Review of Kids' Kingdom, Southend

Kids Kingdom has re-opened and is under new ownership. There were many reasons why people started avoiding Kids' Kingdom, one being it was dirty and smelly!

The new owners have made some changes that makes it look like a different place. It is brighter, cleaner and is busier than I have seen it in a long time, I would be intrigued to see how much its used during term time. As soon as you walk in, you're greeted by a friendly welcome. There is antibacterial hand gel for you to use should you wish on both entrance and exit. The children are given a stamp on their hand (which I hope comes off), and the younger ones are given a wristband (like at Adventure island) to tell staff which areas they can and cant go in, and reminded to keep their socks on!

The new diner is a lot busier, with new tables and chairs and a new menu, which ranges from £2.95 - £6.00, and includes jacket potatos, salads, omlettes, sandwiches, and a variety of sides and hot and cold drinks.

Going through to the main play area, you don't really notice much change, apart from it is lighter, there is music being played and the flooring has been replaced: they have used individual carpet tiles so its easier to replace one if it gets dirty / smelly. Some of the areas have new soft play and the under 5 area has Little Tykes horses too. The lady who greeted us said they are adding to the under 5 area once the children are back at school.

I noticed a increase in staff presence, so although you are responsible for your children, they were on helping hand too, and encouraged children who were trying to get up jelly mountain. Children were still going in the under 5 area who were obviously older, however most of them were with younger siblings and were swiftly told to behave by either a member of staff or the odd parent.

The soft play still smelled a little, but it looked cleaner - Alexa wore white socks and they are still white! (and we went in the garden area too!) The garden area has been decked and has outdoor seating, there are now sit on toys and often you saw a few tractors zipping past you! They are planning (weather permitting) BBQ's over the bank holiday weekend - Fri, Sat and Sun!

During term time they will be opening at 9.15 for coffee mornings, and are hoping to do some planned activities working with the imagination station. We stayed for just over a hour, and despite the door to the garden being open and windows, they were really hot, so decided to leave, but will definetly be taking them back soon.

Opening times -
M-SAT - 10am - 6pm
WED (term time) - CLOSED
SUN - 10am - 4pm

Cost (for up to 2 hours play)
Babies under 1 - FREE
3 and under - £3
4 yrs - £4
5+ - £5.50

Kids Kingdom has 8,000 sq feet of play area, a 14 foot vertical slide, 14 foot jelly mountain, obstacle courses, clibs, runs, a dedicated under 5 area with soft play, twist slides, a themed diner and themed birthday parties!

Review by mum of two, Michelle Summerson

A young Mum's story

It was coming up to my 18th birthday party the invites were sent out and preparations underway! A few weeks before my party I kept getting hot and cold and feeling strange so I booked a doctors appointment. It was a Friday night and I walked to the doctors alone thinking I probably just have a bug, being so young and oblivious!

The doctor was running late, I went in for my appointment and told him my symptoms. He said ‘are you pregnant?’ the first thing I said was ‘I hope not!’. Me and Martin always used protection and I had only just got the pill not that long ago! While he went off to get the test I think ‘no way, I’m not pregnant!’. I do the test and I am. I burst into tears thoughts running through my head: ‘Oh no, what’re my parents going to say, what’s Martin going to do? Only been together 6 months… will he run a mile?’. The doctor tells me I have all weekend to think about what I want to do, abortion never come into my head once - the second he told me I knew I was going to keep this baby and bring it up whatever.

So, I walk home with tears in my eyes thinking the worse bit is going to be telling my parents. I get home, go in to the living room and say to my Mum and Dad ‘I need to speak to you…’ straight away my Mum realises… ‘You’re pregnant aren’t you?!’ how do mums always know? (I have now learnt that myself!) They were both brilliant and said they would stand by me and do everything they could to help; so I thought to myself martin is the next person to tell! Will he be as calm as my parents? He comes in from work and I tell him - at first he thinks I’m joking! Like that’s something you joke about! He then replies ‘has your dad got a spare fag I can have?’, my dad laughs and says ‘Right, first you get my daughter pregnant, now you want my fags?’ and laughs! Martin also says he is here for me and also wants to keep the baby.

A few weeks later it’s my 18th party. By now, I have found out I’m two months already gone, so I turn up at my party two months pregnant - in a size 6 skirt might I add! As the night goes on I announce to my friends and family I’m two months pregnant - as you can imagine there are mixed views. My Mum’s sister-in-law told my Mum that it wasn’t fair as when I have the baby someone has to die to make space for it. My boss at the time told my mum he was shocked my mum was supporting me and she should do every thing in her power to make me get rid of the baby as it would ruin my life and I had a lot more to give then being a Mum. My aunts said they were pleased but you could see they were disgusted when they said ‘so who’s the father? Is it martin?’. My friends were shocked at first and it did not sink in until I showed them the scan. My friends have drifted away after me having a baby as they are off clubbing and at uni and I’m a stay at home mum. I still held my head high and enjoyed my party as to be honest it never really sunk in I was pregnant till I held the baby in my arms .

The midwife that dealt with me was the same midwife that dealt with my Mum when she had me - she was lovely and I felt she treated me the same as she would any patient, not differently because I was young. The doctors were also fine and supportive all the way through - I did feel a bit ashamed at first because I was so young but I’m sure the doctors have seen younger mums. The nine months go past so quick, I have great fun picking out buggies, car seats, cots… I have it all ready, then on the morning of 26th October I can’t rest and am feeling pains in my legs so I get to the hospital as soon as possible. After 5hr and 40 minutes of labour I have a beautiful baby girl called Emily Jessica, weighing 6lb. Me and Martin and my parents and brothers were the first to see her, my mum and Martin were my birth partners and were both brilliant - it all seemed to happen so quick.

I felt very strange at first only being 18 on this ward with my baby and it took me a while once home to go out and not feel bad that I was a young mum. I had comments here and there from people but I thought to myself in the end, I have to get up for her, change her, be there when she’s ill - its got nothing to do with anyone else, so I held my head high and brought my daughter up with Martin. Mums at the local toddlers’ group always seemed to look down at me and have their own little corner which made me feel bad. Some mums were supportive and had been though the same situation, others thought I was throwing my life away.

I also remember one thing a so called friend said to me - he said ‘we’re all off out down the pub tonight having fun… oh, and you can’t as you have a baby,’ which at the time hurt, but I thought to myself I would rather be at home with this bundle of joy in my arms looking at me feeling so safe and loved than to be getting drunk or out at all. This baby did not ask to come into the world, it was my doing, so I will be the best mother I can be. It has been hard because I lost my best years and do think what would I be doing if I had them later in life. The most difficult things about being a young mum are the comments I have got off strangers such as ‘is that your sister?" when I reply my daughter, I get ‘Oh you started young, did you not want a life?". Also the way young mums get branded - oh they must be a single mum on benefits - which was not true. Being so young I used to get hurt by the comments made but have learnt to let them go over my head now.

I love being a young mum and having the energy to do all the things I want to do with my kids, and love the fact that I can live my older years enjoying myself as missed out on my earlier days! I now have a son Alex who is 4, Emily is 8, I’m still with martin and we are planning on getting married in 2011 and would not change any of it. I am a proud mummy of two .


by Emma Lynne Minchin

Kids r Us, South Ockendon

This soft play centre is brand new and has only been open since the 16th July. With three separate areas, one for over 5s with a twisty slide and 4 lane bumpy slide, a smaller under 5s area with a nice ball pool, slide and airblower and a baby section with large soft shapes and a roll around area.

Spotlessly clean throughout, the centre has lots for children to do and I think my little boy would happily have played all day. There is lots of seating and you can sit close to all of the structures so you can see your child from all angles no matter where they are.

Food and drink is reasonably priced with a full range of hot and cold food including things like lasagne, curry, jackets and spaghetti bolognaise as a change from the burgers and nuggets (which you can also buy if you’d like). The usual cakes, sweets and even slush puppies are also available. It would have been nice to see a salad on the menu, but that is such a tiny thing in comparison to what is otherwise a great venue.

The toilets are super clean with really nice baby change areas in both. Nice touches such as IKEA fish lighting and clean fluffy towels also makes a nice change from harsh strip lighting and blowers.

The staff seem very friendly and helpful and are well presented and constantly cleaning and tidying up after you!

Whilst we were there, there was a party taking place in one of the two party rooms and it looked like the kids were having fun. Kids r Us offers a full range of parties from Hannah Montana to Cars from £7.95 per child.

I would rate Kids r Us 10/10 and will defiantly be returning.

I only hope that they can keep the place as impeccably clean and tidy into the future.

Kids r Us, Arinsale Drive
South Ockendon
Opposite Bonnygate School

by Claire Mackaness,
www.clairemackaness.com

Twittering Mums

Are you one of the many who joined twitter, tweet away and have no idea what you are doing? You want the 'right' kind of followers? You have no idea what to do with the ones you have?

Then read on...

Twitter is excellent targeted marketing you can reach your customer base and inform them of offers and other tidbits about you and your company. In the case of Essex Mums, it's meeting other local mums.

What happens if you look at who is following you and find it's not your target market?

The first thing to do is look at your twitter strategy, your overall plan on how you are going to make it work for you. If you don't have a plan then perhaps now is the time to make one. Even if it's one or two goals on the back of a bib.

Getting the followers you want....
I live in front of a golf course, my dog escapes onto the golf course and I have tweeted this, I now have a stream of golfers following me, nice but they are not potential customers to me, they are not likely to call me and ask me to deliver a new set of tees to the 9th hole now are they?!!!

They find me because they search for golf. When was the last time you did a tweet search? When did you last do a search on twitter home page for your keyphrases? Go and do one now, do you come up in the search on the first few pages?

If you do then there is a good chance potential customers will find you. Don't panic if you didn't, it's not the end of the world but remember there is a fine line between being found for your keywords / phrases and spamming twitter. Yep. There are some people who tweet the same link over and over and instead of gaining followers, they lose them as they are not building a relationship, they are just broadcasting.

Make a point of tweeting once a day a link to your blog, so you are known for what you do and who you are. It can be articles or posts you wrote some time ago, fresh content is good but again it's not the end of the world if you don't have it - you can establish that you have been doing what you doing for a long time and are very experienced. If you have the time you can freshen up those articles and entice your current readers to revisit your older material.

If you don't have your own blog then post your articles here on the Essex Mums forum and then tweet the link. Easy.

Right back to getting the followers you want...
There is a lot of emphasis on 'local' and 'local' is very important. You are more likely to meet a fellow twitterer if they are local. If you meet them and you 'click' you are more likely to get recommended. So that golfer who plays golf behind my house and follows me on twitter has a purpose after all!

Do a local search for twitter users in your local area, make contact with them, follow them and promote local tweetups (yep, they are really called that). Check out the events page if you want to see what's happening in your area in the next few weeks. From local toddler groups, preschool classes, you can bet someone is looking for that information and when they find it, they find you.

Build relationships, retweet something someone interesting has said. Tweet an interesting non work related link, start a conversation. More importantly every now and then ask your followers who they would recommend you connect with who are looking for your services. Connect with their suggestions and start building a relationship there too.

Sounds like hard work? well no one said it was easy but it can pay dividends. Try it for twenty minutes a day for 6 weeks and see what a difference it makes to your business.

And if you are a busy working mum, twitter can allow you to build the relationships you want, in your own time.


by Sarah Arrow
Sarah is a member of Essex Mums and writes the blog 'What's On in Essex'.

Welcome to the Essex Mums blog!

We are now looking for editorial content on Essex Mums. They can be about anything and everything: from pregnancy help, through dealing with tantrums to advice on surviving your child's first day at school, as well as about local events/places to go/groups. Articles can be any length - from a short, snappy list to an in-depth feature.

Of course, I'd love to be able to pay everyone, but at the moment I can't. However, each month we'll be voting on the best article and I will be giving a £20 Amazon voucher for the best one each month - not much but better than nothing!

If it's something you're interested in doing, please give me a shout on louise@essexmums.org or just send me something you've done. Even if you're nervous about your writing skills, give it a go!