Working with your own kids?

Does anybody take their kids along with them? How old are they? How can they help with the gig? Ect...

Hey there, summers4seasons!
From the time my children were about 10 or 11, they came along with me to facepainting events, like the Toronto SickKids Burn Unit picnic. They washed brushes, brought tasty beverages and snacks to all the volunteer facepainters, and sometimes, helped with closing down the line. Now, my youngest is 14. At paying gigs, I pay her $10/hour to be a line manager, wash brushes, feed me and my apprentices, and schedule breaks for the facepainters. There have been times when it has been so slow, that she has given back some of her pay to us facepainters, as she made more money than us. We usually have her selling facepaint tickets. One ticket for a $5 half face or two tickets for $10. We pay her first, then we pay the apprentice, then we apportion out the rest of the monies based upon how many tickets each facepainter has, so all of us are contributing toward the line manager. If I paint 100 faces, and Teena paints 75 faces and Bethany paints 25 faces, my daughter Holland does the math and writes it all down and apportions out the remainders accordingly.
My middle daughter has been volunteering to have her face painted because all these years of facepainting at SickKids, and I have never taken a picture of all the work I have done. (The paperwork is hefty to allow a picture to be taken of a patient, so I have not done it at all.) Darcy has allowed me to do horrible facepainting experiments upon her visage. All I can say is that I am getting better all the time, because of my children. I can look back and tell you that because of my expectations, they have grown up aware of customer service, kindness, math, and creating something special for each child.

Lisa
fesspenter

I take my mom with me... she's 73 and washes my brushes for me while I paint.

Lisa I think I love you!

My 11 yo son helps me with line management, payments, pictures, sales, hauling/set up and clean up. His best friend who is also 11 yo is my glitter tat artist and face painting apprentice. She's so talented and friendly, also wonderful at sales and anything that needs to get done. I pay them both as generously as I can - she is also grateful to be paid in face paint, glitter, brushes, any supplies I may not be crazy about or have extra of. I always tip them both and make sure they know how much I appreciate their work ethic.

My 5 yo dd is also a face paint and glitter tat "apprentice" - she has her own little kit in a pink Caboodle case. She stays with Daddy when I'm working a gig but loves to help me with things like website design, choosing pics, selecting splits and glitter colors, etc.

My 7yo helps me with set up, take down, line management, payments and clean up. She's also my model and practice head. I pay her with cash or a visit to the toy shop, whichever she prefers on the day. She has more money in savings than I do!
I think it depends on the individual kid though. Some kids are interested and mature at an early age, some aren't helpful at all no matter how old they are. Just gotta do whatever's right for your family

I have a 6 and 8 1/2 yr old. I prefer not taking them. They like to help a little too much They like to keep talking to me and trying to get me to help them or distracting me in someway. I try to always have a babysitter planned. Of course, they do go to some of the events if I know the people(family or friends). I've had customers tell me to bring them, but I never take them to a party I don't know the customer.

I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old...... . Cant wait for them to wash my brushes..... The least favorite thing to do!

My 11 year old Step son is starting to learn balloon twisting(his idea), but I'm not sure his heart is in it. He would much rather be hanging out at the event then making money. But that's a kid.

I am careful about when to bring my kids. I want them to learn the business, but also want to protect my professional image. I never brought them to private parties, but did and do take them to busy jobs like day care centers, schools and fundraisers. My 11yo manages the line for me when I do day cares as she is great with little kids. My 15yo is my glitter tattoo artist and she is offered on my website at a discounted add-on to face painting. She does corporate picnics mostly, and is great at it.

It's funny you mention this now... I was just treated to my very first pedicure today, and the place was run by an asian family. Parents and grandparents all did nails, the 6yo offered drinks to people and filled up tubs for foot soaking, and the 9yo ran the register, including credit card payments. I was amused and impressed with their system for initiating the next generation into the family business.

My 15 year old is my glitter tattoo-airbrush tattoo artist, and I pay her $10 per hour, but usually only take her to busy festival type events or corporate events. I am going to start training her to paint too. My husband is my line wrangler and cashier. It works for us.

7 and 8 year old girls, first victims, tip guard, drink fetcher, brush basin rinser

My kids are my geurilla marketing team I introduce them as my business managers, makes people laugh. They always get painted and are very personable so they hand out business cards and approach people that I couldn't LOL My 6 year old takes care of the line and looks after any kids who get out of line, and the 5 year old is a gopher, going for food/water etc. The 2 yr old is just a menace and entertains people in line. Thsi of course at public fairs etc. Rarely take them to private events unless it is requested that they come along (yes, it happens) My daughter would LOVE to be allowed to do glitter tats, and she can do them well, but I am concerned about the image and value of having a child work. After all, if she can do it, they will think anyone can.

I don't take my kids to private parties, but when I have public gigs, I take my 13yo daughter. She empties my rinse water for me.
That said, I have a big gig coming up and will be taking the whole family. Hubby will be taking money, DD will be keeping me supplied with fresh water, and DS will be managing the line and taking pictures.

Gamezgirl wrote:My daughter would LOVE to be allowed to do glitter tats, and she can do them well, but I am concerned about the image and value of having a child work. After all, if she can do it, they will think anyone can.

People will always get it into their heads that "anyone" can do it (whatever "it" is - face painting, glitter tattoos, playing the piano!) - and in some sense anyone can - however some people are better at it and practice and have the experience - not to mention having all of the tools and equipment there to do it well. Just don't ever mention it is her first event and deal with any comments as "isn't she fantastic? she does such an excellent job!".

The first event I drafted my brother to do airbrush tattoos he'd only touched an airbrush once before, never done makeup, never worked with stencils. I gave him a 1 minute lesson, setup his station and to his mind "left him alone" (I found out later). He didn't realize I was face painting right behind him - my back to his back using the same table - he got totally focused on what he was doing. I could hear if he had any issues, but he didn't so all was well all day. After that event I realized listening to his banter, he's by far the best of all of us with the kids and parents alike - he's got some skill/talent/ability that I've tried to learn and I'm just not completely there yet (and I've been doing it for years). I gladly take him to any event when I can get him....

I brought my 16 year old to an event I was doing henna and face paint Pay per design (PPD looks soo wrong if your are a henna artist) for and she ended up doing most the cheek art that day while I did henna and did a decent job of it so now I am training her up to do festivals with me. She always has had more drawing talent then I do anyway. I have to work at it

6 of my kids have helped over the years...but never at private events. 2 helped with restaurant gigs when they were quite young (like 5+, twisting near me and making more $ than I did!--one marketed 2 straight balloons one time as a snake crawing up a tree and made $5. cause the customers thought it was so cute!), and one as a stilt-walker (at 15).

Now that they are adults, I have used 4 of them in my biz with tatts FP & balloons. They know what is epected of them professionally as far as deportment, have good skills and know if they are not early to their gig, they are blacklisted...hehe. They always get repeat clients (I handle all the bookings with my phone number on their cards, since I keep a business schedule & they don't).

But yet, PPP work is ideal for them to develop socil and marketing skills---and they will probably never be satisfied with flipping burgers or minimum wage afterwards!

This is my 7yo, you can tell by the pic how happy she is to be with me, when she is really in to it, helps a lot, change water, wash brushes and the most important thing is that she is my model, I paint her, and every time business it's slow I sit her in the chair to "retouch" and the line start again, the big problem is she goes away sometimes for so long and I have to leave my place to look for her, I took her (with permission) to private parties 2 times and I have to stop doing that because she spent the whole time bouncing, eating and catching pinatas' candy as she was one of the guests, (so embarrass) as Justine said it depends of the maturity of the kid.

I have taken my kids (10,6 and 4) to one private gig. And that was only because the client changed the date and time last minute and my hubby was working. She asked me to please bring the kids along and they just played with the other children there.

I brought my to oldest two to a small festival job last year, and they did great marketing for us. I hired my 10 year old for a glitter tattoo job at a festival a month ago, and she did a great job helping the kids decide on designs and color combos. She was wonderfully chatty with the customers and kids. I will be training her on tats for next year.Prob not the best job for shy kids, but it is a really great way to introduce older children to customer service. And the $$ is enough incentive for my 10 yr old daughter.

artyfacesbyluz wrote:
This is my 7yo, you can tell by the pic how happy she is to be with me, when she is really in to it, helps a lot,

hilarious!!!! Looks like my daughter with face painting!

My 12 y/o daughter is my business partner. It sounds funny, but this little girl is so mature for her age. She is in charge of the Glitter Tats and is also in the process of being trained in face painting. She is great with the kids and also handles bringing in people to get painted. She's awesome!

Here she is with her "flutterfly":


And her clowning around in Heather's office:

I started face painting in 2005 & my 12 year old daughter worked w/ me. We used to face paint & clown, but now we just face paint(clown costumes & FL heat just didn't agree w/ me). She's now 18 yrs old & face paints, balloon twists & does henna tattoos(she's 10 times better than me at the henna). My other daughter is 16 yrs old & has been balloon twisting since she was 14 yrs old. They both also are amazing as line managers, communicating w/ clients & kids as well as speaking to passers by in our booth. They worked w/ another entertainer a few months back & they threatened to steal them from me
I love working w/ my kids!

BTW, having your kids work for you WILL ruin them for ever having a minimum wage burger flippin' job... mine make $20/hr

LOVE all the pics!!!!

My daughter who just truned 12 the end of July learned to twist in Nov. 2010 She worked her first party in Jan. 2011 and has worked non stop since then. She is my balloon twister and if need be my glitter tat girl for the smaller designs. She also handles money and the line.

She does all private parties and festivals. Her services are always requested and people are amazed with her skill. She makes $35/hr just as a twister and more for doing the other jobs. My son has helped me with set-ups and breakdowns, but he is looking to learn magic as that is what he wants his contributuion to the business to be.

Keep it all in the family, that's my way of thinking!!! Now, let's see if my husband wants to be my line manager...

Here's my glitter tattoo girl at the local boardwalk at 14 yrs.

What gorgeous girls you all have!