#nanny notes

So as a treat for Christmas and as a thank you to any nannies still following me after so long away (thanks! ilu!), here's the link to my nanny binder printouts!

It's always nice to be approached on care.com for a job position. What's not so nice is being offered 100 dollars a day, for four days a week, 11 hours a day, with two children, one of which has special needs. Plus, they want to pay me under the table. /sigh

so, I'm a nanny for 3 girls, and they frequently pass down clothes. The oldest, K, has no problem with this, but the middle child, R, has thrown extreme tantrums when she sees A (the youngest) wearing something that was formerly hers. These tantrums range from sniffling and whining to full on violently attempting to take the clothes of her sister, which has resulted in A getting hurt a few times. I've tried everything I can think of to calm her down (or stop this behavior altogether) but nothing really works. I've talked to the parents about it, but they're convince it's "just a phase" and won't really address it. I'm truly just at a loss for what to do. Any ideas? 

jealouscakesniffer

I'm assuming the clothes just get sorted to the girl that they fit during laundry when someone realizes they've been out grown. R might just have a tough time letting things go. Perhaps she needs a chance to say goodbye to the clothes first. Give her the chance to wear them one more time. 

You could try letting R give A the clothes herself. You can help her wrap them up like presents and talk about how she's such a big girl and so nice for giving her clothes to her little sister, because it makes A so happy.

You could also make a game out of it. Have them play "Clothing Shop" and give them play money to buy the clothes whenever it comes time to hand things down. It might be best to collect the clothes first before so it's not just one or two shirts. Wait until there's enough for the game. It also gets the clothes out of sight for a bit so she's maybe not quite attached to them anymore. 

I hope my ideas help.

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting pieces of the essay I wrote on how to handle the negative side of nannying. This is part four. The rest can be found here.

“I Like It!”

Reinforce positive behavior with praise and let your child know you like it! Every time you notice your child doing something good, give them the positive attention they need, so that they don’t look for negative ways to get your attention.

“I like it when you eat all of your peas” can help eliminate your child’s food throwing habit.

“I like it when you put your toys away all by yourself” can teach your child to clean up after themselves.

“I like how you’re playing gently with your friend” can encourage your child to keep their hands to themselves.

“I like your listening ears” when your child does what you ask them to do can keep them wanting to listen.

My boss just asked me today how I would feel about going on vacation with them, obviously I was thrilled with this idea. But as we started talking about it, we both we're very unprepared for how the pay would go. All three of us have no idea what to do. So I was wondering what you would recommend? They only have a baby girl. Any help, advise, or stories would be great! 

- indiividuate

I would consider talking about overtime, since you'll probably be on the clock longer than normal. Other than that, I don't know what to suggest since I have never been on vacation with a family. I'm totally jealous. Where's the vacation? 

My employers went on a month long trip to India in January, and since it wasn't technically my vacation, I got half my paycheck while they were gone. 

I'm just sitting here laughing as AJ is getting pissed off at the gummy bear stuck to her hand. I told her if she finished her snack we can go to the park, so she shoved all the gummy bears in her mouth, gagged and spit them back out. Now every time she touches one, it sticks to her and she whines to me that it's stuck.