Author shares how 'creative childcare' group saved her motherhood journey

The mum-of-one has opened up about struggling to find a suitable childcare option for her son and how CocoRio’s creative nannies changed her life.

CocoRio prides itself on offering more than regular childcare, giving parents the opportunity to hire creative professionals like musicians, artists, dancers and actors as their fully-vetted, experienced nannies.

Representing over 500 creative nannies and mentors, their aim is to spark children’s creativity and inspire them to learn new skills, one session at a time, from singing to sewing and baking to breakdancing.

Chloe has shared that she found herself as a single parent half way through her pregnancy, as a result of domestic violence. “Having been through such a traumatic experience four months into my pregnancy, when my baby came along, I started parenting in survival mode,” she says.

“I didn’t know how to navigate parenthood, find the time to run my business and just do it all. So naturally, I started operating on auto-pilot, not feeling present in my own body and thoughts each day.”

When it came to seeking childcare, Chloe trialled an independent childcare provider and an Ofsted registered childminder, neither of which met her standards for a nurturing environment and a child-first approach.

Draining her physically, emotionally and financially, she didn’t know where to turn. Then, at an International Women’s Day industry event in 2022 Chloe met Corinna, CEO and Co-Founder of CocoRio, who opened her eyes to personalised childcare with a creative touch, without having to conform to a regulated system.

Following their encounter, Chloe booked her first session with CocoRio. “Our creative nanny, Antoinette, immediately brought a sense of fun into our home and tailored the session completely around my son. He has loads of cowboy hats, so she created an immersive game around them and he loved it - singing, running around and exploring movement.

The more I used CocoRio, the more I relied on their creative, flexible approach. Having a creative professional ready to spark my son’s imagination whenever I needed some time to myself became my lifeline, whether that was to work, go for a walk or just sleep! Knowing he was developing his skills and not being plonked in front of the TV was a huge weight off my shoulders.”

To Chloe, her creative nannies started to feel like family. She used CocoRio’s creative nannies for regular childcare as well as providing entertainment at birthday parties and looking after her son on-site at shoots, meetings and press events.

Suddenly, Chloe felt her energy and life returning to her. “I call CocoRio my team because they were my support system and I couldn’t have parented and worked without them,” she explains. “As a single mum, I never had the opportunity to parent as a team, so sharing it alongside warm, down to earth nannies, and sometimes mannies, was a game-changer. They even gave me advice about my son’s milestones, sleep and development.”

“Their heartfelt energy, authenticity and pure talent in their speciality, from music to baking, has made every CocoRio session so meaningful. I have CocoRio to thank for bringing new life into my home and more importantly, making mine and my son’s bond even stronger.”

“It’s no surprise that more parents are coming to CocoRio after negative experiences with their nanny or childcare choices,” says CEO and Co-Founder of CocoRio, Corinna. “The nanny industry is unregulated and it’s hard to find a match that is flexible, fully-vetted and high-quality. Plus, in nurseries around the country, the ratio of carers to children is increasing, especially since the government implemented the 15-30 free hours scheme.

"At CocoRio, we view each child as unique and use a child-centred approach by giving them the undivided attention of a fully-vetted, creative nanny, who ensures their basic needs are met and engages them in creative learning while having fun. In this way, our set up is more personalised, which is hard to find in settings with high child to staff ratios.”

CocoRio was born through a joint vision from Co-Founders Corinna and Léa in 2020, who both started their career in the creative industries and met at King’s College London University. It was here that they decided to partner up and develop the CocoRio creative learning framework as part of their Master’s Degree.

As avid babysitters themselves, they had already spent years inspiring children to get creative by incorporating their own creative specialisms into their sits - for Corinna it was imaginative play with arts and crafts and for Léa it was singing and playing the ukulele to toddlers.

During an accelerator programme for start-ups at Bayes Business School, the pair turned their idea of matching families with creatives into a business plan that would shake up the babysitting and creative childcare industries.

As their plan developed and the structure of their start-up took shape, Corinna and Léa decided to recruit for creative nannies to see if it would gain any traction - and impressively, they had over 100 applications from one job advert.

Thus, CocoRio was born – ‘Coco’ standing for Corinna and ‘Rio’ inspired by Léa’s first child. The pair created an agency that would allow creatives, from dancers to designers and playwrights to puppeteers, to work as a nanny in their spare time.