It has been an important week in the history of Tots Play –
our very first franchise holder ran her very first class!
She had a good turnout, enjoyed running the session and got
great feedback too. We are very proud of her, and there is no doubt that her
business will go from strength to strength.
This milestone, though, has brought up mixed emotions for
me. I am certainly proud of how far Tots Play has come in less than three
years, and of the great job our new franchisee has done to get her business up
and running. I am excited too, thinking about where my little business is
heading, and the many more mums and babies we will be able to reach, both with
classes and with the opportunity of running a business around a growing family.
Aside from all that though, there has also been some apprehension.
Having conceived and brought Tots Play to life, I, like many
other business owners, think of it a bit like a second child, and this week was
the equivalent of its first day at school.
So far I have been able to “keep it at home with me” where I
could keep a close eye on everything that happened, but the time has now come where I have to start to
let go, entrusting part of its care to someone else – in short to let it start
to grow up.
The worries are there just like with any child, will it know
what to do, will its new carer take care of it properly, will people like it,
how will it manage without me! But
having nurtured it, and prepared it as well as I can and I know that if it is to
grow and reach the potential I know it has then I can’t keep it all to myself
forever, and this is a step on that journey.
Of course the journey is one that all parents have to go
through. Seeing new mums (and dads) bring their tiny babies to Tots Play classes
and watching them develop and grow over the months and years they are with us
is one of the most rewarding parts of what I do, and one of the great things about this is
witnessing the journey that all our children have to make towards independence.
Those first, small, but important steps might be as simple
as reaching out for the bubbles for the first time, crawling away from mum or
dad to explore a sensory toy that has caught their eye, or leaving mum’s side
to return their song sheet to the front of the class, but each step builds on
the one before and the each time the step is repeated it becomes a little
easier. The crucial part of the process for our Tots, is that mum, dad or
another important person in their life is there to support, encourage and
celebrate with them. This is what gives them the confidence to take those
steps, to try new things, to follow what interests and excites them, to develop
and grow.
As both a parent and a business owner I see that this is now
my role – supporter, cheerleader, someone to celebrate with, and also a place
to turn and come back to when things don’t go quite as planned! There are, of
course, many more steps to take on this journey for all of us who are parents.
Perhaps the path will not always take the direction we imagine, and there are
bound to be setbacks along the way, but our babies are going to grow up whether
we like it or not, and learning, one step at a time, to let go and adapt our
role to what they need it to be is perhaps how we grow and develop too.
Playing to Win! 