With holidays soon to be allowed and the summer, not far behind, many nannies might be preparing for a trip with their nanny family.
Whilst a sunny break away from everyday life might sound like a fantastic escape, it’s important to remember that you’ll still be working and that your job might become a bit more difficult when faced with new challenges and unfamiliar surroundings.
We’ve put together our top tips to help you make a success of any trip with your nanny family:
What does a nanny do?
A nanny provides consistent, child-centred care in your home. They work the hours and days you need, and can also provide additional services such as babysitting on a regular or occasional basis.
If you’re nanny to a new-born baby or infant who’s still being breastfed, you can help make things much easier for mum, especially if she’s already started back at work and needs to continue breastfeeding.
To help both mum and baby, follow these simple tips:
Continue reading “How Can Nannies Help Breastfeeding Mothers”
There is pretty much a ‘How to Book’ about everything and for Parents, as well as nannies, this is most certainly true! From how to get a newborn to sleep through the night, to potty-training, to raising a well-rounded child. There is a plethora of information in books and on the internet.But some experts think that spending time playing with your child is the key to the rounded child. They suggest parents adopt a “five-a-day” approach with daily activities to help children reach their full potential.
There is pretty much a ‘How to Book’ about everything and for Parents, as well as nannies, this is most certainly true! From how to get a newborn to sleep through the night, to potty-training, to raising a well-rounded child. There is a plethora of information in books and on the internet.
The “five-a-day concept”
But some experts think that spending time playing with your child is the key to the rounded child. They suggest parents adopt a “five-a-day” approach with daily activities to help children reach their full potential. The five steps are as follows:
• Read to your child for 15 minutes
• Play with your child on the floor for 10 minutes
• Talk with your child for 20 minutes with the television switched off
• Adopt positive attitudes towards your child and praise them frequently
• Give your child a nutritious diet to aid development
How realistic is it?
Most parents will immediately add up the time involved: a whole forty-five minutes. In addition, there is the time it takes each day to provide nutritious meals. Particularly in households where both parents are working, couples will struggle to put aside this amount of time to play with their children after getting home. It is the dilemma facing every working parent: how to devote enough time to their children, while juggling career demands with household chores.
Doing It All Proves Impossible
In 2020 79% of mothers worked full time compared to 10 years previously when only 29 per cent did, a massive increase. And studies undertaken in America found that “supermoms” who try to “do it all”, are at greater risk of depression. Although employment is ultimately beneficial for women’s health, be it part-time or full-time, and mothers do not harm their young children by going out to work, women who try to excel both at work and at home, put themselves under too much pressure.
The Importance of Good Childcare
Is it reasonable then to expect parents to adhere to the five steps outlined above? A child’s parents may not be able to fit in all five activities, but the childcare can be of help. A good nanny will certainly be mindful of spending time playing with children and the importance of creative play in the early years. She should be able to tick the boxes of the playtime activities listed. Not all nannies will be required to provide meals for the children they care for but those that do will probably be instructed by the parents as to what their child is to eat. The fifth criterion, ensuring your child’s meals are health-giving, is therefore the parents’ responsibility. Good childcare then can help parents achieve their child’s “five-a-day”.
A Delicate Balancing Act
Most parents worry at one time or another that they are not doing enough by their children. The reality is, whether you are a parent in the home or working, most of us try our best to provide for our child and to give them as many opportunities for growth as possible. Both the “five-a-day” concept and the “fifteen minutes” approach can help guide us at least. And that goes for child carers too. Parents cannot always do it all, but they can ask that their childcare professional, their nanny for instance, ensures that their child is adequately attended to during the day and that there is plenty of one-to-one interaction. As parents, we cannot always do it all but at least we can try.
Encouraging your child to be more physically active isn’t as hard as it might at first seem. First of all, children are generally full of energy, much more it seems than adults and so all you need to do is guide them into using that energy.
Physical activity is extremely important for children. It helps to build muscles, coordination, and concentration whilst also helping to maintain mental and emotional health.
It’s never too young to begin fostering a love of exercise and activity in children as it can become a habit that helps them to stay healthy and active throughout their entire life.
According to the NHS, young children (under the age of three) need around 3 hours of physical activity each day, with children older needing at least 1 hour per day.
With very young children, simply using things like a baby walker, walking around and playing is good enough, but as children get older, it can feel more challenging, especially as they start to play video games that can lead to long periods of time without movement. That’s why we’ve put together these top tips to help get your children up and active:
How do you keep your children active? Share your tips and advice in the comments!
I’m sure we’re all familiar with those days that just don’t quite go to plan. You know the ones. Maybe the weather’s bad, one of the children is unwell or the television stops working. Any one of these can turn an okay day, into a really bad day where nothing gets done and you just want to collapse at the end of it.
How would you feel then if your partner or significant other came home to what they deemed a messy house and asked you what you’ve been doing all day whilst they’ve been at work?
Continue reading “How to recognise when your nanny’s had a bad day”
A typical aspect of being a nanny involves driving the children you care for to and from activities, appointments, grocery shopping etc.
As a child-carer, your job involves catering to the well-being of the child in your charge. You need to have certain safety measures in place to ensure that everyone makes it from point A to point B safely.
It’s 10 minutes past finishing time and no sign of your employers, no call, no text. It’s 40 minutes past your contracted finish and your employer breezes in saying “Sorry! See you tomorrow.” It’s been 3 hours, you’ve put the children to bed, cancelled your plans for the evening and made a half-hearted attempt at tackling the ironing pile when your phone beeps – “Dinner nearly through, home in an hour or so”. Sound familiar?
Using the highly scientific research method known as ‘asking some people we know’ we found that this problem is shockingly common and there seem to be three main reasons for employer lateness, which require different tactics to resolve.
Continue reading “Persistent lateness and how to deal with it”
Bad weather is going to hit most of the UK this month, and as we all know that can cause disruption to all sorts of arrangements. Planning ahead is key to minimising impact on you and your nanny family. If you’re a parent check out snow plans for parents!
Your nanny’s annual leave can sometimes be difficult to negotiate, especially at Christmas time. When making your own plans for work and time off over the Christmas season, you will need to take your nanny’s plans and needs into account as well.
So, how can you strike a balance between your childcare needs, and your nanny’s need for time off over Christmas? How can you keep your nanny happy without leaving yourself in a tricky situation?
If your nanny is full time, and is given the minimum 4 weeks of paid annual leave each year, a good compromise can be that she chooses when to take two weeks of her holiday, and you choose the other two weeks. This is to prevent situations such as you choosing to go on holiday, leaving her with no work to do and (quite rightly) expecting payment. You will likely both have to compromise a little but this is much fairer than things going in just one party’s favour. Make sure that these arrangements are put in writing and signed by both parties, to ensure that nobody will be surprised or let down later on. Most nannies will have terms in their contracts that cover issues surrounding annual leave, so you both ought to know where you stand from the beginning.
Christmas may seem a whole world away earlier in the year, but it is worth discussing in advance what your plans are for the Christmas period, and what your nanny wants to do. She may have quite specific days that she wishes to be off, or she may be quite happy to be flexible. If she has her own family, it is pretty safe to say that she will want a decent amount of time off over Christmas. Agreeing these things in advance, and then putting them in writing, will hopefully avoid disagreements later down the line. If you know that your nanny would like some time off over Christmas and New Year, you will have plenty of time to organise things at your workplace so that you can be home, or so that you can make alternative arrangements for the care of your children.
Remember, your nanny is your employee. If she doesn’t feel appreciated, she may well look elsewhere for work. You may wish to give her some extra holiday on full pay over Christmas as a thank you for her hard work throughout the year, or a monetary bonus of some kind. Although unsociable hours can sometimes be a part of a nanny’s job description, those hours should always be agreed in advance and not dropped on her suddenly – especially not over Christmas and New Year when she may have her own special arrangements.
Remember, although you are your nanny’s employer, she is a special part of your family. The relationship should be kept warm yet professional. As long as everybody is honest and upfront early about their needs and wishes over the festive season, there should be no reason for any aggravation.
