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The TODAY Show aired a segment on "Preventing Childhood Obesity" today with Dr. Jennifer Trachtenberg; author of "GOOD KIDS - BAD HABITS". Studies indicate that obesity can begin as early as infancy. (As a reference, babies gain about half a pound per week for the first 3 months of life and then they double their birth weight by the time they are 4 months old and triple their birth weight at age 1.)
What is your opinion??
Brought to you by: The Association of Professional Nannies
Picky Eaters, What's a Nanny to do? Find out from ANDREA FLAGG (Co-Founder/Moderator of Nanny Alliance of NY & NJ) on REGARDING NANNIES blog.
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On July 26, 2009, THE BEST NANNY NEWSLETTER posted a article regarding to "Teaching Children Respect". Nanny Molly (our NEW Blog Writer!) has written a brief account of how she thinks respect should be taught by example and how we as Nannies must begin with ourselves.
(Written By: Nanny Molly)
It used to be that children should be seen and not heard. It was considered respectful if children kept quiet and out of the way. Obviously, times have changed and thank goodness! Respect, however, still varies in different households, among different cultures and in different parts of the world. You could say respect is a matter of opinion.
Personally, I feel that children should be taught to treat others as they would like to be treated. I don’t believe in teaching children that adults are more important than them. I’m afraid that is the message that sometimes comes across when we teach children how to speak and act around adults. Kids should be kids, but they should also know boundaries, guidelines, courtesy and kindness. All of these are key components of respect.
As a nanny, teacher, or child care worker, it is important to realize that children are children. They don’t know the ways of the world yet. They only know what they’ve seen and experienced. A 3 year old is not capable of telling you how much it meant to them that you listened to their fears or excitements. But just by listening, you are showing that child respect. The next time you need them to listen to you, ask for the same respect in return. Also keep in mind that a 3 year old has a short attention span. Accepting this and the way a child’s mind works is all part of respecting that child.
I was at work one day, cleaning up the kitchen while the toddlers had some unwinding time with their favorite TV show. There I was cleaning up their kitchen mess when I hear “snack please!!” coming from two raised hands in the living room; faces still staring at the TV. I realized they were only doing what they had been taught. They had learned that if they want a snack all they have to do is ask and I get it for them. But the way it came across was, “Hey, hired help! Serve us!”. I quickly took action and put the TV on pause. I explained to the kids that it was time they start helping themselves and me. We worked together to get their snack and then enjoyed the show after our hard work was done. I wanted to teach them self sufficiency, but also to respect the effort that goes into getting a snack.
As Nannies, we are expected to care for our charges, to get them what they need and show them love. I have never walked into a job where the parents have said, “Please, teach my children manners, kindness, self sufficiency, and respect. Please teach them all the important things they will need in this world when they grow older”. I have never been asked to do this, and yet, as Nannies, we all do this. We have to. We are the ones with these children all day and if we don’t teach them, there will be limited time for anyone else to teach them. I think a lot of nannies fall into the trap of feeling like the babysitter. We begin to doubt our self worth as we clean up the same toys every day, the same spilt milk, the same dirty diapers. But, what we may not realize is that these kids are being molded. They are being molded by us. Lead by example, begin by using manners yourselves and showing the children the respect they deserve. This is our ultimate job. Children learn by example and imitation and if we want them to show respect, we must respect them first!
Have you watched Supernanny and thought "Wow, that's a GREAT idea!"? But then you forget exactly how to enforce it or create it? Well... now you can find those things you liked right on the Supernanny's website! All her techniques from Paci-Fairy to Potty Training are all at your fingertips. Just visit: http://www.supernanny.com/Advice/-/Supernanny-techniques.aspx
Read more...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. 
Two articles have posted this week that are worth taking a look at.
CNN posted an article regarding "Nannies and the Recession". How are you being affected with the way the economy is? Have you lost some hours, days or your job? Let us know your opinion after reading this article.
The second article is from Wall Street Journal regarding Temp-Sitters. Do you work for a agency that provides temp-sitters? Have you worked as a temp-sitter? What do you feel are the pro's and con's to using a temp service for families? Share your input after reading this article.
What Does it Take for Nannies to Be Loyal to a Nanny Placement Agency?
By Ginger Swift, President of ABC Nannies and Domestics, Denver Colorado
Posted by: The Best Nanny Newsletter @ www.bestnannynewsletter.com
When I think of loyalty, I think of friends that hang with you no matter what. Of course, loyalty can be lost if you do something awful to harm the relationship but for the most part, loyal friends stick with you like glue. During this recession, I wondered whether nannies would remain loyal to an agency or if they may find alternative way to find a job.
Last fall, a survey went out to nannies across the country to see how nannies find jobs and if they are loyal to a particular method. Over 80 nannies responded and the comments were very consistent. Sixty-five percent of the nannies surveyed, first call a nanny placement agency when starting to look for a new job. Eighteen percent contact their friends and nanny network first when searching for a job. Eight percent immediately get on Craig’s List and another eight percent contact a nanny web site. Less than one percent of those surveyed answered that they place classified advertisements in the newspaper. Nanny web sites and traditional agencies tied for the second most used method followed by networking with friends, Craig’s List, newspaper, Internet, and networking with Mother’s Clubs and employer’s friends. The most popular online agencies mentioned were 4Nannies.com, sittercity.com, enannysource.com, and care.com.
Although 65% of nanny candidates first contact a nanny placement agency, only 54% of the same people surveyed said it was their favorite way to find a job. Perhaps, some nanny placement agencies have some work to do to make this a higher number.
Here is what one nanny said, "I still prefer working with an agency because there is a hope that the agency actually checks out the family and will match my skills and then help with the contract negotiations but I have been disappointed by a number of agencies over the years."
For the most part, nannies seemed pleased with their agencies. "I feel that agencies usually have higher paying families and families will treat you as a professional," said one nanny and this sentiment was shared by other nannies as well. "All my best positions have been through nanny agencies," answered another nanny.
One nanny replied, "While I like looking through web sites and having access to all the job descriptions, going through an actual agency is my first preference."
Another nanny answered, "The guidance, negotiations, and contract help is why I go through an agency."
Other preferences in finding a nanny job were word of mouth (24%), online agencies (8%), Craig’s List (6%), followed by ads in paper (1%) and none (1%).
Not surprisingly, 100% of all the nannies surveyed said that they tell other nannies where to go to whom to use in finding a nanny job. And while financial incentives are nice, no nannies surveyed would ever refer an agency that they did not feel good about. An in-home childcare provider said, "I just recommend if it’s the right thing to do. Incentives or not."
So what does it take for a nanny to be loyal to an agency? Those surveyed had this to share: "I’ll be loyal if they have been loyal to me," "Genuine personal attention from the agency, "the friendly and helpful staff," "honesty," and "the way they treat me."
Perhaps, this nanny phrased it best, "I’m loyal to an agency that realizes I too am a client." Nannies want to work with nanny agencies that communicate, listen, respect, support, and work hard.
During this recession, it is likely that nanny placement agencies that don’t do this will disappear and those that truly care about helping and finding nannies jobs will be around for the long-term.
Are you loyal to a nanny placement agency? What is your advice to working with a nanny placement agency?
Please share your opinion with us!
Ladies and Gentlemen....
This story really tugs on my heart strings. I had to run out and support the effort of these little girls today. They are trying to raise money for the MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER here in Orlando on behalf of Angela Petrucelly (one of the little girls mother) whom passed away FEBRUARY 14th, 2009 after her severe battle with Breast Cancer.
I really want to encourage all of you to go out and enjoy a glass of lemonade and dig deep into your pockets to help these little ladies raise some money for a cause that is very near and dear to my heart (my mother is a breast cancer survivor!).If you are unable to attend the event and would like to send a donation you may either
contact Dana Loncar at 407.808.3441
or send a check/money order to:
"MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER ORLANDO"
THINK PINK LEMONADE STAND
1810 NEBRASKA STREET
ORLANDO, FL 32803
OR VISIT... http://orlandohealth.com/OrlandoRegional/GetInvolved/Foundation/Events/Events.aspx?Pid=1437&Wid=1
Read on for the story about Angela Petrucelly and the THINK PINK LEMONADE STAND.
