· Physical activities to burn off some energy for the kiddies while their primary caregivers get the chance to have some “me” time, sounded like a win-win to us!

· It is something that we were looking for ourselves and wished was available to us and our kids, especially when they were younger and we were really struggling to balance being mothers while still trying to find time to meet our own needs.

· We know how fun these activities can be for kids, and we love being active with ours, why not share the love?!

· Two of us don’t have family nearby to give a helping hand with our kidlets, and although we had the most generous and kind friends to help us out occasionally, it wasn’t ideal and always made us feel guilty!

· We wanted to give back to other mums and caretakers to have the opportunity for them to take a breather/time-out to do something for themselves and their mental health to allow them time to regroup and come back as a happier and healthier version of themselves for everyone’s sake!

· We love the whole concept of “It Takes a Village to Raise a Child.” We want to be part of that village to take some of the load off your shoulders!

· It’s also something that will allow us to work alongside our youngest children; the perfect guilt-free work-life balance, and a dream come true!

· We absolutely love kids! We each have multiple kids ourselves. We are very experienced and prepared to take on whatever comes flying at us in stride with warmth, patience, and humour!

· We have a strict 1 coach to 4 kids ratio, and therefore, it will never turn into a chaotic free-for-all!

· It’s a regular, but casual service, so no need to hunt down a babysitter and get them to agree to such short hours at an ad-hoc basis.

· It’s more affordable per hour than nannies and even babysitters.

· We teach the children the fundamentals of moving their bodies. We try and intersperse some fine-motor skills in amongst the gross-motor movements. There is lots of research to back up that physical activity has many, many health benefits. Really, it’s for the kids, so no mum-guilt needed

· It’s a service for those who don’t have the want or need for day care, but just want/need small pockets of time.

· For those who don’t go to day care, this will help their kids socialise with similar-aged children and prepare them to be away from their parents for when kindy starts.

· We get it. We know from experience what it’s like to stay at home with the kids (no need to say more), and we want to be part of your village that you can depend on to lend a helping hand.

· Although it is ultimately your decision, we strongly recommend that you stay and participate for your child’s first 1-3 sessions for them to build trust and familiarity with us.

· For example, you could stay for the session’s entirety the first time, the first half hour of the next one, and the first 15minutes of the third one.

· If your child already goes to day care, and you know they will be fine without you, you do what you know will work for them!

· Alternatively, if you want to stay and participate for every session, you’re more than welcome to!

· Expect there to be tears when you leave the first few times. Most of the time these tears end shortly after the parent is out of eyesight. The more regularly you come, the more familiar your child will be with us which will lessen their anxiety (and therefore, yours too)!

· Don’t prolong the goodbye, it makes it SO. MUCH. WORSE by confusing them.

· Just a quick hug, kiss, “Bye, I’ll come back soon,” and out the door works best!

· A drink bottle, labelled with their name, filled with water only please!

· Nut-free morning tea in a labelled container, perhaps in a (labelled) cooler bag

· A change of clothes. Accidents can and do still happen at this age!

· Nappies and Wipes if your child is not yet toilet-trained

· Fully completed intake form <link>

· A lovey/comfort soft-toy if you know that will make them more comfortable

· Something comfortable to move in. Anything with a bit of flex, that isn’t too tight/loose. We really wanted to avoid another costly, mandatory uniform for yet another activity, so whatever you already have at home will work! Options include, but are not limited to: shorts & T-shirt/singlet, ballerina/gymnastics/soccer gear, or just plain old joggers… or even PJs if it’s that kind of day!

· Barefoot is perfect! We will be doing lots of balancing-type activities where it’s actually safer and easier to grip with bare feet!

· Any extra time at the venue will cost us another hour (another 50% on top of our rent)! Since we already walk a thin line with keeping things affordable, this would be detrimental to us! So, it may seem high, but we will have to pass that extra fee onto you!

· Plus, you don’t want your child to worry if all other parents have already picked up their child.

We know that kids in this age-bracket still have pretty short attention spans, so we break our sessions into sections:

· 9:15 – 9:30 – free play (with the activities set-up for the morning) alongside the instructors. We like to think of it as a warm-up to gently establish the kids’ trust and make sure they feel comfortable with us right from the start.

· 9:30 – 10:00 – Organised gross and fine motor skill activities – a little bit of a different challenge every time!

· 10:00 – 10:10 – toilet breaks/nappy changing, handwashing.

· 10:10 – 10:30 – eat morning tea (nut-free, brought from home)

· 10:30 – 11:00 – More organised physical activities – different from the earlier session that day!

· 11:00 – 11:15 – Wind-down activity eg. reading the kiddies a story or a mindfulness activity

We ask that you drop your kids off with a fresh nappy or having already done a wee before leaving the house. However:

· We will be supplying a portable change table for those kids still in nappies and we will change them as needed

· For those who are toilet training or are already trained, the communal shop toilets are right beside our back door! One of us will accompany the children to the toilet as needed.

· Before lunch, we will take the kids to go to the toilet, and wash their hands in groups of 3-4.

· Catch up on a bit of sleep (Haha, we know that’s not likely, but it is always an option)

· Do some sort of exercise whether it’s going to the gym/Pilates/yoga/spin, going for a run, doing an exercise video off of YouTube, or whatever form of exercise you enjoy!

· Get a massage

· Catch up on folding and putting away the laundry (…or is Mt. McLaundry only a thing in our houses?)

· Grocery shop child-free. You can actually read labels without little octopus arms reaching out to grab whatever they can from the trolley! No more rushing through to avoid potential melt-downs!

· Go to a therapy appointment

· Have a breakfast-date with Daddy to reconnect on a regular basis…haha, this could be one way to sell the expense to them

· Clean the house child-free. There’s a meme out there that describes cleaning the house with kids like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos. We cannot find a better description!

· Make a doctor’s or dentist appointment for yourself. We always manage to do it for the kids, but how often do we it for ourselves… on a timely basis, or without re-scheduling it a million times?!

· Get your hair done

· Catch up for coffee/lunch with a friend child-free, what a luxury!

· There are endless other opportunities that we’re sure you can come up with on your own

· We are mums too, so our main goal was to keep it affordable for the average mum/caretaker so that she/he wouldn’t feel the mum-guilt associated with spending any money on her/himself!

· The rate equates to $14.50/hr which is more affordable than almost any babysitter, let alone nannies that charge $25/hr +++.

· We are walking a thin line of paying our rent, other overhead, and ourselves a small wage, so we really hope classes fill up, so we can continue these sessions for many years to come!

· We would love to! It all depends on the popularity of our sessions. If the sessions are regularly booked out, we will add another class, and so on, and so forth. Because we walk such a fine line with the cost to run the sessions and the low amount we’re charging, if classes aren’t full/near full, we do not have the option of adding more classes.

· Friday afternoons will be the next likely sessions to be added.

· As mentioned above, because our budget to keep this service affordable is so tight: it means that if we don’t have a minimum of 6 children (not including our own), we will run into the minuses/negatives. Bring a few other-mum friends along and catch up over a quick coffee before you go off and do your own thing! A relaxing weekly catchup is sure to fill your bucket!

· Yes, we all have at least these minimum requirements.

· We will supply an alcohol hand-rub at entry. Please help yourself and squeeze a small amount onto your child’s hands before they join the group.

· We know a cough can linger for weeks and weeks, and you can’t cancel everything, every time; but we ask if your child has any cold-like symptoms on the day of the session, please either cancel your session (more than an hour before-hand to get refunded), or please show us a picture of the child’s negative RAT test dated from that morning. No new colds or actively running noses please!

· We will take the kids in groups of 4 to wash their hands before we dig into our morning tea

· You have the option to use the alcohol hand rub provided on your way out

· We will wipe and/or spray any equipment used after every session to disinfect

· We will mop out the floor after every session.

· If we have any long-lingering cold-like symptoms, we will wear masks ourselves.

· Keep in mind that if we, or our own kids, get sick, we may have to cancel a session or limit numbers here or there; we apologize in advance!

We put a lot of thought in to this.  We want the children to get the most out of our workshops and we decided at 1.5 years most children are confidently walking by this age.  This means they will be able to be get the most enjoyment out of all of the activities.  They are generally also a little more confident away from Mum or Dad by this age too!

Our 3.5yr limit is more of an approximate age.  A lot of kids older than this tend to be involved in different activities like pre-kindy and junior sports, or the activities we’re doing might just be a little too ‘young’ for them!