The overlooked aspect of businesses in Guyana catering for families with children

Dear Editor,
Many corporate persons and business owners know the importance of being family-friendly, but it seems that they often don’t pay too much attention, thinking that families with children are a minority market that only those businesses specifically targeting that market needs to cater to. Such a shame since what they do not realise is that families with children make up a much larger market than most people believe!
So many places in Guyana, whether it is a retail store, hardware store, shopping mall, restaurant, supermarket, entertainment or recreational facility, a service business or just a general business or company, ignore the needs of families with children and do so at their business’s peril.
The presence of children who will be in tow on these trips, more so, during the August holidays, is overlooked and this adds up to a lot of young children power influence, whether they come and how often, how long they stay and how much they spend.
Family-friendly encompasses a multitude of factors, especially when it comes to younger children focusing on children’s eating preferences (and those of what their parents would like them to eat), children’s short attention spans and easy boredom, to restrooms with changing tables, catering for parents with children in tow ranging from manoeuvering strollers through doors, between tables and through aisles, parents’ obsession with their children’s safety (both injury and abduction), to the cleanliness of everywhere parents take their children and everything that their children can touch or mouth.
Being family-friendly means attention to a few details, most of which would be of little concern to most adults without children in tow but businesses are urged to please take a little extra effort in design, operations and staff training to really please the family with children market and make them loyal customers.
When you get it right, when your business is truly family-friendly, you will win customers for life.

Sincerely,
Mommy V