Elaine Tan Comeau is the founder and operator of Easy Daysies Ltd., a woman-founded and woman-led company that offers customizable visual schedules and proven product solutions for parents and educators to help children have easier, happier days. As a former schoolteacher and a mom of three, Elaine found that children are primarily visual learners who feel more confident and less anxious when they can see and predict what is happening next in their day. Elaine’s goal is to create tools that foster the overall well-being of kids and families. The company’s products are recommended by healthcare professionals to help special needs communities, brain injury, and memory loss communities. Easy Daysies Ltd. is doing everything possible to care for the planet and is transitioning all of its products to be made with recycled materials and vegetable soy inks.
What is your business called and what does it do?
Easy Daysies Ltd., a company founded by a mom of three / schoolteacher, produces award-winning customizable visual schedules and proven product solutions to help parents and educators help children have easier days. That is how it got its name… Easy Daysies®! Easy Daysies is all about fostering a healthy overall well-being of kids and families.
Easy Daysies Ltd. is a woman-founded and woman-led company that cares about creating happy and confident children and cares about the planet we leave for them. Our products are transitioning to all be made with recycled materials and use vegetable soy inks.
What made you want to do this work?
My first daily visual schedules for kids were created by parent demand when I was a schoolteacher and, for many years, parents would ask me to help their children at home become more cooperative and independent at home, and just help to get kids out the door faster in the morning. They asked me to create visual schedules similar to what I had made for my classroom for them at home. I deeply cared for my students every year, so of course I would help them. After drawing and creating these visual schedules by parent demand for many years and for free, I realized that there was a market for my schedules. I did the research and there was no product out there. So I saved by tutoring and selling crafts to raise the first $1400 I needed to launch the product. The first Easy Daysies was launched off my kitchen table shortly after our third baby was born, and then quickly became the #1 Back to School Must Have in the media and stores started calling. The company became incorporated on October 24th, 2011. Now my three teens and husband help out, and a small team of moms.
What problem did you want to solve with the business?
One in four school-aged children have anxiety issues, one in five struggle with mental health, one in six with learning disabilities, and the list goes on. With so many things working against our children, our goal is to create tools to help build confident and happy children one day at a time. Children are unique and are primarily visual learners, so we start here with our customizable visual schedules. Visual daily schedules are proven to help children become more cooperative, independent, confident, and alleviate anxiety, all because they can see and predict what is happening next in their day.
Who are your clientele/demographics?
Easy Daysies products help parents and teachers help children have easier days; morning routines and bedtime routines become smoother, and parents no longer feel need to repeat themselves over and over. Easy Daysies is honoured to be recommended by name by child psychologists, occupational therapists, and speech and language pathologists, to help children with special needs, executive
functioning and anxiety, autism, and ADHD. Every part of Easy Daysies is created purposefully. The blue colour we use on the magnets is clinically the most calming and soothing for anxiety, the length of the board is created to help adults and parents list no more than 7 tasks as to not overwhelm a child or adult, as studies show that 7 is the maximum number of tasks a typical adult can handle.
Families have shared how they use our children’s products not just for their kids, but for their adult family members with special needs, anxiety, brain injury, autism, and early memory loss. Now Easy Daysies is creating products to help the adult communities with early memory loss, helping individuals with special needs, brain injury, and early signs of Dementia and Alzheimer’s.
How does your business make money? How does it work?
Easy Daysies is sold in stores, Scholastic Canada, and online.
Where in the city can we find your products?
Easy Daysies can be found in specialty retail stores like Mariposa Market, ZIYA Kidz, Scholar’s Choice, Toy Trader’s, Education Station, Scholastic Book Orders, nationally at Staples Canada, and our website.
What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?
I am very grateful and blessed to receive many messages from families and teachers sharing how Easy Daysies has helped them. From a mom with 3 kids with autism thanking us because of Easy Daysies she “no longer has to talk talk talk all day long anymore” because her kids can see and predict what is happening next. To a divorced dad sharing there is now consistency in both homes because of Easy Daysies. To a foster mom sharing her kids now feel safe and less anxious because they can see and predict their day. To a mom sharing that her 9-year-old developmentally-delayed daughter uses Easy Daysies as her words and it has improved the quality of life for her daughter. To a Teacher sharing how proud her autistic student was when he was able to use Easy Daysies to self-direct himself to the next class because he saw he had “Gym” next after “Math”, and he got up and led her for the first time, rather than her leading him!
These messages are the best part about what we do, and the reasons why we do what we do and why we must keep going to make it better for our children and families. Running a small business has its many challenging days and long nights. On the days and moments that are the lowest points, these messages keep me going.
Easy Daysies is honoured to be recommended by name by health care professionals to help provide product solutions to help special needs communities and brain injury and memory-loss communities, to have won 15 awards, and including 2023 Parents’ Picks Award, 2022 Kids’ Product of the Year, and Educational Product of the Year, and to have been named one of the 2018 Top 10 SBBC Most innovative Companies in British Columbia.
What is your favourite joke about your own products?
“Do you have one of these for my husband?” is the most popular quip that pops out of the women’s mouths who I have the privilege to meet at events and tradeshows. I often hand them the “red box” with a smile. The red box is the “Chores & Special Times” add-on expansion kit to our award-winning Easy Daysies Starter Kit, listing tasks to be done like: Take Out the Garbage, Put Clothes Away, Walk the Dog, and Vacuum. Everyone wants this add-on pack!
Where can we follow you?
PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?
I had the honour of being one of the four inaugural Canadian women to be the recipients of the Stacy’s Rise Project 2023. The Stacy’s Rise Project™ was created to help women entrepreneurs through mentorship, grants, and community. It was an incredible honour to be a part of it. One of the best parts was the community of incredible women founders I had the honour of meeting. An awesome business I would like to give a shoutout to is a fellow Canadian woman founder and Stacy’s Rise Recipient, Kristyn Carriere, co-founder of 7 Summits Snacks.
Stacy’s® Pita Chips is proud to continue championing women entrepreneurs through the launch of the 2024 Stacy’s Rise Project. Applications for the 2024 Stacy’s Rise Project are officially open from now through December 15. The ten women founders in the U.S. and five winners in Canada will be announced in early 2024 and each will receive a $25,000 grant, mentorship from Frito Lay and PepsiCo leadership and a built-in community of powerful women. To learn more about the Stacy’s Rise Project, how you can apply (or share the application with your favourite woman founder!), visit Stacy’s Rise Project website.
