Cat Bateman of Little Folk

Having a baby turns your world upside down in so many ways. When it comes to work, sometimes finding work that works for you and your family is a headache with no obvious cure. That’s why so many inspirational and resourceful parents decide to put their talents to use in starting their own business.

We’re shining a spotlight on parents who inspire us, starting with Cat Bateman, who founded Little Folk Nursery Rhymes classes in 2011. Cat lives in South East London with her husband and two sons aged 10 and 8.

What inspired your business and how did you put your idea into action?

We were ‘blessed with two boys’! When they were little it was essential to get out of the house with them to try and drain some of their lovely energy! We gravitated towards music groups as I have always adored music and singing. I suppose I always sang enthusiastically at these things and got asked to take over the leading of a lovely free group for the community. After several people said, ‘you could do this for money’ (and being a mum at home I was feeling very guilty that I had stopped bringing money into the family pot), I started looking for local venues.

It didn’t really make financial sense due to the various hall-hire costs – then I got a lucky break through the amazing Grow Mayow Community Garden in Sydenham – a gorgeous, dingly-dell of a place. They offered the space for free and said, ‘Don’t be one of these streams of people saying they will do something but never do it’! My first group was in October 2011 and it’s just grown and grown from there.

There were so many reasons not to do it – but it was just fear of the unknown, so I talked myself round.

How have you expanded?

The Little Folk Nursery Rhymes CD I released last year came about from my wonderful customers saying they wanted to take me home! It was SO daunting starting my business off.  Would people come? What would they be prepared to pay? Was I good enough? There were so many reasons not to do it – but it was just fear of the unknown, so I talked myself round. Initially, my inspiration was the realities of life (we needed the money), but quickly this changed into the absolute joy of spreading music and seeing first-hand how children react to it.

What are the greatest challenges of juggling work and family life?

I find the hardest thing is TIME. There are so many things I would have liked to have done by this point, but family life always has to come first. Sometimes it is so exasperating knowing where the business could be if only there were more hours in the day. As it is, I stretch the days to their limits, never hitting the sack until the early hours. You always hear how hard everyone with their own business works, but I don’t think I ever really believed it until I was in it! There are also horrible decisions that come your way as a mum when school throws hundreds of dates at you for important events. The constant stress of trying to be at them all and not annoy your customers is pretty intense. I am very lucky that my customers are an understanding audience (being in the same position themselves).

Little Folk Nursery Rhymes class

Describe a typical class?

Little Folk Nursery Rhymes are fun, 45 minute sessions of singing nursery rhymes accompanied by my guitar with a few lovely props thrown in for good measure. Many customers tell me they love it for the live instrument as a lot of classes use backing-tracks – that’s not to say those classes aren’t great, just a different approach. Anyone in this ‘entertaining children’ game works their socks off!

I have had mums confide in me that my groups helped them with their post-natal depression, which made my heart explode.

What are the benefits of your class for mums?

I actively encourage perfect-parenting myth-busting. There is nothing more harmful to new mums than the hard-line ‘this is how you should be a mum’ brigade. Everyone is exhausted and scared they aren’t doing it right, so I always make sure that they know they are somewhere safe and honest!  Some more nervous mums don’t automatically know what to do with this little creature they have cleverly created and need a little gentle, guiding hand. I never get tired of seeing how the new mums blossom as well as their babies when they come every week. It’s obviously not all down to me, but I have been told that my groups help them get through the week! I have also had mums confide in me that my groups helped them with their post-natal depression, which made my heart explode.

The babies are stimulated, I never tire of seeing their little shivers of joy when they hear music they like.

And for babies?

My classes can help enhance the bonding experience with your baby – there is nothing more gorgeous than singing with your little one. The babies are stimulated – I never tire of seeing their little shivers of joy when they hear music they like. As they continue to grow, the songs obviously help with talking, vocabulary, and co-ordination. I see the children’s confidence grow as they learn how to socialise.

Life is just so tough sometimes, it is SO important to make it as joyous as possible where we can.

Why choose Little Folk Nursery Rhymes over another class?

This sounds so ‘yuck’ but I have been told the USP is me! I do put a lot of welly into what I do because I just love spreading music and having fun. Life is just so tough sometimes, it is SO important to make it as joyous as possible where we can. Music just does that for me and hopefully that’s infectious. Checkout my reviews on www.littlefolknurseryrhymes.com – they are from real people!

Little Folk Nursery Rhymes in action

How can we sign up?

I have always kept my groups as ‘drop-ins’. From my own experience, I used to hate it when you block-book classes and then you miss half of them for one reason or another. Babies aren’t always that predictable! As more and more modern mums seem to like on-line booking I may have to listen to that and build in a pre-booking facility alongside drop-in spaces. I am more than happy to offer taster sessions – although many parents have been so lovely that they wanted to pay anyway after enjoying the group!

What keeps you sane?

I’m not sure I am that sane! I have always been one of these people with an annoying amount of energy and I always try and look for the good in everything. Life is too short to be stressed, but saying that I do get very stressed trying to juggle it all. I have my yoga a couple of times a week and a year ago joined a mums’ football team. It is bonkers fun – talking with other like-minded-not-perfect-mums is also important! I also live for writing my own songs –on top of all the bedlam, I have been working on my very first album of my own material – got to get it finished before I am 50 arrrgh!

Tell us your best parenting hack

Gosh, I feel like I just make it up as I’m going along. I feel fine with that and think it’s a good thing to just try and go your own way. Listen to your voice inside before you compare yourself to everyone around you. It’s good to listen to other people’s advice, but it can be way too stressful to try and live-up to other people’s standards. So, my tips are to BE KIND TO YOURSELF (at least once a day), because YOU ARE DOING OK and GOOD ENOUGH IS GOOD.

Visit Happity to find all Little Folk timetables and venues that are closest to you.

Cat is also offering Happity readers the chance to pick up her Little Folk CD for the special price of £10 (RRP £12.99) in October by quoting “Happity”.