As young girls, we are often told how to walk, talk and behave. As mothers, we are expected to manage everything from children to career and even postpartum depression without complaining. As working women, entrepreneurs, and mumpreneurs, the expectations are high. It certainly is not an easy road to the top. Working mothers find it difficult to balance life between work and parenting, and kids often end up at daycare centres. But now, there are quite a few popup event in the city to help parents spend some quality time with their children. One such is The Activity Room which is the brainchild of three millennial moms, Shweta Mahtani, Aru Nayar Mani, and Kashish Ahuja who were desperate to indulge their kids in something fun, interesting and also includes a whole lot of activity. To bring the picture into reality, the mothers joined hands with Nisha Kapoor, the creative brain behind Anyonya Events. RITZ talks to the four enterprising women entrepreneurs who are keen to create a healthy atmosphere for our little ones.
Text: Ancy Donal Madonna
Photography: Nitin Barath S
Hair & Makeup: Vurve Signature Salon
Location: The Raintree, St. Mary’s Road
Wardrobe Courtesy: MaalGaadi Store
A dedicated new mom and former model, Aru Nayar Mani loves being a mommy to little Evaan, dressing him up in cute little outfits. ‘The Activity Room’ is more than just a play area to her and she looks at it as a learning experience, made fun. Her vision is to drive children to enhance their skills and pick up some new ones by learning from each other, all the while spending quality time with their families. The Activity Room aims to create a healthy environment for learning where children get to discover the world around them in a positive way while discovering themselves.
The bond between a mother and son is the best bonding ever. Evaan knows me too well that when I’m angry or upset he comes to me and nudges and tries to make me laugh. So it’s like, you know your child and he knows you because he was within you for nine months so I think he has understood me so beautifully.
What inspired you to come up with the concept, The Activity Room?
My son is two now and we always take him out and after a point everything is boring and we were looking at continuous activities for our kids to entertain them. So we wanted to create something new and we wanted to bring in kids from various ends as it becomes a platform to meet and make new friends, as well as pick up some new skills by learning from each other.
Who was the creative brain behind The Activity Room and how did you all get along?
I would say all three of us. We know each other for a long time and Shweta and I were pregnant together. We found that we have a similar wavelength and just randomly came up with the idea that we need to do something different for our kids.
How was your childhood and how creative was your mother when it comes to such activities?
I was a model before becoming a mother, my mom was also a stage artist and I think I got that from her. I had a lovely childhood, she used to take me swimming, dancing and we traveled a lot, we did all the fun things back then and I wanted to pass this on to my son.
How will a day with your kid look like and how do you come up with fun activities for them?
I see what my child is really interested in and yeah I plan different activities accordingly. My son likes bubbles and I create a bubble room for him so he gets excited and goes around catching bubbles. He loves water and keeps splish-splashing and is even into kinetic sand now. So for me, bubble and water really work. So our day together is totally super fun and learning as I always find ways to teach little things through activities.
How do you plan holidays with your kid?
Sometime back I took him to Kodaikanal because I wanted to try out how it is to handle a baby without any help. So I wanted to solely take care of him, feed him, play with him and increase our bonding and I absolutely loved the trip and enjoyed every bit of the time spent with him. It felt like he was the best company I could ever want to hang out with!
Life before and after The Activity Room.
Work has doubled and I have to plan the timings between work and my son. Before that we were always with the children. Now after The Activity Room, we are planning things for the children. And all this is not just for my kid but for everybody’s children out there who we really want to entertain.
How do you manage your work-life balance and how supportive is your family?
Very tough and it gets a little stressful sometimes but nothing is possible without my family and they are the biggest support of my life. And we decided to do this only because we wanted to do something for our child.
Tips and tricks for millennial moms to plan a play date for their kids.
I would suggest moms to come up with ice skate areas as most of the kids love skating and even try different kinds of do it yourself activities. Most importantly, find what your kid loves doing and then plan accordingly.
