My child’s not a Perform-type child
Spot the Perform child
Two years ago, I offered my friend a free place at Perform for her son who had just turned 4 years old. She thanked me but declined saying “He’s not a performing sort of a boy but I’m sure his sister will enjoy it when she’s old enough, she’s really confident and we’d love to bring her”.
It was interesting because my friend obviously had the wrong idea about Perform. She thought that we were a stage school which usually have a huge number of girls compared to boys. They teach performing arts skills like dance step knowledge and singing ability. Who’s going to audition for Matilda? Who can do a triple time step? Who wants to appear in the next Milky Bar TV ad? Read more »
Holiday – what holiday?!
Mermaids & Pirates - we're putting the finishing touches to next terms' theme
It’s the Easter holidays and I’m often asked if this is a nice quiet time for me at Perform. Well, it’s definitely quiet in the sense that we only have our holiday workshops running and not our normal workshops, but actually the holidays are probably my busiest time of the year because this is the time when we get a chance to plan for the following term and make sure that everyone’s clued-up and ready to go.
I’ve always been determined to keep Perform centrally run and not to expand by franchising not least because I don’t want to spend my time selling the idea of an “easy flexible part-time income” to potential franchisees. I’d much rather spend it finding new ways to help shy children be more confident, boisterous children be more focused and get all children having fun and making friends. Read more »
Hello – helping children develop good communication skills
If you read my blogs regularly, you’ll know that I like to talk about communication skills and how important it is that we make children confident communicators from an early age.
As you might expect, this is something that we are passionate about at Perform. In fact, the central section of each workshop is called Listen, Speak & Sing and we focus entirely on helping children with their listening and speaking skills through fun exercises where they learn to project their voices, use eye contact when they speak and be confident when talking whether to one person or to an audience. I sincerely believe that if you teach a child skills such as how to project and talk in front of an audience at the age of 4, they will retain these for life – it is quite simply all about practice and repetition. Read more »
Why French Children Don’t Throw Food
There’s been a lot of discussion in the press recently about Pamela Druckman’s intriguingly named book, French Children Don’t Throw Food, which promises "parenting secrets from Paris".
I’m always a bit sceptical about reading this type of book but I have to say that it has completely hooked me and I am now trying to bring out my own ‘french mummy’ with my kids.
Pamela Druckman moves from New York to Paris to be with her English boyfriend who is working there. They marry, have a child and immerse themselves in Parisian family life. But, after being a mother for a while, she starts to compare her own American/British techniques with the French mums around her and wonders why, amongst many other things, “French children don’t throw food”. Read more »
Taking your children to the theatre – Lucy’s Top 10 Tips
We all know the magic of going to see a live performance. And I really believe (well I would, wouldn’t I?) that it’s really important to expose children to live theatre from as young as you can. And what better time to do this than in the panto season? The time of year when every town and sometimes even village has a pantomime for you to take your child to see.
The great thing about going to see a pantomime is that they are primarily designed for all the family so you don’t have to worry about children making noise, dropping sweet wrappers and getting up to go to the loo. However, I did think it might be useful to put together some top tips for taking children to the theatre generally. As part of my research, I asked our Regional Partner and veteran panto director, Simon Fielding, what his top tip for taking children to a pantomime was. His response: “Don’t be afraid of them making noise, pantomimes are meant to be crazy”.
Anyway, here they are: Read more »
The most wonderful time of the year
I have to admit that I’m a bit of a Christmas fan. And if I’m really honest, I start getting excited about Christmas around August! It's not so much that I put my decorations up in November, but I’m definitely with Andy Williams when he says that “it’s the most wonderful time of the year”.
The run-up to Christmas is an extremely busy time for everyone so, having chatted to fellow mums, I thought I’d compile a list of the most Christmassy things to do with children if you live in the South-East. Some of the activities I’ve tested myself, some I have been recommended by other parents and am looking forward to trying.
Christmas in my family wouldn’t be Christmas without a visit to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. But wrap up warm and be prepared to queue. It’s free to enter and open from 10am-10pm at night. However, allow plenty of time to buy your tokens for all the rides you want to go on.
I’m a big fan of London Zoo. It’s perfect for children in all seasons but there’s nothing more magical than meeting a herd of reindeer just before Christmas. This year, they have a small Christmas market there this year too. Read more »
Children’s communication skills – a casualty of the online era?
When I was
a teenager, if I wanted to arrange to meet a friend at the weekend, I’d call my friend’s home phone (having asked permission to use my home phone first, of course). In most cases, the friend’s Mum or Dad would answer the phone and I’d politely ask to speak with them have a conversation, make our arrangements and put the phone down.
If I were a teenager today, I’d probably simply bbm/text my friend “R u free Sat?”
There’s no doubt that the ability to communicate remotely has advanced hugely since I was young. However, while all this technology is extraordinarily clever and useful, does it mean that our children’s communication skills will lose out? Read more »
Serious Fun
I was chatting with a friend of mine today about her new job. She’s now a “Play Specialist” at a Central London Hospital. The role has many different responsibilities but her major focus is on using “play” to prepare children for treatment, distract them during procedures such as injections and help them to understand what they have experienced. Hence the title “Play Specialist”.
She says that sometimes she has only one hour to get to know a child before they have a major procedure and that the best way to get to know them is to simply start playing with them straight away. This enables her to make almost immediate decisions about their personality so she can work out how to support them in whatever they are about to go through. Read more »
Want to start your own business?
Having set up Perform almost 12 years ago now, I often get asked questions by other Mums who are looking to set up something of their own like “How did you get the idea to set up the business?” and “What was your business background?”
This type of question always makes me blush a bit because, until I started Perform, I had absolutely no business experience whatsoever! I studied drama at university and was a theatre actress performing mainly in musicals in the West End and on tour. In between acting jobs, I would teach drama, dance and singing to young children.
Ridiculously, I didn’t even have an email address when I started Perform never mind anything resembling a business plan. If I’d gone on Dragons’ Den and had been asked questions about gross profit and turnover, I would have been one of those contestants who bow their heads and look embarrassed. Read more »
Dyslexia – symptoms and learning techniques
One of the team at Perform – let’s call her Jane – is dyslexic. I’ve been aware of this for a long time but I didn’t realise until yesterday that she wasn’t diagnosed with dyslexia until she was 21 years old and at drama school. It was discovered when she handed in her first essay and her tutors were amazed that she had got as far as she had without specialised help.
It wasn’t like Jane’s parents didn’t try. They were regular visitors at her school throughout her primary years to try and see why their clever little girl was struggling so much with reading (she didn’t read until she was in Year 6). Unhelpfully, the school kept saying that she was just lazy - something they knew their daughter was not. Read more »
