A new baby is always a joy. As parents we will cut back on ourselves in hard times but still do our very best for the children. The past few years have been hard to trade through but good nursery retailers continue to flourish as long as they offer excellent service, great design and competitive...
I am in a lull – what is known as a lunch-time lull. We are exhibiting at the world’s biggest ‘everything a mother and baby might need’ Trade Show called ABC Kids Expo which this year is in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. It certainly is the largest Trade Show I’ve ever been to as a...
Well if you did and if you, like I, tried to be efficient and contact the Child Benefit Charge call centre to register the fact that you no longer qualified, you may just be a tiny bit irritated? Or maybe, as in my case, you may even be angry … or possibly you may...
It’s been 24 years since I applied for University but my headmaster’s words still loom large: ” If you’re going to get to university you must learn to say NO to the extra-curricular activities…..!” Organising a fundraising Fun Run (try saying that after a sleepless night) is probably more “labour of love” than “extra-curricular...
We all know that it is so tricky to be perfect. Actually, we all know it is impossible to be perfect – I just do my best and quite often I don’t think it is good enough so I keep trying harder (or drink a large glass of wine). However, I recently did an...
JoJo works so hard – pleasing many customers across the world – a well earnt play is long overdue but this Playtime is far from a run around in a park or playground… Playtime is a twice yearly Trade Show bringing lots of very beautiful, quirky and unusual children’s brands together in 3 locations...
I can’t tell you how often I have told my children to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and on the whole they are brilliant at remembering their P’s and Q’s. In fact, I think most children are pretty good at this these days. I’m sure yours are too? So why is it that as...
A ‘free’ red football kit Jago has started going to football training for toddlers. We definitely don’t have a budding Ronaldo on our hands. His main ball skill seems to be ‘why not just throw it in the goal’ so much easier than this kicking malarkey. As part of the joining package...
From the start of the academic school year until we collapse on Boxing day I’m stressed. There is no point denying the fact that I probably go a bit mad and I may even admit, begrudgingly, that I’m a tinsy-winsy bit difficult to live with? It all starts with the back-to-school rush; new shoes...
Of all the unusual places work trips have taken me to, I’d probably count Pakistan as up there. Whilst there is no need for me to travel there with JoJo Maman Bébé, I have been to Lahore 3 times now with previous jobs, so it’s with great excitement to report that one of our...
While the British summer seems to still be eluding us, we’ve been hard at work here at JoJo Maman Bébé and have just finished putting together our Autumn Winter catalogue. We really love it and hope you’re looking forward to seeing the new range! The final stage in the long process of designing a...
Its a strange thing but I think I am amongst many mothers who never minded being woken up in the night by their newborn babies. That total exhaustion when you have just had an hour or two in bed and are woken for another 30 mins breastfeeding whilst sitting up and fighting sleep never...
As most parents soon find out, with a new baby comes a lot of kit and a great deal of it is plastic or melamine. How much of this ends up in landfill is a worrying thought when you consider it’s the next generation that is going to have to deal with it all....
I recently wrote a blog for Jojo about baby-led and traditional weaning and was surprised by the amount of debate about which was the ‘correct’ method, with parents arguing very strongly for both camps. While most agreed that a mixture of methods was suitable for their babies, a topic that wasn’t mentioned by any...
Of course with teenage children I’m a little on the old side to have friends having babies, but whilst there is not the rush I knew 10 years ago, there are still a few brave souls pregnant in their 40’s and of course a few second time round marriages with men my age and...
When I found out Amba was going to be born earlier than expected, my heart just shattered. I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know how I’d cope. At 29 weeks and weighing 2 pound 5 ounces it was hard for us to believe what happened over the last few hours and I...
My son played for AFC Wimbledon today. Is that not every Dad’s and some Mum’s dream? Your child is conceived and within days, in my case at least, your partner is predicting great sporting achievements. Daughters will win Wimbledon a la Chrissie Evett or maybe in other families the bump is destined to be...
If you meet with any new parents in the first few months of parenthood, talk will inevitably turn to weaning. Hours will be spent discussing the merits of baby-led against the traditional puree approach, and vice versa, and usually one will be chosen over another. What many first time parents don’t anticipate is that...
Of course I know that I am not damaging my boys, but in the days leading up to a business trip I get more and more stressed. It has always been the case. It starts about two weeks before I am due to leave and I faff and make arrangements for them while I...
So here we are in New York for the March edition of Children’s Club. Myself, Laura and this time Karen as well – her very first time in the Big Apple. Trade at the show has been brisk again and we are all pleasingly comforted by the interest shown in JoJo. Some of our...
This is the time of year when getting away, or planning to get away, is at the forefront of our minds (although to be honest it was always at the forefront of my mind in Arthur’s first year…) Unfortunately, if you’re not blessed with qualified grandparents, then you have no option but to take...
Here at JoJo it is company policy not to recruit our child models through agencies, we prefer to use our customers and employees little ones. So when we decided on Whitstable for the AW12 catalogue shoot the next challenge was to recruit our little models. Myself and Tom, our photographer, packed up his camper...
European Russia stretches from the borders of Belarus and Ukraine to the Ural mountains which are over 1000km east of Moscow. Even without the rest of the Russian Federation it is by far the largest country in Europe so the sales opportunity for JoJo Maman Bébé is huge. It’s all glittery with neon lit...
As I sit here waiting to take off, it’s actually with a certain amount of trepidation. I’m flying to Moscow to meet with a company we are trialling distribution rights with to grow JoJo in Russia. Not something we’ve done before but given the cultural and language barriers involved we are keen to find...
In the design department at JoJo we work about 1 year in advance and over the past couple of months I have been busy designing the core ranges for next summer such as all our Breton & twill basics and with that finished I am now ready to start on the really fun ranges...
Weaning is a big deal, there’s no doubt about it. It’s the first time you have to really think about what you’re putting in your baby that doesn’t involve a bottle or a boob. Having said that, it really isn’t worth getting too stressed about it – and I mean this from experience. At...
It’s sort of ironic that we, a company whose success is dependent on pro-creation, is now based in a former Catholic convent. I’d like to think that the nuns would have enjoyed our designs and approved of our work ethic and company ethos. May be we should get the building blessed or may be...
It’s done. We are in. Yes, we have finally moved our design and buying office. For the past 12 years we have spent most of our working days (often stretching late into the night) in a lovely space on Bennerley Road in Battersea. This is where JoJo grew up and we are sad to...
One morning, Dilpa who is one of our lovely web team didn’t turn up for work … we soon found out why. Read on to hear her remarkable birth story. We in the Battersea design and marketing office can’t wait to meet little baby Amba once she is back home …. December 2011 –...
Sometimes, when life goes wrong it is easy to slip into deep depression. Today was one of those days. Everything went wrong. Toby forgot his homework when he got on the school bus, I noticed it sitting on the kitchen table having just closed the door behind him. It’s great the bus comes straight...
When Arthur was eight months old, a chance meeting with Laura in a pub last summer opened up a whole new world to me. I’d been feeling a bit fed up with the daily monotony of life that a baby can bring, and because Arthur was still yet to sleep through the night, I...
These first 18 months of motherhood have been a roller coaster-ride to say the least, but a definite highlight was meeting Laura, which would never have happened if it wasn’t for my Arthur being so cute! I’m loving this opportunity to discuss lots of baby-related news and views – and receive all your comments...
The festive season is well and truly over. It always amazes me how quickly it goes by, January arrives and before we know it we are all firmly back into our usual routines. Secretly I am always quite pleased about this, I am not a huge fan of Christmas as everyone who knows me...
Hello, It’s great that you are reading the very first post from our new blog. For the past few years we have shied away from the idea of too much editorial on our website. We felt that you had too much to read already; pamphlets from the hospital, pregnancy and new baby books, news...
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| Laura Tenison | JoJo Guest | ||
| Founder & MD | |||
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| Trewin | JoJo Team | ||
| Eco Dad | |||
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| Mark Jeynes | |||
| Head of International Wholesale |
