More Than Playdates: Bonding With Your Child At The F of X Festival
Hi there!
Today, you get to meet Hasita who is one of the voices of The experience Co. and by that, we mean she writes the blogs that you read (and love?), including this one.
The one thing we all have in common as creators is that our journeys are vastly different from each other. For me, being a working mother is not a strange concept- I started my first gig when my daughter was one year old. In hindsight, I can say that it wasn’t the most well thought-out decision, but it surely was an immensely rewarding one.
The greatest lesson I learnt being a mum and running my own thing is the discipline of getting things done. For one, I would rarely, if ever, have the luxury of time.
Turning out work sooner than it was expected was just me preparing for sick days, cold days, I-want-to-cling-to-mothership days, and so on. Recently, I attended the first ever SEMrush conference in India and discovered that one of the things that most clients value highly is adherence to timelines.
Who knew?! I was just doing my two jobs.
My Introduction To The experience Co.
After about three years into the wakeup-work-parent-repeat routine, I felt the need for a good shakeup. Call it serendipity, or call it Instagram’s insane targeting that can read minds, I discovered The Beachhouse Project.
Conceptualised by Jaytirth, the idea was to help fifteen curated residents take their conversations beyond a conference room setting. Frankly, we all know the pain of meeting that one person that twenty others are queuing up to meet.
I was ready to sign up but I had one concern- my daughter was four years old and had never been left anywhere without me for more than a couple of days. If I were to come, I would have to bring her along. I was almost expecting some amount of hemming and hawing before the ‘no’ was said. The response that I got from Jay is something I’ll remember for a long time to come, “Of course, Hasita, you can bring her along. We’d be glad to have her with us.”
Every parent knows how insanely rare it is to hear that statement, from anyone, and least of all in a professional setting.
As creators and as professionals, it is natural to feel isolated when we step away to tend to the most important change in our lives when we become parents. Often, this isn’t something we discuss freely- social conditioning teaches us to be grateful for what we have, but people rarely talk about unhappy parenting.
Bonding Amid The Blues
And these were blues of the good kind, okay?
Off we went to Nainital and my daughter N became the centre of every conversation and every dialogue. Apart from adding immense value to my professional journey, I also had a roommate who never grumbled about the fact that all the hot water went to the child (in fact, I only discovered this when I used the restroom on the last day after everyone was done).
I also had folks peeping into her room to make sure she was comfortably snuggled while we chatted outside late into the night. Then, there were those who brought back lost toys on the occasional bad day often through a bitterly cold evening, and those that showed her, above all, just how much she was welcome.
As a result, I had a chance to see her not as the infant she always was in my head, but as a growing person with a mind of her own.
Professionally, I rediscovered who I could be, bolstered in part by the unconditional encouragement I got from fourteen other creators who were behemoths in their own right. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I learnt how much more I could do with Content Strategy, took the first steps towards content marketing, dreamt a little bit bigger than I had up until that point. And all of this was made possible because of a completely safe, non-judgmental setting where both my child and I could fully thrive.
Now, which conference offers that!
Since then, N and I have been on several trips together. She climbed a particularly tough section of the Great Wall at five, and got bitten by a leech shortly thereafter. Today, she’s off to the beaches and the ‘snowy mountains’ with equal gusto, and it all started at a place where we were both accepted for who we were- she, a quickly-growing human being and me, a professional who also happened to be (I know this now) a great mum.
What You’ll Find At The F of X Festival
When Jay told us that he’s making special arrangements to help mom and dad-creators join the F of X festival, I knew he’d have thought through every little detail. And boy, does he know a thing or two about kids!
For one, they need happy parents, and happy parents are a product of a supportive environment, which I’m sure of finding, once again, at the F of X festival.
What’s more, the festival is also an experience for children, from professional nannies to play rooms and more. Kids are also allowed access to the Hand and Soul zones so they can participate in sessions suitable to them.
Here are just a few other facilities you can avail of:
- A private room for yourself and your child, or the option of sharing a room with another parent-creator or your spouse.
- Playrooms are open from 9 AM to 9 PM and are easily accessible from the festival venue.
- Dedicated pick up/ drop facilities for transport between the festival venue and where you’re staying.
- A safari to the national park can be arranged for parents and children.
There’s something quite magical about growing in the company of your own child and that’s an experience worth having. If it can happen in the midst of ‘snowy mountains’, forests perfect for walks and every a gurgling stream with stories to tell, sign me up!
In its second edition, the F of X Festival is open to parent-creators and guardian-creators who are ready for that giant leap, but wouldn’t want to do it without the kids.
From caregivers to scheduled pickups and private rooms, we’re creating spaces where the kids can make the most of the trip even as you take in all sessions and learnings, knowing that they’re well looked-after.
Take a look at how the festival is making kid-friendly arrangements here, and apply here!
