assisting Australian retailers with in-store play solutions for 10 years including Big W, K-Mart, Westpac, Toyota and Forty Winks. You can find Child Friendly Solutions Play Panels, Play Tables and other play equipment, as well as lots of information on becoming a child friendly retailer, at www.childfriendly.com.au 

How to turn your Parent's Room from 'Blah' to 'Ooh La La'

Calling all shopping centre managers!

The time has come to say goodbye to the cold tiled walls, worn old chairs and threadbare curtains of your parent's rooms and hello to stylish, well-provisioned, modern rooms that will provide a warm and welcoming environment for weary parents to take a breather from all that shopping.

In many cases, you don't need a huge budget to make a few changes to your parents rooms. However, the investment you do make, can have a terrific impact on your centre.

The aim is to keep parents at the centre, spending money and keeping your retail tenants happy. If your parent's rooms are unwelcoming, smelly or lack the functionality parents have come to expect, they will simply go home.

So how do you go about revamping your parent's rooms with a little va va voom?

The first step is a visit to your centre. If your centre is not in Sydney, we can either provide you with a quote to come to you for the day, or we can work together using photos and videos that you provide to us.

Next we prepare a detailed, fully costed proposal for you, including a Vision Board so you can get a feel for how the room will work with colour schemes, play equipment and furnishings. Here's a sample:



Finally, we organise to have everything delivered to you, and in the case of flooring and murals, installed too. Everything else is easily fitted and/or installed by your maintenance crew. We can also make colour and surfacing recommendations on any structural work such as painting or cabinet-making for you to specify to your preferred contractors.

Easy peasy!

After 10 years in the business, we are in the best position to understand the specific needs of parent's room and how important it is for features to be durable and as theft-proof as possible!

Contact me to discuss your requirements. We will prepare a fully costed proposal to match your budget. Tel: (02) 9984 0769  Email: michelle@childfriendly.com.au

I look forward to helping you create a fabulous space!

PS. Check out our parent's room 'Before' and 'After' pics here . . .

Child Friendly Solutions has been assisting Australian retailers with in-store play solutions for 10 years including Big W, K-Mart, Westpac, Toyota and Forty Winks. You can find Child Friendly Solutions Play Panels, Play Tables and other play equipment, as well as lots of information on becoming a child friendly retailer, at www.childfriendly.com.au 

How an awful stay in Sydney Children's Hospital gave us a great business idea & a way of giving back

Our little man Jack in Sydney Children's Hospital with Dad - On the mend & inspiring mummy's business

Back in 2005 when our son Jack was only 22 months old, he tried to walk across the living room floor and fell over. Then he vomited. A day later we rushed a limp and very sick toddler to the local emergency ward where he was quickly transferred to the neurological team at Sydney Children's Hospital.

And so began an awful week that culminated with a 6 day stay at Sydney Children's Hospital while Jack battled a double dose of meningitis and encephalitis.

Fortunately he made a 100% recovery and, as little children often do, bounced back quite quickly. But even though he was sitting up in his hospital cot reading books and watching videos after a few days, we needed to stay in hospital until he was completely stabilised.

During the long days of play punctuated by many naps, my business partner Anne came and sat with me and we got quite a lot of planning work done for the business. On our way back from the cafe one lunch time, we walked through reception and stopped to look at the enormous board that listed the hospital's many sponsors, both corporate and local businesses.

Back on the ward, we walked past a room with a big sink, a massive pile of toys and a nurse up to her elbows in suds, washing all the toys by hand. She grimaced. Keeping the toys on the ward clean and germ-free was all part of the job.

We looked at each other and the idea hit us - the Play Panels would be perfect for hospital wards where they could be spray cleaned every day with minimal effort from the nurses, and wouldn't become lost or stolen. And instead of the hospitals paying for them, we could ask businesses to sponsor the Play Panels, adding a branded badge to each Play Panel so that the sponsors could get a little bit of advertising exposure in return.

Eight years later, we have over 120 Play Panels in 12 hospitals around Australia, sponsored by corporates such as Westfield, Huggies and Children's Panadol, and by many small local businesses such as gyms, osteopaths, pharmacies, cafes, photographers, even a web designer!

This was the first Play Panel we put into the Emergency Department of Sydney Children's Hospital in 2005. That little girl had just vomited and I think you can tell by my face that I was willing the photographer to hurry before the next bout!

So if you're a hospital and you'd like to be part of the program, or you have a business and would like to become a sponsor, we'd love to hear from you.

As a sponsor you are able to brand the Play Panel with your corporate logo, website or message so you’re not only doing something great for the kids, you’re also able to gain valuable brand reinforcement for your business.

It's a win-win-win situation for the hospital, the kids and your business.

You can learn more about the whole program by clicking here. Or call us and we'll happily talk you through it.

Kelly is your go-to gal on this project, so reach her on (02) 9984 0769 or kelly@childfriendly.com.au. We'd love to have you on board.

Child Friendly Solutions Hospital Sponsorship Program Details

PS. Jack recovered beautifully and is now a robust, rugby-wrangling, piano-playing ten year old!

Jack after his hospital stay

Jack our star rugby winger

Child Friendly Solutions has been assisting Australian retailers with in-store play solutions for 10 years including Big W, K-Mart, Westpac, Toyota and Forty Winks. You can find Child Friendly Solutions Play Panels, Play Tables and other play equipment, as well as lots of information on becoming a child friendly retailer, at www.childfriendly.com.au 

Could you be a Child Friendly Solutions Distributor?

One of the key drivers of our success over the last ten years has been to share the sales effort with our fabulous distributors and agents.

We have distributors who sell our acclaimed Play Panel and Play Centres in the medical, child care & shop fitting industries but we also have a number of great agents who prefer to sell our products online.

Of course, we are always looking for new distributors and agents to sell our play products. With the majority of our sales now coming via the internet, you don't even need a warehouse to stock our product. If you make the sale, we'll ship the goods direct to your customers and pay you a commission on the sale.

If this is something you'd like to learn more about, call me or send me an email and I'll be happy to send you some more detailed information including pricing and our generous commission structure.

We'd love to have you on board!

Michelle

0411 865 184

michelle@childfriendly.com.au

Child Friendly Solutions has been assisting Australian retailers with in-store play solutions for 10 years including Big W, K-Mart, Westpac, Toyota and Forty Winks. You can find Child Friendly Solutions Play Panels, Play Tables and other play equipment, as well as lots of information on becoming a child friendly retailer, at www.childfriendly.com.au 

Parents Room Makeover - Eastland Goes Whimsical

Everyone loves a good makeover, especially with Before & After pictures to tell the story, and our Parents Room Makeovers are no exception.

When Eastland Shopping Centre in Victoria approached us last year, they gave us a brief that was a little different to any we'd had before. They wanted to incorporate a full wall mural with an In The Night Garden theme and design the whole parent's room around it.

Well, fortunately we love a challenge! The trick was to make sure the room felt stylish and comfortable, as well as having that gorgeous sense of fun.

BEFORE . . . cold, clinical, a typical parent's room

AFTER . . . neutral shades for floor, fittings & furniture makes the mural pop out in all it's whimsy!

You can see more Before and After pics of other parent's rooms on our website.

What could we do with the parent's rooms in your shopping centre?

Child Friendly Solutions has been assisting Australian retailers with in-store play solutions for 10 years including Big W, K-Mart, Westpac, Toyota and Forty Winks. You can find Child Friendly Solutions Play Panels, Play Tables and other play equipment, as well as lots of information on becoming a child friendly retailer, at www.childfriendly.com.au 

Child Friendly Is Off To The Show!

No, not THAT show. The other show. The Retail Expo & Conference!

It's been four years since we last exhibited at Retail Expo and I must admit, I'm really looking forward to it.

What's not to love about an Expo? You get to speak in person to your suppliers (something that is becoming rarer in the age of the tweet!), check out all the fabulous new products and services for your industry, listen to some inspiring presentations that are sure to inject some serious motivation into your business, and eat the Minties and Fantales off other people's stands (because other people's lolly bowls are always so much better than your own!)

So where is all this motivation and lolly-eating going down? At the Sydney Convention Centre in Darling Harbour from 24-26 September. We will be at Stand B13 with our excellent range of play equipment specifically designed for retail stores.

So if you've been thinking about what you can do to keep customers with children in your store so they will actually have the opportunity of buying something from your store, come down to see us, say hello, and look over our wall mounted play panels and other clever ideas for keeping children entertained.

(And also? We'll have Tim Tams!)

See you there :)

Esprit - a great example of a retailer who knows how to keep their customers in store spending.

Medical Waiting Room Play Areas - Dos and Don'ts

Calling all medical practices and hospitals! It's time to ban the box of one-armed Barbie dolls and sad looking teddies.

You know how important it is to create a safe, hygienic area for children in your practice waiting area. However you may not be aware that it is a requirement of the RACGP Standards for General Practice that your practice waiting area caters for the specific needs of children.*

You might also not be aware that the toys in your waiting area could be making children a tad more 'germy' than they already are. Back in 2004, we sent off a couple of toys from a medical waiting room to a lab for testing. The results were just a tiny bit scary with staphylococci and dangerous coliforms found on all toys, one of which was of a strain resistant to antibiotics. Eeeek! 
(If you're a details-person, you can read the full report here.)

So do you still have a box of wonky plastic blocks, dog-eared books and broken Buzz Lightyears in your practice but are not sure how to create a safe, hygienic play area for children?

Our company has helped hospitals such as Sydney Children’s, Westmead, RNSH, as well as over 300 medical practices around Australia to create safe, hygienic, tidy play areas so we’ve seen it all!

Below are some ideas you can implement in your practice to ensure that you’re not only providing a ‘best practice’ play area in your waiting room, but also conforming to accreditation standards.

DO:

• Provide play equipment that conforms to Australian Standards
• Ensure the play equipment is of durable, commercial quality so it doesn’t break within a week or two
• Install play equipment that is self-contained & firmly fixed to avoid choking or tripping hazards

DON’T:

• Bring in toys from home – they are not safe or durable
• Provide toys that your reception staff need to constantly tidy – it’s an unproductive use of their time
• Provide toys that can’t be cleaned easily and daily – too long between cleans is a cross-infection risk

And of course, you know where to go for Australia's best supply of waiting-room-friendly play equipment. Child Friendly Solutions of course! (as if you had to ask :))

* Criterion 5.1.1 Practice Facilities, Indicator H. RACGP Standards for General Practice 4^th Edition, Oct 2010, pg 101.

Image courtesy of brittanaslove
Child Friendly Solutions has been assisting Australian retailers with in-store play solutions for 10 years including Big W, K-Mart, Westpac, Toyota and Forty Winks. You can find Child Friendly Solutions Play Panels, Play Tables and other play equipment, as well as lots of information on becoming a child friendly retailer, at www.childfriendly.com.au