Your business and your Kids

I am not sure if I am posting this in the right section or not but I have seen through many threads that alot of you have your kids help you out in your booths. I am wondering at what age did you start letting them have that responsibility?

I think that there are a lot of different factors to consider.

My own kids were very different from each other and had different levels of awareness/consciousness of how their behaviour appeared to others and of how to behave in that setting. (Tried to phrase that nicely haha!) Also shyness factors into it, some kids just aren't comfortable dealing with the public at an early age.

This is just my opinion, but if you want to appear super business-like, don't have your kids help until they are older. No matter how polite or business-like the kids are, just having very young children there gives a different image. Not a bad image, heck this is a family-oriented business after all - but it is different somehow.

I wouldn't want to put too much responsibility on a child, so personally I wouldn't ask them to run the cash box unless they were a bit older. I had my middle daughter taking cash and organizing the queue and such at age 14. But I kept a pretty careful eye on it. She did temporary tattoos too, they are very easy for younger kids to handle. Also, I never counted on my kids to have the stamina to help all day until they were quite a bit older. Whatever help they gave was great but I knew they'd get bored or tired of doing it so I didn't expect too much. They are kids after all!

my oldest is 6 this year and not ready to help yet... I'm thinking next year, I'll let her help at xmas. She wants an elf costume (I'm planning to do the elf thing next year) and I usually face paint at their school's winter walkthrough. So, I was going to let her help by making sure everyone has picked a design and maybe hand out stickers or silly bands or something. I wouldn't have her paint or probably handle cash yet, but she WILL be a painter someday... she is an incredible artist!

I'm pretty picky about keeping up a professional appearance, so I never take my kids with me to private parties. I do sometimes take my 11yo with me to school/daycare events and let her apply the glitter and show kids their faces in the mirror. She's very outgoing and really good with younger kids. My 14yo does glitter tattoos and I have one annual company picnic that she attends with me and does glitter tats. The client was offered "a teenage apprentice at a reduced hourly rate" and gratefully accepted. Festivals are long, grueling things, usually out of town, so I've not invited the kids to do those yet. My 14yo has no real interest in it, and my 11yo just seems too young to be out there all day long like that.

My daughter is 5 and cannot wait to help out mummy and daddy.
We have done festivals and while we are waiting for my mum to come and take her round the fair she stad out front calling " hey evrybody come get a face paint... only $5!! She is sooo out going and loves people. She is never shy and cannot wait for me to say... yes you can help me this time.
I feel bad as she is always getting pushed to one grandparents or another so we can do parties and festivals.
She is an awesome artist for her age, and I'm sure she's going to be alot better then me one day... I just look forward to the time we can do this together, like everything else.

When this job fell into my lap my daughter came along with me & helped. She was 12 yrs old & has learned along with me. She's 17 now. She's become a pretty good henna artist & can face paint, do glitter tattoos & balloon twist. If she put her mind to it I'm sure she could bypass me:-) My other daughter didn't start till last year when she was 14. She fell in love with balloon twisting & she can do glitter tattoos. She has no interest in face painting. Both are able to run the cash at PPF events, answer questions, & promote the business while still having great customer service. Both girls are also great with kids & can put them at ease. The 17 yr old can interact with & draw out even the shyest kids.

My kids are 8 and 10 almost 9 and 11. I take them to most things but not all things that we do. They come with us to festivals, and they help out with some birthday parties... they help with the puppets and setting up and so on. They love to get dressed up and they like learning the balloons. Now we had to have them with us at the mall for two days, it was not fun. My daughter is old enough to help with the register and she did, but my son was just totally bored out of his mind. So, in that case I did not want the kids with me and it was better for them not to be. So, it just depends on the venue and what you think they can handle themselves. My kids have always went with me out ever since I can remember...

My daughter is 11 and has gone on jobs with me just starting last year. I have had comments emailed from clients about how wonderful she was keeping the kids entertained while waiting to be painted. She has her own company shirt and hat, and will dress how I dress. Now she has taken up balloon twisting and will be twisting for me at parties. She has a party on this Sat. the 8th

When we are really busy, only at festivals tho, my two oldest 14 and 10 will help the little ones pick what they want, collect money, and then send us the next in line. They are great! They can answer any questions, make sure kids faces are clean with wipes and bangs are back. Eventually I would love to paint with them!!