Back to school is often a nightmarish time for working parents. At a time of year where colds, illness, and head lice are rife, not to mention tantrums and an unwillingness to go back to school, it’s a time where your nanny can make the difference between a bad day and a great day.
We’ve put together our top tips for both nannies and parents to help with the back-to-school transition.
Child-led play is exactly what it sounds like; children choose what to play and the adults follow the child’s lead. The sole purpose of this type of play is to allow children to explore and discover independently whilst making their own choices and decisions about what to do.
We’ve put together some tips to help you encourage child-led play whilst also identifying learning opportunities:
Continue reading “What is Child-Led Play and Why is it So Important?”
It’s National Friendship Day on Sunday, taking time to show our friends how important they are to us is a good lesson to teach our little ones, recognising and appreciating good friendships is critical in this current world and knowing who you can love, and trust is a great skill to learn from an early age.
It’s National Friendship Day on Sunday, taking time to show our friends how important they are to us is a good lesson to teach our little ones, recognising and appreciating good friendships is critical in this current world and knowing who you can love, and trust is a great skill to learn from an early age.
National Friendship Day offers a special opportunity to go beyond the normal, everyday appreciation of friends.
So, what can we do to show our appreciation and what can out little ones do for their friends?
Spend Time with a Friend
Beyond cards or gifts, truly the best way to show a person how much their friendship means is by spending quality time with them. Offer to take them for a cup of coffee, have a chat over an ice cream cone, or even just go for a walk in the park. Practice being a good listener and be an encouragement for whatever is going on in your friend’s life.
Create and Send a Card to a Friend
You don’t have to spend a lot on a card, handmade, personal cards will show how much you care even more and so will the words you put inside. Your little ones will love making cards for their friends too!
Get creative with drawing, stamping, painting, or cutting out pictures to make a collage. It might even be fun to get super crafty and make handmade paper to write the note on. Grab an envelope, put it in the mail, and let that friend know how much they are appreciated on National Friendship Day!
Friendship Bracelets.
How about making a friendship bracelet with your older children? For over 50 years friendship bracelets have been given as a sign of love and affection between friends. These handmade tokens can be large or small, intricate, or simple, but what is most important is that they are made with love! A quick search of the internet will soon show you how to make them!
Bake Friendship Bread
Your little ones will love doing this and what a super gift to give to those special people in their lives!
A tradition started by Amish people; friendship bread is made from a sourdough starter that is often given by a friend. Each time a loaf is made, a small portion of the starter is kept aside for the next loaf, which is perfect for National Friendship Day.
Because it contains yeast, the friendship bread starter is placed in a warm area where it is stirred daily and can “grow.” Keeping the starter alive means adding a few ingredients on certain days, like flour, sugar, and milk. It usually takes about ten days for the starter to be ready to make another loaf.
Once a person has the starter (or has patiently made one from scratch), this is a delicious bread that is easy to make, including ingredients like flour, eggs, baking soda and cinnamon. Because it uses a lot of sugar to make the yeast grow, Amish Friendship bread has a delightfully sweet flavour to it, suitable for toasting or simply eating slathered with butter.
You’ve had two glorious, sun-soaked, weeks, lying in bed until 11am if you want, walking at your own pace, negotiating stairs without a pushchair, eating leisurely meals without having to give anyone else a taste, wearing clothes that would stain if even near playdough and going to the loo in peace…. and now you must go back to work.
You’ve had two glorious, sun-soaked, weeks, lying in bed until 11am if you want, walking at your own pace, negotiating stairs without a pushchair, eating leisurely meals without having to give anyone else a taste, wearing clothes that would stain if even near playdough and going to the loo in peace…. and now you must go back to work.
You’ve missed the little munchkins. You’ve found yourself singing ‘baa baa black sheep’ as you walk along, you can’t stand still (instead you bob and sway which is perfectly natural with a baby in your arms but makes you look a bit odd without one) and you’re constantly pointing out cows, birds and boats to your slightly bemused family and friends. But still it’s been holiday….and now you must go back to work.
Your charges have also been on holiday. They’ve missed their nanny, but they’ve had the undivided attention of their parents, and grandparents too, with late nights and as much TV and ice cream as they want. It’s a shock to the system all round, compounded by the fact that you are supposed to be Nanny Sunshine while your bosses grouch off on their commute (or skip merrily out the door, pleased to be back in the office).
You unilaterally decide it’s going to be a bit of a lazy day, a slow breakfast, a trip to the park in the morning, a quick to prepare lunch (check the fridge in case there isn’t any food, revise plans for trip to the park and Tesco in the morning), make some cakes for tea and some holiday inspired artwork in afternoon. A quick smile as you compare your plans for the day with the equivalent that’s waiting for your boss, and most of your friends. You have no inbox full of urgent emails, just a full laundry basket, and no great crisis to deal with apart from the nap and/or potty-training regressions, but you’ll have them sorted in no time. You also get cake later.
Together you make exciting plans: swimming, seeing friends, measuring how tall the sunflowers have grown. You notice all the things they’ve learnt to do over the past fortnight, their new words, how tall they’ve grown. They tell you about their holiday, you tell them edited highlights of yours. They ask if they can come with you next year, you laugh. You go and swing, slide and scrabble in the sand. Somehow building a sandcastle is more satisfying in the park with children than it is on a beach without.
You chuck in a load of laundry when you get home and prepare bizarre sandwich fillings that seem more logical to you than some of the food you’ve tasted over the last couple of weeks. You wonder what the 3-year-old would have thought about the chicken and banana curry sandwich you tried and consider finding a recipe just to see, only to conclude you didn’t like it that much. After lunch it’s nap time, but you call it a siesta in an exaggerated Spanish accent to prolong the holiday mood and say you’ll make ‘sangria’ for their snack. Laundry out, laundry in, make list of jobs to do over the next week, look up new activities starting in September, put dinner on, finally succeed in drinking an entire cup of coffee.
The afternoon passes messily: flour, sugar, icing sugar, paint. Tidying up is a shock to the system but a quick bit of improv turns it into a game. You have a quick internal debate about the order of bath and dinner but as dinner involves tomato sauce you decide it’s better to do a quick wipe now and have a slightly sticky dinner than risk having to do bath twice.
You know why you’re lucky to be back at work at the end of the day, when your boss arrives grimy and tired to clean and happy children (and two leftover portions of spag bol because you were feeling generous) and your charges hug you goodbye, frantically reminding you that you promised they could go swimming tomorrow.
You have the best job in the world. You’re a nanny.
The summer holidays can be stressful for parents and nannies alike. Trying to find new and exciting activities to keep the kids entertained every day is no easy feat. When you consider the many rainy days experienced in the average British summertime, you might find that you and your children are going a little stir crazy.
Over the summer holidays, libraries all around the country will be pulling out all the stops kids entertained by putting on various activities including hosting character visits and read-a-longs to craft or computer sessions, and much more.
Continue reading “Why You Should Visit Your Local Library This Summer”
Having one baby is hard work, we all know that. The thing is, unless you have a multiple birth (or children very close in age) you don’t realise just how tiring and relentless (although extremely rewarding!) looking after two or more tiny tots can be.
So, as always, we have a wealth of top tips to help if you have your own, or nanny for, twins or triplets:
Having one baby is hard work, we all know that. The thing is, unless you have a multiple birth (or children very close in age) you don’t realise just how tiring and relentless (although extremely rewarding!) looking after two or more tiny tots can be.
So, as always, we have a wealth of top tips to help if you have your own, or nanny for, twins or triplets:
For more help and information on twins and multiple births visit Twins Trust | Twins Trust – We support twins, triplets and more…
British summertime is often unpredictable when it comes to the weather. It’s not unheard of to experience rain, sun, wind and even snow all in the same day. That’s why we’ve put together our top summer holiday activities for kids that you can do, no matter the weather.
British summertime is often unpredictable when it comes to the weather. It’s not unheard of to experience rain, sun, wind and even snow all in the same day. That’s why we’ve put together our top summer holiday activities for kids that you can do, no matter the weather.
Continue reading “Perfect Summer Holiday Activities for Children”
There’s no denying that first lung full of fresh air you take after having your baby. Only mothers understand the feeling as the sun comes up after the birth and seeing the most beautiful sunrise of all time. Suddenly nature is 100 x more beautiful than it has ever been, and your precious bundle of joy is a product of that.
There’s no denying that first lung full of fresh air you take after having your baby. Only mothers understand the feeling as the sun comes up after the birth and seeing the most beautiful sunrise of all time. Suddenly nature is 100 x more beautiful than it has ever been, and your precious bundle of joy is a product of that.
However there is one subject that isn’t talked about enough. After the birth of a new baby few would care to admit that they aren’t finding the joy in everyday life as they used to.
Some couples may have tried hard to conceive, and all they ever wanted was this bouncing bundle of joy but now the baby is born they find themselves crying on a daily basis and finding it difficult to cope with everyday life.
Women need to understand that postnatal depression is not a sign of failure. There are many contributing factors that would be challenging at any stage of life, yet after a baby these factors are compounded into a short space of time leaving your body and mind exhausted and prone to mental health issues.
After the birth of a baby a woman will experience the baby blues. Hormones will crash and the new mother may feel teary and emotional, yet when these symptoms persist past the first week it is time to have a chat with the doctor.
These symptoms can be prolonged due to the nature of bringing a baby into the world. Your body is exhausted and most probably very sore, your mind will feel like it has permanent PMT, if breastfeeding your hormones will not be the same as prenatally, and sleep may seem like a luxury you can’t afford.
You may look at your new baby with its tiny fingers and toes, its button nose and gurgles and think, “how could anyone be depressed with such a wonderful gift,” yet that is the time when you need help the most.
Postnatal depression is not easily fixed by the individual. A doctor’s advice, even medication, is required to overcome it, yet most women are loathing admitting they are not coping as well as they envisaged.
It is worth noting that one in ten women will suffer from postnatal depression, so you are not alone, and you are not the first person your doctor has seen about it. Your doctor will ask questions, he will be sympathetic and decide the best course of action for you.
Overall it is best to nip postnatal depression in the bud early. As soon as you see the signs, ask for help, the sooner you are on the road to recovery, the sooner you can enjoy your new life as a mummy.
Being a parent is tough! Being a nanny is tough! Working in a nursery is tough! Raising a child is one of the most rewarding, but also one of the most challenging things you could ever do. The trouble with constantly taking care of the needs of your child or young charges is that it’s easy to push aside your own which can quickly lead to burnout that can affect both you and your children.
Try these top tips to help you take care of and re-energise yourself:
Continue reading “Childcare is Tough! Stay Energised with These Top Tips!”
The topic of gender stereotyping with regards to children has been gaining a lot of traction in the news and online. You’ve probably already seen at least one article, video or news feature on this topic.
But what is it?
Gender stereotyping is associating certain expectations or ideals depending upon someone’s gender. In relation to children, this could be that typically, girls should like the colour pink and should play with dolls and kitchen sets, whereas boys should like the colour blue and should be more physical in their play, making mess or playing with action figures and video games.
Continue reading “Gender Stereotyping – What Is It and How to Avoid It”
