Sponsored Video : Barclays & Mumsnet "Your Bank Live".

  My son has always been a paper collector ever since he was absolutely tiny, he loves a leaflet, the more information packed the better!The doctor's surgery, the supermarket, a timetable or two, any type of flyer or advertising, you name it....I thought he might have grown out of it a little but just the other week we were in the supermarket after school buying Halloween treats & not only did he pocket the till receipts plus the assorted ads that came with them but he also picked a variety of leaflets from the noticeboard, none of which was remotely relevant to us! The local branch of my bank has always been a firm favorite....a soft seating area where he could sit near enough for me to see him, but just out of my reach plus stands full of information, financial this, that and the other....plus pens on strings attached to the desk.Of course, I would be queuing for long enough for him to amass a whole bunch of literature plus collect some blank paying-in slips which he'd "borrow" to take home & scribble, and later on write, cheques to me and to himself. Happy times :) I should add that I would always discreetly remove as much as possible of the afore-mentioned borrowed paperwork from my little paper-magnet & leave it on the desk in the bank....distraction is essential with little ones sometimes & creativity is important but so is the environment. Barclays have clearly given some thought to this issue & in the interests of exploring the possibilities & testing out some new options, they recently invited a group of Mumsnetters & their little ones to one of their branches. These families were invited to road-test some "family friendly" branches to see if the changes introduced by Barclays were in fact friendly enough. The video above shows some of their ideas....a designated area for families & specifically a children's play area, also activity books aimed at little ones providing them with something interesting to do & a few minutes for parents to get their banking done as quickly as possible. Staff will also be on hand to deal with parents wanting to get information & access their accounts in order to make the whole process stress-free & efficient. Sounds good to me!  And if you see a small boy borrowing a few blank paying-in slips anytime soon, please don't be upset ;)  This post is sponsored by Barclays, all thoughts & opinions are my own.