Save Time Taking Inventory: Making a Grocery List

It is typically a nanny’s responsibility to help keep an ongoing inventory list of all the food and hygiene items her employer’s family needs. The trick is to save time by having the list in the order you normally shop in at your favorite store. Bring a pen and a notepad with you to the […]

Treat Your Boss’s Home Better Than Your Own

Respecting Professional Boundaries for Nannies and Parents Plenty of live-out nannies leave for their jobs each morning without making their beds or washing all the dirty dishes in their kitchen sinks. But, at work, they have higher standards and nannies make beds and clean up dishes at work. While nannies might not make their own […]

What to Do with Kids for Flag Day

What Are You Doing for Flag Day? Flag Day recognizes the June day in 1777 when the “Stars and Stripes” was adopted as the official flag of the United States. To this day, 13 stripes still commemorate the original colonies. Instead of thirteen stars, today the number of stars on the US flag has grown […]

Respecting a Nanny’s Time-Off

Respecting Professional Boundaries for Nannies and Parents When caregivers live under the same roof as the family that employs them children and parents often unintentionally forget to respect their nanny’s time-off. It is common for children to want to play with their caregiver on the weekends. Parents often rationalize since their employee is home anyway […]

What is the Hardest Topic to Discuss with Kids?

When I first became a nanny I thought the most difficult question a child could ask me was “Where do babies come from?” But, after working as a nanny for 20-years I realize that telling the kids about the birds and the bees is one of the easier topics to discuss with the children left […]

Monthly To-Do List

Monitoring Kids in the Month of June Here in America, some kids are off from school for the summer already. Summer is a great time to have fun with the kids on a more relaxed schedule. But, nannies still need to work hard and monitor the activities of the kids in their care. Here are […]

Do Caregivers That are Parents Make Better Nannies?

The Controversy: Who Makes a Better Nanny? A parent contacted me this week asking for advice about making a hiring decision between two qualified nanny candidates. It’s a controversial problem that has plagued some of my nanny friends in their attempts to find nanny jobs in the past. The parent looking to hire a nanny […]

Can Babies Overeat?

Study Shows How Babies Learn to Overeat I was always taught that infants cannot overeat or be too fat. But, researchers at  Brigham Young University found that a strong predictor of later weight problems are kids who are clinically obese at age two. The habits the obese two-year-olds shared included being put to bed with […]

Have the Parents Signed an Authorization to Treat a Minor Consent Form?

Being Prepared for an Emergency Make sure the parents you work for have signed an Authorization to Treat a Minor Consent Form which provides you written permission allowing the you to seek treatment, to authorize treatment, and to discuss treatment with health care providers. You will need a signature from a notary public to make […]

How Often Do You Clean Baby Toys?

How to Wash and Sanitize Toys Babies put everything in their mouths, including their toys. That’s why nannies and au pairs ought to quickly clean toys that the kids put in their mouths each day with a baby wipe or dish soap and water and caregivers need to sanitize all the children’s toys weekly. Don’t […]