NY household employer and journalist is writing to let others know that the labor laws need to be revised for domestic workers... and in a positive way!
by: Gayle Kirshenbaum
4/8/09
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/04/08/2009-04-08_give_nannies_and_housekeepers_the_rights-2.html?page=0
Nannies and Au Pairs Can End Birth Order Stereotypes
by: Best Nanny Newsletter
Birth order does seem to affect personality traits in siblings. But you can end these stereotypes when working with your charges.Parents often have high expectations for firstborns. Firstborns often are eager to please their parents, have high expectations for themselves, are conscientious, and perfectionists. Sometimes they put too much responsibility on themselves and grow up too quickly. Nannies and au pairs can end these stereotypes by trying not to expect too much from the firstborn. Nurture their playful side. Don’t place all of your attention on their external accomplishments. Let them know how much you appreciate them simply for being themselves.The middle child often doesn’t get as much attention from the parents or caregivers as the oldest child did simply because there are two children to care for instead of one. Rather than fade into the background middle children tend to become very social and independent. To end this stereotype nannies and au pairs should make sure not to let the middle child feel overlooked. Make sure to give them extra attention. Play games or have one-on-one chats to give them some of the attention they crave.By the time the youngest child is born the parents are more relaxed with their parenting style. While the youngest child may feel they are living in the shadow of their other siblings they actually get much attention for being the adorable and charming one. With the added attention the youngest siblings are often irresponsible. Au pairs and nannies can do the youngest child a favor by not treating them like “the baby.” Give them age-appropriate tasks and help them set age appropriate goals.End these social stereotypes and help each of your charges develop to their best potential.
All Things Considered, April 15, 2009 -
Doug Schulkind hosts a Friday morning music show on WFMU, a noncommercial radio station in New York City. A self-described music obsessive DJ, he plays every kind of music he can get his hands on. When his wife went into labor, he brought his boom box and a stack of CDs along to the hospital.
When the big moment arrived, he knew what song he had to play.
"I think the music found me," he says. "And the music that was playing when I first remember holding our new daughter wasn't any accident."
She was one day old. Her first music: John Coltrane's A Love Supreme.
"To me, there isn't any other piece of music I know that can come closer to that sense of wide-open heart and grace," Schulkind says. "And it's so humble and loving and transcendent that it seems equal to that incredible moment of holding your child for the first time."
Parents preparing for the birth of a child have a lot to think about, from choosing the right name to figuring out child-care arrangements. For people who are passionate about music, picking the first song their newborn will hear upon exiting the womb is nearly as important.
Crib Counterpoint
Jeremy Eichler had just brought his newborn son home from the hospital when he realized he had a momentous decision to make. Eichler is The Boston Globe's classical-music critic.
"It did actually feel like there was a lot of pressure as I was standing in front of our CD library," he says. "It was fairly paralyzing to think what would be the appropriate music to play for someone's very first-ever taste of music. And I ended up choosing Bach's Art of Fugue, in an arrangement for string quartet.
"I thought, 'Why not begin at the summit?' Bach's Art of Fugue is one of the pinnacles of his art. He's taking a single subject and manipulating it in many different ways. I just thought it would be like honey for the infant mind."
Babies can recognize surprisingly complex rhythms, and are sensitive to the differences between consonant and dissonant music.
"It's tempting to think of all of this as a giant exercise in projection, because of course I chose this music because it's music that I love," Eichler says. "And yet, scientists are now telling us that infant music perception is actually very sophisticated, much more so than what you'd think when you're looking at a cute little blob sitting on your sofa."
So how did Jeremy Eichler's son respond to Bach's majestic musical architecture?
"If memory serves, he was absolutely intrigued for the first few bars, and then pretty quickly closed his eyes. Now, in that moment, I'm sure I was tempted to read that as a kind of wise, meditative state of listening, but in fact, I think most likely he just fell asleep."
A Talented Mom
Jazz singer Rene Marie started singing to her two sons long before they were born. But it wasn't any particular song.
"Because I sing constantly," she says. "And so they'd been hearing me sing the whole time they were in womb. But after they were born, I started writing lullabies and singing them to them."
When they got a bit older, Marie would often wake her boys up in the morning with Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man." But she kept singing to them, too. It was a way she conveyed her love to them.
"And I wanted them to know that music doesn't come from a record," she says. "It comes from somebody singing. And they will quiet down and just stare at you. I love that feeling and having that impact on another human being. I just love that. "
Marie's two sons are in their early 30s now. And she does most of her singing in concert halls and nightclubs. In fact, it was her older son who convinced her to pursue singing as a career — so others could hear her voice, too.
April 19-25th is "Week of the Young Child" and Central Florida Nannies will be doing a Book Drive to support the cause!
Join us.....
Friday, April 17th @ 11am
Borders-- 434/436 in Altamonte (Home Depot/Target Plaza)
Mr. Richard will be performing too!!!
Please bring a NEW book to donate to the needy children in Orlando.
We'll see you there!!
By: Ali Landry (3/15/09)
Check out Goddess' new video program, "Spotlight to Nightlight," where celebrity moms talk parenting. In the first episode, host Ali Landry talks to E!'s Catt Sadler, tackles the issue of childcare, and gets the scoop on how much nannies to the stars really make from Westside Nannies in Los Angeles!
Click here to view the video and the rest of the article: http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/goddess/spotlight-to-nightlight-celebrity-nannies/194
Disturbing Child Dumping Scheme
Posted on: THE BEST NANNY NEWSLETTER (1/10/09)
According to the news report linked to this blog post, when hired to care for a family’s twins a nanny, Roxanna Patricia Villamarin, said she was taking the children to the library but was really dropping them off at a rundown apartment.The article reads, "According to officials, Villamarin had been leaving at least five clients' children at this apartment over a period of five years. ""'She would pick up the children; she would drop them off at an unlicensed daycare center. And she would pursue other goals,' City Attorney Will Rivera says.""These other goals, he says, included working at a farmer's market and at her family's restaurant. At the end of the day, Villamarin allegedly would return to the apartment, pay a woman there $10 a day — about $110 less than she was making — and bring the children home."What’s worse is at the end of the news article the reporter spoke with the nanny, and she does not regret her bad choices. She was quoted as saying, “They treat me bad, I treat them bad. ” She claimed that she left the children because she needed a break.
See news article here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99120521&ft=1&f=1006
What do you think? Are the parents right to be angry with the nanny they hired?
By SCOTT MICHELS
ABC NEWS
April 1, 2009—
A Minnesota man was convicted of murder this week for luring a recent college graduate to her death with a fake ad on the Web site Craigslist.
Michael John Anderson, 20, was convicted Tuesday night on all six counts, including first-degree murder, for shooting and killing Katherine Ann Olson, 24. He is scheduled to be sentenced this morning.
Prosecutors said Anderson simply wanted to kill someone when he posted an ad seeking a baby sitter in October 2007, according to The Associated Press.
When Olson showed up and then tried to leave, he pulled out his father's gun and shot her.
Olson's body was found stuffed into the trunk of her car at a nature preserve, according to the Savage, Minn., police.
Olson had traveled to Savage from her home in Minneapolis after responding to an ad for a nanny she'd seen posted on Craigslist, police said.
Olson's father, the Rev. Rolf Olson, told ABC News in 2007 that his daughter had found other nanny jobs, including one in Turkey, through Craigslist and had had positive experiences.
He described her as a warm, outgoing, "larger than life" person who loved theater. Olson said his daughter had traveled around much of the world, including Egypt and Argentina, where she worked as a juggler for a circus. Her e-mail address meant "crazy redhead" in Spanish, he said.
"She lived a larger-than-life existence for more than 24 years," Olson said. "I'm broken."
Olson wanted to go to Madrid to study in a graduate theater program and was considering the nanny job so she could make extra money for her trip, he said.
"Katherine was, unfortunately, too trusting," her father said. "She had found benefits on Craigslist, but in her trusting nature, she fell into this trap."
When Olson's best friend, Sarah Sevcik, last saw her the night before she disappeared, Olson was considering whether she wanted to work as an interpreter, Sevcik said.
Olson ultimately decided the career wasn't for her.
Interpreters "really have to be silent and just relay information," Sevcik said. "But Katherine was somebody who needed to have a voice."
Looking for ways to increase your personal marketability? Attend a Nanny Conference or Retreat and you will do just that! Nannies from around the country attend events like these every year in order to broaden their potential and to network with others in their profession. Here are just a few events that are going on this year. 
