Good morning everyone. Today I am joined by Gail and Vanessa who are going to tell you all about their new business KidzCoins. You can also find KidzCoins on Twitter and Facebook so make sure you head over and give them some support. Gail & Vanessa are also giving away a pack of their fab Kidzcoins so make sure you see the end of this post for a chance to win 🙂
Who are you?
Gail Isted and Vanessa Brown – two mums from Kent
What do you do?
We created and now sell KidzCoins which are special screen time trading and reward coins to help families manage their children’s screen time in a very easy and positive way. The coins have time values on them and the idea is that you agree a quota of screen time for the week with your child and give them the equivalent quota of coins. Children trade in a coin when they want screen time. If they run out of coins they run out of screen time but they quickly learn how to manage their time better. You can also use the coins as reward coins, encouraging your child to ‘earn’ their screen time by reading more, completing homework, participating in physical play or helping with household chores. The aim is to motivate and teach children from an early age how to control their own use of screens and gadgets and to think about how they spend their time. The coins are primarily aimed at families with primary school age children. ALL the feedback we’ve had to date has been fantastic. They are simple but very effective because they positively involve the children in taking responsibility for their screen time. We’ve even got the support of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and TV psychologist Dr Arthur Cassidy as well as the backing of MPs and headteachers. It’s been a whirlwind couple of months with press and local radio interviews as well as a live interview on BBC Radio 5 Live.
When did you establish your business?
February 2016
What made you start your own business?
On the school run it became increasingly obvious that parents shared the same frustration about the impact of screen time on family life but there didn’t seem to be a positive solution on the market to teach children to take responsibility for their screen time. So Vanessa and I sat down and over a few cups of coffee, came up with the idea of fun and motivating trading coins that could also be used to earn screen time. The flexibility of the product means that the coins can be used in lots of different ways to suit your own family and your own screen time issues. Vanessa is a graphic designer and I’m in PR and we’ve known each other since our children were at preschool, so I think we make a good team.
What do you love about working for yourself?
The flexibility of building up the KidzCoins business around our hectic family lives.
Is there anything you do not like about working for yourself?
No – we just wish there were more hours in the day!
Is there anything you would go back and do differently if you could?
Never look back! Just keep moving forward.
What advice would you give to a Mum considering starting her own business?
Find something that you have a genuine interest in. You need to be passionate about an idea to make it work. Have a clear vision for what you want to achieve with your idea and plan all the actions that will take you closer to that goal, one step at a time. It’s OK to dream big. Do plenty of research before launching. We tested our product on lots of families. The positive feedback reassured us that we’d got the idea right which gave us the confidence we needed to ‘go for it.’
Gail and Vanessa are giving away one pack of their KidzCoins screen time trading and reward coins to one of my lucky readers, all you need to do is complete the Rafflecopter below – Good luck 🙂
20 Comments
a star system
it’s hard…. very hard, sometimes we can promote fun time by my husband and I playing hide and seek with them etc or all go to the park if weather permits
We don’t really have limits just now but as children get older we will have to
As children young just now :- OK, as aware that access to screens is at the discretion of the Adults (Grown Ups). Though would like to be prepared for when the children are older, as likely to be some disagreements. As children often come under a degree of influence from others they are socialising with. Though we do aim to get to know Teachers, Classmates, Friends etc. Time can be limited due to our work commitments. When we are not available it is other family members who act as Carers for the children, so we hope that they will continue to keep us informed and up to date in regards to the children’s activities etc.
These are a great idea! It isn’t really an issue yet as Marianna is only little, but I’m sure it won’t be long. x
I just say ‘no more’ and they moan and cry!
We don’t a present, but i think its a good idea x
My children have asd so we have a visual timetable
no games in the morning before school
in all honestly we don’t, but we intend to because household chores are slipping and behaviour as well
I haven’t really managed it as well as I would like, maybe these would help 🙂
we haven’t yet really
This is such a good idea – even Pickle at 3 loves the iPad! I have a small business too and love reading about others. Kaz x
This is a fab idea, we don’t have an issue at the moment as Lucas is only 14 months x
This is such a great idea! About time someone did this! It’s good to monitor how much screen time kids get!
We don’t really
I love that they have come together to do this and it is such a good idea x
What I try to do is write a list for the week and try to fit the jobs in when possible and then when little one is sleeping try and get some free time
If I’m honest, really badly… I always stick the telly on so that I can get on and do jobs and my youngest is far too fond of the crazy egg ladies on you tube. I think this is a great way to help manage the intrusion of the TV and Tablets.
To be honest, at the moment, not a whole lot of managing is being done! Hence why I’m reading this blog post and entering this giveaway. 😀