PERHAPS it's the government's baby-friendly incentives. Perhaps it's the push towards entrepreneurship. Whatever it is, both seem to have dovetailed in the past year or so to cause a boom in child-related businesses.

Indeed, enterprising young parents are behind the latest indulgences for children - indoor play centres as well as toy rental schemes, the latter being all the rage in the US and Europe.

For these parents, it was the same catalyst that spurred them to go into business: they just couldn't find what they needed for their children. So far, it looks like they've tapped into a new market here.

Not just child's play: Frisk 'n' Romp's Mr Lim believes that children can learn through play	For junior: Mr Philip Low's son Philson with his mum. 'www.littlefairyland.com' aims to provide good educational toys in S'pore

It's a known fact that Singaporean parents dole out the dosh to send their children - as young as two - to enrichment classes. But these days, they're also willing to drop their children off at indoor 'soft-play' centres for an hour or two - so their children can play in a 'state of the art' playroom while parents get to take a break.

'Local parents are catching on, now that we've been around for a year or so,' says Jeanelle Chua, who runs AtlantisCity@Delta, located at Delta Sports Complex at Tiong Bahru Road with her husband. 'But in the beginning we were catering to the expatriate family crowd because indoor play centres are commonly found in the UK and the US.'

The Chuas may not have children yet, but Mr Chua's family is also in the playground equipment business.

The 'soft-play' centres allow indoor, air-conditioned play, and confined areas are structured such that children don't get hurt if they trip or tumble. AtlantisCity@Delta takes up to 30 to 40 children at a time, and most would be under six years old.

The reason why it's popular is because parents can monitor their children while having a cup of coffee in a comfortable environment, says Mrs Chua.

The play centre business is totally different from enrichment centres, she points out, as they simply provide play and 'relieve kids of the stress cultivated in our 'academically-inclined' environment'.

The philosophy is to provide a 'safe, clean and affordable playground' which is sustainable over time, like public playgrounds. The charge is nominal - $5 an hour - and the Chuas intend to keep it that way because they also see the need for more play centres in satellite towns.

Young parents Ian and Sandy Mullane set up Fidgets at Turf City in January, because they have children aged two and four. The businessman who came to Singapore five years ago saw the market for it, and when the right location came up, he invested a seven-figure amount for the 14,000 sq ft space which comes with a customised PlayScape design from Australia.

'As parents, you just understand what other parents would want for their children,' says the Briton. The place pulls in more than 25,000 people a month, and he intends to set up two other outlets on the island.

Mrs Meehan and Mrs Bruckers with her son Jack at the Toy Rental Club, where there are over 1,000 items in stock

Although NTUC Club has set up a mega playmaze at its newly opened eXplorerKid Family Park in Pasir Ris, not to mention other centres sprouting up, Mr Mullane isn't worried about the competition. 'This is a very 'localised' business. Parents living in Bukit Timah won't be driving all the way to Pasir Ris for a play centre and vice versa,' he says.

Per entry charges at Fidgets are $8 and $15 for children under and over two years old respectively.

New centre on the block, Frisk 'n' Romp at Big Splash charges $18 per hour, but it provides supervision (so parents can drop their children off for an hour or more) and also structured activities besides free play.

Founder Eric Lim used to handle business development for an IT company, until the new father found a 'method' for children's education that he was so taken by that he decided to set up Frisk 'n' Romp.

He strongly believes that children can learn through play, so trained staff at the play centre lead children in short activities. 'Our 20-minute activities might be a game or music and movement and even puppetry - but all the activities incorporate lessons like social skills and confidence building,' explains Mr Lim.

He describes himself as just an 'ordinary parent' but he read about a man in China who raised his deaf daughter so well that she's a woman of many accomplishments today, he relates. Zhou Hong's education business is now the top education 'brand' in China.

Mr Lim even went to China to meet Mr Zhou, to help out in a camp the latter runs for delinquent children, and also translated Mr Zhou's book - Appreciating Your Child - to English.

Although $18 seem expensive for an hour of child's play, Mr Lim points out that it's because of the 'software' he injects into the hardware. Come next month, the centre will even start themed activities, kicking off with a pirate's theme.

Toy rental boom

Another segment of young parents getting into the child-centric business are those who realise how expensive good toys can be. And that it's a waste to throw away toys in near-perfect condition when children outgrow them in a matter of months.

The Toy Rental Club is one of the bigger 'toy for rent' outfits in town, started by Rosemary Jenny Meehan and Anita A Bruckers, who are also neighbours. 'Business has picked up a lot since we started last August/September. We now have over 1,000 items in stock compared to 700 when we started,' says Mrs Meehan. True enough, it was nearly impossible to get hold of the two ladies, who are constantly on the move dealing with a lot of enquiries and arranging delivery.

They both have children below five - Mrs Meehan had triplets three years ago. 'This is truly a business borne out of own needs!' she declares, adding that baby equipment and toys are very expensive and she has to buy them in threes.

And as their children outgrew their toys or chairs, it was a waste to throw them away. 'Especially as most things were still in good condition,' says Mrs Meehan, a Kenyan who's been in Singapore for 10 years and is an early years teacher by profession.

Toy Rental Club rents out anything from breast pumps to strollers, from car seats to toys. 'It's also useful when overseas friends with children visit and need equipment on a temporary basis,' she says, adding that Toy Rental Club also accepts second-hand items from parents.

Jumperoos ($50 a month to rent) and exersaucers are popular items, especially for children's parties, she says.

'Toys are expensive, and something you bought for $400, your child might tire of it in a month's time; plus it's not easy to buy good educational toys in Singapore,' says Philip Low, who started www.littlefairyland.com last year, and who also carries four to five sets of jumperoos and exersaucers.

www.rent-that-toy.com features at least 26 items, while www.gogomummy.com carries toys from brands such as Leapfrog, Vtech and Fisher Price. Gogomummy's Lynn Tey, who started the site six months ago, says that the reason for the boom is that 'modern mums and dads are more demanding consumers than any past generation of parents. They're busier, more likely to both work, less likely to have extended family nearby and more conscious of their children's well being and growth,' she says. 'Renting a toy not only keeps the child happy; it saves storage space and provides variety as well as cost savings,' she adds.

www.rent-that-toy.com's Elaine Gay says her business has grown mainly from word-of-mouth, and that it's a viable business which can be expanded, for sure. 'But without compromises to our customer service, condition and cleanliness of our toys,' she states.

Online toy rental outfits are mushrooming, as even blogging moms are getting into the act, highlights Sangeetha Madhavan, who has a two-year-old, and who blogs about arts programmes for children in mamasez.squarespace.com.

She's used www.rent-a-toy.com - 'a painless booking' - and also rented car seats from www.babytown.com.sg.

Of course with children's health issues such as hand, foot and mouth disease coming up ever so often, hygiene is of the utmost importance, say all the operators. Being parents themselves, they stress that all of the toys are cleaned with anti-bacterial, biodegradable cleaners, followed by steam sterilisation.

With the economy heading towards uncertain times and inflation on the rise, one wonders which businesses would survive the storm. Toy rentals would certainly get more popular as more parents realise the benefits of sharing toys - if they can get past the hygiene concerns; but play centres may not stand the test of time, cautions AtlantisCity@Delta's Mrs Chua.

'Back in the early 1990s, there were more than 10 such centres around, but they didn't last through the 1997/98 crisis,' she points out, adding that parents might skimp on play before they cut back on enrichment courses.

Fidgets' Mr Mullane doesn't think so however. 'Parents will cut back on eating out, concerts and expensive travel maybe, but I think they'll still spend on their children. Especially when there's a safe place where kids can jump around and climb about, and tire themselves out by the end of the day!'

This article was first published in The Business Times on June 14, 2008.