More to Museums

Child at a museum

I have had the MOST AMAZING SUMMER.

At work!

I am a Professional Family Organiser!

I am a tutor!

I am a nanny!

I have my fingers in a lot of pies.

I was "poached" for want of a better word by a wonderful family, whose home I organised 4 years ago, and then have tutored every Sunday since then!

And now, I am their nanny. (I still run my business and have clients booked all the way up until November)

But I have been doing 12 hour days during the summer with three boys under 7 and I am loving it.

We have been to the:

>cinema

>playgrounds (many many playgrounds)

>soft play and...

you guessed it, museums.

Imperial War Museum

Postal Museum

Steam and Water Museum

Docklands Museum

Maritime Museum

Transport Museum

Child playing with a train

We have taken tubes and buses and boats!

The favourite train was the DLR, make sure you sit at the front!

How I organise for these days is all in the planning.

The essentials are the lunch and the snacks. Packing WATER. Wipes, spare clothes. Extra snacks!

On the boat, we had an I-spy tick list of London sights.

There was only one day where I had to pack raincoats after looking at the weather report (and it didn't even rain!)

You have to really know your children, I have previously written a blog about day trips for neurodivergent children by interviewing families. You can read this here:

Read me

We have been so lucky with some museums, that even during the summer holidays they were not packed. It really also is in the toilet stops, and the timings. In the heatwave, I prioritised the park earlier in the morning and ones that I knew had shade. Sun hats and extra sun cream. And of course, a cool snack.

A child with an ice cream cone

We sometimes bought ice creams from a supermarket but when we did buy a £4+ ice cream, I think about it like it think about buying a fancy coffee (or matcha nowadays) That I am paying for the seat, for the time I am there, so we started sitting down in little cafes for their Jude pots, and it makes such a difference. A little pause and rest before travelling back home. Less ice cream drips on t- shirts and sticky hands!

Going to the less popular museums, instead of the Science or Natural History, has been so lovely for me to experience the joy with these children. I have been to so many museums, so many times with so many children.

The whole experience is now easy for me. I am very much child- led in how we navigate around, but I also know where the children's experiences are. The trails are also a fun addition, most museums have a stamper or challenge and then they get a little reward at the end, like a badge or sticker.

I have been using a visual timetable with the children, so they know what is happening and when, or rather what order.

This includes toilet, teeth, vitamins, putting sun cream on, putting shoes on. They love taking the card from the line once it is done.

A long time ago, I started writing a book about museums. It might be time to continue the book, with all my knowledge of these wonderful experiences that you can have too!

I hope your summer was as heart-warming as mine.

Love Nanny Kat x