Blog

Summer is here

It’s hard not to love summer and coming home after work to plenty more daylight. We can really enjoy spending time with our children outside at the end of the day.

Of course the other side of summer is that we must be mindful of the sun and its harsh UV rays.

How is a Household Manager different to a Housekeeper or a cleaner??

Have you only ever heard of Cleaners and Housekeepers and wondering what differentiates a House Manager to these services?

Meet Tonya Sakowicz of Newborn Care Solutions

For today’s new parent, there is an overwhelming volume of advice on offer, much of which changes almost week to week. Sadly this often creates confusion and even anxiety, making new parenthood much harder than it should be. For this reason alone I was very inspired by Tonya Sakowicz when I first met her, and I was keen to introduce her newborn care program to our Nurture Training College at the earliest opportunity.

Christmas is coming – could you use some help with childcare?

We all know how crazy the lead up to Christmas can be.  There are lists and preparations to make, shopping to do, oh and don’t forget the children! There are all the extra tasks to do and the children still need all the usual care and attention we normally supply – no reprieve there!

Have you ever considered some extra help?  What if you could leave the kids with an expert child carer while you got on with all the extras?

AHCA Conference & AGM

The Australian Home Care Association’s (AHCA) annual conference and AGM, with educators, and representatives from in-home child care services travelling from around Australia to attend, was held in Melbourne on Friday the 2nd of September. The attendees had the opportunity of listening to keynote speakers from a range of areas related to the in-home child care sector. 

Nannypalooza Oz - a great success!

It was a huge amount of work for the whole Placement Solutions team, but with the inaugural Nannypalooza Oz now behind us, we’re taking a deep breath and reflecting on what we believe was a great success. It was truly an honour to be the major sponsor of the conference, enabling the spirit of Nannypalooza to come to Australia for the first time.

Get organised: hire a Household Manager

One of our most misunderstood services, often forgotten in the focus on in-home child care, is the provision of Household Managers.

The benefit of referrals – Word of Mouth

The recruitment process can be lengthy and time consuming.  In the Childcare Industry, which unfortunately still partly operates under a “cash economy”, it is easy to see why nannies don’t always see themselves as professionals and why the whole process of recruitment can seem quite daunting.

Some nannies don’t fully utilise modern recruitment platforms such as Seek or Indeed when looking for new roles and this works to their disadvantage by precluding them from many worthwhile opportunities.

Household Managers – What are they and why do I need one?

Here at Placement Solutions we regularly receive questions from new clients asking exactly what duties their Household Manager is able to do There is often a confusion between cleaners and housekeepers so we thought we would explain using the DEMA definitions.  DEMA is the acronym for the Domestic Estate Managers Association of which we are a proud member.

How much cleaning can a Nanny do?

A recent post here about our household management service touched on the difference between a Nanny and a cleaner. More specifically, it made the point that a Nanny is not a cleaner and should not be expected to do general household cleaning or other household chores. The only exception are tasks that are associated with child care.

The way we are … what memories are made of

Recently I’ve been helping my friend archive her old family photos for safekeeping and it got me thinking about memories.   Memories are so precious to most of us – I think you’d agree.  Especially precious are memories and photos of loved ones lost, old friends, family, good times, travel destinations and of course the reminders we keep around the home - all the “stuff” that is meaningful to us.  Apart from evoking (hopefully) pleasant memories, these pictures and tid bits also represent a good part of our history.  They tell a story about who we are, who is (or was) important in our lives, our likes and dislikes and a plethora of other information.  Sometimes, they are a talking point at dinner parties and the mere mention of a souvenir or photograph triggers a storytelling exchange between friends.

Tips on keeping happy and healthy this Winter!

With winter fast approaching we are finding ourselves slowly losing daylight, sunshine and the lovely warm days! We will soon be cooped up inside with heaters on, rugged up, hot chocolates and going stir crazy! Now is the time to start planning ahead to ensure that you have plenty of ideas to keep the children happy and ensure that they are not consistently asking for things to do! Along with the activities we need to also remember that hygiene at this time of the year is a key thing as we find, parents, nannies and children picking up all kind of flu’s and bugs that can be contagious.