Having Fun with the School’s Summer Reading List

Summer Reading Reading to your charges is important. It gives you time to bond. It tells the children that reading is important. It lets you share your knowledge and ideas with children. Reading calms children down when transitioning to nap time or bedtime. If you care for children attending school this Autumn we hope you […]

Your Backyard Herb Garden by Miranda Smith

Weekly Trip to the Library This week we discussed the dangers of pesticides and the need to use bug spray and how to use insect repellent safely. Here is another option. You can make insect repellent out of herbs. Herbal insect repellents work. They can help keep flies away from the dinner table, fleas off […]

The Feingold Diet

Weekly Trip to the Library On Thursday and Friday we discussed the “Smart Guide To Food Dyes: Buying foods that can help learning” by David Wallinga, M.D., Director of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Food and Health Program with things you can do to reduce the exposure to food dyes. To help reduce […]

Children’s Books About Water Safety

Weekly Trip to the Library On Thursday we linked to the NY Daily News report of a nanny and a child in her care had drowned in a residential pool. Click here to see that story. With this tragedy on our minds it’s only fitting to recommend two children’s books about water safety for this […]

Weekly Trip to the Library for Au Pairs and Nannies

Review of The Sleepeasy Solution For many weeks we have been reviewing infant sleep training books. Just type the word “sleep” to search our blog for previous reviews by Dr. Harvey Karp, Dr. Richard Ferber, Elizabeth Pantley, William Sears, Gary Ezzo, Gina Ford, and Kim West. The next book in the series is The Sleepeasy […]

The Contented Little Baby Book by Gina Ford

Weekly Trip to the Library I work as a nanny and the parents I currently work for are using The New Contented Little Baby Book by Gina Ford to develop routines and a sleep schedule with their infant. I am a Dr. Karp The Happiest Baby on the Block enthusiast. I love his gentle methods of […]

The Sleep Lady Shuffle

Review of the Good Night, Sleep Tight Book and Workbook In April we began reviewing books that discuss infant sleep methods. There are firm methods like Ferberizing (and Gina Ford disussed in the April 2010 issue of Be the Best Nanny Newsletter) and gentle methods like Attachment Parenting with a whole lot of methods in […]

Review of The Babywise Method

Weekly Trip to the Library The Babywise Method On Becoming Baby Side: The Classic Sleep Reference By Gary Ezzo This book has become very controversial with a concern among pediatricians that this method outlines an infant feeding program that has been associated with failure to thrive (FTT), poor weight gain, dehydration, breast milk supply failure, […]

Robert’s Rules of Order

Weekly Trip to the LibraryBy Henry Martyn Robert & William J. Evans Since we have been discussing nanny support groups this week it only fitting to recommend that nannies reference Robert’s Rules of Order when planning nanny support group meetings. This is a concise and user-friendly guide to the essentials for conducting a meeting by […]

Prince Charming Isn’t Coming

Weekly Trip to the Library Barbara Stanny is a money expert that has appeared on numerous national and regional television and radio programs to spread her message of financial empowerment for women. As the daughter of the R in H & R Block, she grew up relying on her father, then her husband, to manage […]