Adding Ratios to your Mer-Services

I wanted to talk for a moment about the benefit of using ratios of mermaids per children in mermaid party swimming bookings. I think this is a practice that companies should work toward. While it may not be feasible at first for those who are a 1-person operation, as you grow and add more to your team I think it should be a new industry standard. I’ve talked a lot about this in details in my books and publications, along with citations. But for now, here’s the Cole’s notes version!
 
A ratio is when you determine how many children a single mer can effectively entertain, while also keeping themselves and the children safe. The more kids we add the more the risk goes up and the space goes down in the pool. It’s easy to accidentally harm a child, damage your tail, and yourself. It’s also very hard to engage in a meaningful way with every child.

Most pools enforce a ratio of children to parents, lifeguards to swimmers etc. I believe mermaids should be the same. In my company my packages will say “for up to X amount of swimmers, after that a second/third mer is required”. I also do this for pool bookings where a community invites us in to swim. The amount of kids you allow can depend on what you feel you can handle, the space of the pool, and whether or not you’re having kids try out tails.
 

In my company, if I am giving a lesson in tails, the ratio is 1 mer per every 5 kids. Especially because I give my lessons while in a costume myself. I need to be able to get to a kid quickly, and make sure they’re all getting proper instruction. If they’re older/teens/adult I can bump it up to 10. A second mermaid allows us to break the kids into two groups and then re-join. Not only is it safer, it’s a proven strategy for effective teaching and behavioural management.

For swim I am typically 1 mer per every 10(ish) kids using my discretion. Sometimes I’ll go up to 15. I usually tell clients ‘participating kids” as we all know people bring babies and toddlers who likely wont need much of your attention and will be on a parent’s hip. If I have a party of 30 participating kids, I will require 2 mermaids.

Having more than 1 mermaid is ideal for keeping everyone happy, engaged, and dealing with behavioural issues. If a mer has a child who is heckling them a bit, they can re-direct that child to me and we can take turns while the other addresses the group. Having more than 1 mer really helps if you have the odd shy child who may need special attention. If you are by yourself the clients aren’t happy if you spend all your time on 1 child.

Ratios also help keep the mermaid safe. I have had instances where something has happened and a mermaid has had to get out of a pool due to illness or injury, and the other mermaid was able to take over the group with no detriment to the experience. Two or three mermaids can take a group of 50-60 kids and lead them in different directions to split them up and make them more manageable.

Overall, ratios help you provide a better-quality experience. And they aren’t a hard sell when you pitch them to your clients that way. We want to ensure your child and their friends get adequate attention and time with a mermaid, and we want to make sure all children and mermaids are safe.

For you as the mer, ratios offer the benefit of preventing burnout by having extra help, keeping you safe and limiting your risk, happy clients, and you can bill out a second mermaid to make a bit more money.

Why not give it a try?

Thanks so much for reading and using my resources. Please share them with your friends. I dream of a  mer-community where everyone is safe!

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