the times SaturdayNovember 23 2013 the times SaturdayNovember 23 2013 6Body+Soul Body +Soul7 Codingagedsix, yoga at three: thenew after-school clubs

TIMES PHOTOGRAPHER, JON ENOCH her highly successful international design nection between what youlearn at school the site so that it becomesthe leadingnet- trying everything until youfind Yasmine business to set up awebsitefor parents to and why, which is non-existent in the work of children’s clubs and classes, first asportthat fits. Forget football. Mahmoudieh find high-qualityand strategically chosen education system. When youteach achild forLondon then expandingtothe rest of with Fariba after-school, weekend and holidayactivi- entrepreneurship skills, such as runninga the UK and to European cities. There’sthe Be financially savvy from 6 and Nicolas Thenew Rachel Carlyle ties. There are already hundreds of events lemonadestall: how manylemons to buy, traditional cookingand football offered, Children arenaturally and classeslisted on myKidsy.com, most of what price to charge, youget 6and 7-year- but also film-making, fencing, coding, pot- hobbies for entrepreneurial: theylove selling meetsthe mother which are in London. She is in talks with oldssaying,‘Ah,nowIunderstandwhyIdo tery,scientific lab work, Mandarin and their old toys at carboot sales or influential collaborators such as Alan maths.’Itdoesn’t necessarily mean they claypigeon shooting. kids? making cupcakes to sell to the whothinks children O’Donohoe, the children’s codingguru will end up as entrepreneurs but they will “Ifallyourchild’sschooloffersisfootball neighbours. Parentsneed to and Lorraine Allman, the children’s enter- have acertain creativity and flexibility of and dance, it’s temptingtoleave it at that. foster this spirit by teaching should be building prise specialist. Shealso has the backing of mind and cancome up with ideas without There’snothingwrong with those activi- Yoga and meditation them to be moremindful with Google, which is hostingsome classes. beingcowed by authority.” ties, but there’s so much more out there Everychild should be taught their pocket money. Youdon’t apps andlearning “Every child needs these skills,” Mah- It’s this abilitytothink creatively and be that nobody ever tells us about,and quite meditation from the age of 5. It want to stop them buying sweets moudieh says, “and they needtodiscover flexible — what the educationalistSir Ken alot of it is free or very cheap — often really doesn’t have to be much, (if you do theywill rush out and business skills in their passion, to find out what they are Robinson calls “divergent thinking”— cheaper than gettingchildcare after perhaps justfiveminutes in the buy them the moment theycan) good at,preferably before they hit the mid- that will be so important in our children’s schoolfromsomeone who doesn’tdoany- morning wheretheyclose their but youcan guide them teenage years and we’re suddenly asking future lives, says Mahmoudieh. “In tests, thingwith your child exceptwatch TV.” eyes while repeating “love” or towardssaving forsomething theirsparetime them: ‘What do youwant to do with the 98 per cent of kindergarten-age children But what about the danger of over- “joy” or thinking of alight worthwhile. Introducethem to rest of your life?’ Howwill they find out if show amazingcreative-thinkingabilities, schedulingchildren? Research at Colum- shining through their body. It the concept of swapping parents don’tguidethem and show them but by age 8 it goesdown to 50 per cent and bia University, NewYork, suggeststhat teachesthem how to be calm services formoneybyage 5 or 6 icolas is 7: he does yoga what’s out there to try? It’s never tooearly by 13 it’s fallen again. Essentially,the affluent children ferriedtoconstant activi- and focused and to have inner and help them to understand and taekwondoand has to start: my son is only 7, but he has already schoolsystemhas killedoff their tieswere far more likely to be depressed strength fordealing with the bad howthe world functions. tackledbasic computer triedverybasic computer coding.” creativity:they’re not usingtheir brains to and anxious than other groups. But things lifewill throw at them. coding. His 11-year-old Shebelieves all children should learn find ingenious solutions to problems, they Mahmoudieh says she is not advocating Theyshould do yoga from 2 or 3: Be atechnology producer,not sister, Fariba, does a codingfromaround 6. When shecouldn’t are people in abox. doingall these activities at the same time. it teachesdiscipline and gives aconsumer weekly Mandarin class, is find suitable weekly classesshe contacted “But that’s the opposite of how they will “Do codingfor aterm, then tryfencingfor mental strength. Tech experts startcoding studyingthe Korean mar- the leadingnot-for-profit codinggroup, needtothink in the future: youcan’t be a awhile, then maybe alanguage. Idon’t well beforeadulthood. It’s Ntial artTangSoo Do as well as yoga,piano CoderDojo, and set up her own free classes specialist in one thing as an adult any want them to be over-scheduledand Find your passion before 15 actually quitesimple — it’s and netball. Shecan also writeJavaScript. at Google’sCampus London, where she more. It’s not acase of workingthrough a drilled, likethe little robots youcan meet Children need to be inspired and, symbols and commands,and Frankly, it all sounds abit terrifyingly has her office. The firstone wastwo weeks career,stepbystep, and reachingacertain in China. As aparent,you are showing if painting and football aren’t easier than some languagesto tiger mother,but the children’s mother,the agoand they runfor six weeks for7to age and level of expertise. Youhave to be themthemenuandthechoicessotheycan doing it forthem, parentsneed learn. It’s also the sort of thing award-winningarchitectYasmine Mah- 12-year-olds. The aim is to offerthem all ready to adapttoconstant change, to think choose. If youdon’t even show them the to find alternatives. Howabout that itseasier to learn at 6 or 7 moudieh, insists that they are doing no overLondon from nextyear and then foryourself and takethe initiative.” menu, they can’tchoose.” pottery? Rock climbing?They than at 12 or 13 or in adulthood. more after-schoolactivitiesthan most farther afield. Mahmoudieh, 52,who wasborn in Sheemphasisesthat achild should de- need to find their passion, what Children canstartwith asimple Britishchildren. It’s justthat they are more “Inthepast,childrenhadto learntoread Hamburg to aGerman mother and Irani- cide on the activitiesthey want to try. “My really excites and motivates system such as Scratch, then carefully chosen to foster the skills that and write, now it’s read and code,” shesays. an father,set her up own design business in daughter came to me four years agoand them, beforeit’stoo late. It’s not move up to JavaScript and today’sgeneration of children will need “It’sthe language, the literacy,the future. LosAngeles at the age of 26, and later said shewanted to learnMandarin. Isaid, that you’re pushing them into others. It doesn’t mean that they when they are adults. I’m not sayingthat’s good or bad, but tech- openedoffices in Berlin, Hamburg, ‘Fine, let’s find somewhere youcan do things,it’smore of a gentle will be developers but it There’snothingwrong with football nology is so rapidly changingthe waywe London and Barcelona. Shemovedto that’, but Ialwayssay to my children: ‘Tell tapping so that the horizon strengthens problem-solving club or cupcake-making, Mahmoudieh live,everyone needs to know how to code: London from Berlin in 2009 followingthe me if youthink youare doingtoo much.’ opens forthem. skills and logical thinking and says, but what children will really needto it’s abasic requirement. By teaching break-up of her marriage. “I believeyou should alwayshave at getsthem to understand how know in the rapidly shiftingdigital children to codeyou turnthem from Shecame up with the idea formyKidsy leastone free dayaweek — we have two, Fencing, not netball technology works. economythat awaits them are computer passive consumers of technologyto when shewas on holiday in Greece last plus the weekends — although youhaveto Research shows that if youdid a coding, philosophy,entrepreneurship, producers: it’s hugely empowering.” April and wastryingtofind ayogaclass for makesure it’s agenuine free day. If they are sport in childhood it helps to Startalanguage and music by 5 languagesand creative thinking — most Mahmoudieh also hopestooffer classes Fariba forwhen they gotbacktoLondon watching TV or playing on the iPad it’s not prevent diseasessuch as When Ilived in Berlin Itook my of which aren’t well servedbythe national in entrepreneurship and financial skills to (yoga is another discipline shebelieves all proper free time, it’s wasted time. certain cancers later on. The children to ahalf-hour curriculum. 7to15-year-olds early nextyear,and children should learn). “Ittook me hours “People sometimessay to me, ‘What obvious onesare always English-speaking playgroup from Mahmoudieh is so passionate in her philosophy will follow later.“Children are to find anything, then Iphonedsome- about downtime, what about messing football and netball, but there one year old. It wasonly half an belief that children should be exposed to as natural entrepreneurs from averyearly where and there was no reply.Ie-mailed about makingdens?’ But children aren’t areplenty of children who don’t hour aweek.Fromsix months manymind-enhancingactivities as possi- age and we should be encouragingit,” she twoplacesand got no response. It made makingdens as Iused to as a child. It’s a likethose sports and so end up theywent to Yamaha music ble from ayoungage that shehas set aside says. “Tostartwith, it makes avital con- me think there had to be abetterway of fallacy.Research shows they are watching doing no sportbecause they classeswheretheywere TV and playingcomputer gamesfor about didn’t knowtherewas anything introduced to rhythm and findingout what was on offer.There is so MyKidsy had asoftlaunch in July and so 80 per cent of their free time. else out there. My daughter sounds.Research shows that much going on for children but no one far has more than 900 listings forafter- “Mypoint is that children don’tget wantstotry fencing and my children exposed to music early knows about it. There’s no central placeto schoolclasses, plus activitiesfor weekends educated by themselves or turnthem- son is keen on cricket, so on have better language skills, find out. SiteslikeNetmums and Mumsnet and holidays. Sheleads ateam of four,and selves intogood human beings: it’s up to us we’re finding classes in those memoryand reasoning faculties. are OK forbabiesbut not really beyond.” is lookingfor financial backingtoexpand as parents to teachthem.” activitiesnow.It’sacase of Yasmine Mahmoudieh