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The Sun is shining!

The Sun is shining!

With spring upon us and the sun shining there is no better time to get the kids outside and play in the sunshine. Of course it is important to remember to Slip on a shirt, Slop on the 30+ sunscreen, Slap on a hat, but once that is done get outside and enjoy playing with the kids.

Whether you are a mum, dad, nana, grandpa or the nanny, children love to play outdoors with you and other children, however coming up with new games to play each time can be difficult. We've listed 10 of our favourite games to play that will be fun for the big and little kids!

Your Nanny Box

Love your job and the fun that goes together with it when playing with the children, see them develop and grow?

Do they have a favourite toy? A favourite book? Naturally it is great to utilise the material provided by the parents. On the other hand bringing your own material is a great opportunity to introduce the children to something outside the box.

Be here, be now, be mindful

With stress management, awareness and mindfulness classes being introduced in many work places we thought it is time to share our passion for a well-balanced mind with you. Moving in a fast paced world can be challenging enough for grownups but just imagine how much more information children have to work through seeing and experiencing so many situations for the first time.

While of course it is necessary for every employee including every Nanny and indeed every person to find a way to deal with stress and increasing pressure for themselves it can also be fun to explore those strategies together with children and for them it is a good skill to learn early on.

But is it really necessary for children to learn tactics to deal with stress?

You are professional – be treated professionally

With the Nanny pilot scheme on the horizon and nannies receiving new attention we thought it is a good time to bring back to mind a fundamental truth in the in-home childcare sector. You are a professional, be treated as one. This means you should be legally employed.

Pinky McKay shows the way at our PD day

Pinky McKay shows the way at our PD day

It was such a pleasure to welcome lactation consultant and author Pinky McKay to our professional development day last month. We had a fantastic attendance on the day and the enthusiasm was running very high as Pinky shared her wisdom with us. 

Dads and perinatal anxiety and depression

Dads and perinatal anxiety and depression

While we’re still trying to get the last crumbs of the Father’s Day breakfast out of the bed, we thought it would be worth reminding our readers of the phenomena of perinatal anxiety and depression (PND) in men. 

Professional Development Day

Our Latest PD day on the 8 th of August was a great success.

Celebrated author and parenting expert Pinky Mckay spoke about tips for settling new babies and working with toddlers. 

Grandparenting and Nannying Today

I will soon become a grandmother for the first time – an exciting prospect.    Like most expectant grandparents I look forward to being able to dote on my grandchild without having to take on the onerous responsibilities and sleeplessness of parenthood.   I did feel well prepared, too – at least until my daughter, the mother-to-be, asked me whether I would attend a ‘preparation for grandparenting’ class with her. 

 

 

 

An uneven playing field, with plenty of risk all around

I know I’ve written about this before, but the imminent report to government of the Productivity Commission inquiry into future options for child care and early childhood learning has had me thinking about the issue again: the problem of the ‘underground’ cash-in-hand in-home child care industry.

No Need To Re -invent the funding wheel

PLACEMENT SOLUTIONS NEWSLETTER – OCTOBER 2014

Reinventing the funding wheel is not the way to improve child care access.

Regular readers of this newsletter will be aware that we have been closely watching the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into Childcare and Early Child Learning. We have also made submissions to the inquiry and appeared before it. The Commission released an draft report earlier this year and will soon release its final report.

Highlights from Nannypalooza

I’ve just returned from the Nannypalooza conference in Cleveland, Ohio with a head full of new ideas and insights. Nannypalooza is an American organisation dedicated to supporting nannies through education and networking, and I was very grateful to be invited to their conference representing an agency. Very few agencies are involved in this conference as it really is all about the nannies.

Working together to change behaviour

An issue Doctor G has seen many modern parents grapple with is resilience. It’s so easy to do things for our kids these days, but that doesn’t mean that we should. Building resilience often means kids not automatically getting things their own way – and unfortunately when in-home child care is involved, it can be the Nanny who bears the brunt of the push-back when this happens.