Starting ’em young

Stumped for a summer activity for the kids? Put them to work! Nina Muslim finds out how

Eight-year-old Nishad Edroos is excited.

In a month's time, he will be starting his new job as a chef in the Movenpick Hotel Bur Dubai. And a concierge. And a bell boy. And a hotel manager. And dance and fitness instructor. Not a bad list of jobs for his resume considering his age.

But Nishad will not really be working and neither is the hotel dipping their toe in the child labour pool.

The Junior Hotel Academy is a programme that runs every Sunday from July 3 to August 28.

For a fee, children aged 6 to 12 will get to experience the hospitality industry at close quarters and take a behind-the-scenes look at the daily running of the hotel.

But the thought of children running wild in the hotel kitchen, administrative offices, lobby and hotel corridors is not something most adults can accept calmly.

But the option isn't open to the staff.

Every child will have a staff member supervising him or her at all times, Tapken said.

The hotel will take only 50 children for the inaugural Junior Hotel Academy.

Nishad said he didn't know how to cook, yet. "But I can make sandwiches," he said, grinning from ear to ear.