Marching into a new month and a few changes........

February saw a mixture of highs and lows and after a few frustrating lows I am determined not to get any more grey hair, although I am sure they are shiny silver and not really grey at all!

I won’t bore you with the lows, except to say I no longer wish to be going round and round in circles achieving nothing at all.

My high points for February have included being invited to attend Metro Radio’s Recruitment Event in Durham as part of their finding £1million pounds worth of work in the North East region. It was a great day, well organised by Anna Thompson and well attended by people of the area hoping to find their perfect job. There was certainly a mixed array of companies available for visitors to talk to.

And in answer to a common question I was asked on the day – ooohh Childcare, that sounds like fun – do you have to have any experience? Erm..... yes please!

The following weekend I was delighted to be part of the first Rockabuy Baby Fair in Tynemouth. The day was a mixture of local family friendly businesses showing visitors what is available in the area and a Nearly New Sale where people were able to sell their child and baby things they no longer needed. It was great to stand side by side with the Blue Tiger Training team, who were promoting their Parent’s First Aid Training. Kelly did a marvellous job of organising the whole day and I really look forward to the next one.

February also saw a meeting at Great Coffee on Newcastle’s Quayside, with the Newcastle Business Mums.  I always look forward to catching up with fellow members. The lovely Nicola Cook from Aurora Consulting told her story of how she got to where she is now, a very smart and inspirational lady. I have to say I completely admire the many mums (and dads) who run successful home based businesses and have babies or small children at home to look after also -  I know what I do and I have grown up children.....

So what made me smile at this Business Mums Gathering? Julie Charlton made me smile! She brought along her face paints and painted some lovely flowers on my arms as part of her new body paint techniques. Purple flowers of course! They were indeed very pretty (I didn’t want to wash it off) and I expect they will be very popular when the weather becomes warmer and we do not need to wear sleeves.

And how are things going to be different in March?

Well for a start I will be able to ‘see’ my dining room table! In a bid to re-address my work/life balance, I am moving Kids Deserve the Best into some local office space in Prudhoe, where I shall work structured days, rather than ‘open all hours’. This will mean I can go to work properly and leave it there at the end of the day. This does of course mean I will have to dress smarter because the people of Prudhoe might be able to see me. And I will have to once again wear shoes! Well I cannot go to work in my bright green frog like slippers can I?

Another change, and quite an important step I think, is the introduction of Matthew to the Kids Deserve the Best team. Matthew (my son) is going to provide me with general admin support for one day a week, mostly answering telephones, taking messages, making appointments for me, running small errands and making cups of tea, in the hope that this will give me back some dedicated time to work with families who need our help, rather than me spending most of my day on the phone and returning calls I have missed.

I am very much looking forward to whatever these new changes will bring; one thing is certain - nothing will compromise the quality of work provided by Kids Deserve the Best. I want to provide nothing but the best to every family or nanny who comes to us for support.

Thank you for stopping by and reading my latest update.