As nannies, we are given a special opportunity to meet every kid where they are and find strategies and methods to support children that may not be feasible in a classroom setting. This week, I've invited y friend and wonderful teaching artist, David Smith to talk us through some games and strategies to work with children who are on the spectrum. The beauty of all the games discussed here, however, is that they are great games to play with any kid! So even if you're not currently working with a child who has autism, this episode still offers valuable insight for meeting every child where they are and building from there!
s a nanny, we play a role in a family that is as unique and varied as there are numbers of families. One aspect of that is when a family pet (or two or three) is involved! From contract renegotiations to teaching children how to pet animals, there's a lot to handle with family pets! Simone Watkins joins us this week to help sort through the ups and downs of working for a family with a pet!
September is Alopecia Areata Awareness Month. My guest and dear friend, Cady Leinicke, has Alopecia and joins us once again to share her story and tips for helping little ones take back their confidence! If your little one or someone you know has Alopecia, this episode can offer insight and ways to help support them!
The start of school can often be a time of anxiety for many kids. There are so many new aspects and that can be a little scary. This week my wonderful guest, Kait Burch, and I discuss different ways to help children who are feeling anxious about anything from sharks to a new school to not coloring "the right way".
Chronicles of Nannya is now one year old! And to celebrate I've invited my nannies from when I was little on to chat! We reminisce about when I was little and also take a look at what child care in the 90s looked like. I also got to see how their influence has stuck with me in ways I didn't even know! From my love of theater to manners to communicating feelings, I owe so much to these wonderful women who helped raise me! Thanks, Margie and Debbie for everything you did to help raise me and everything you continue to do!
Nap time. It's a vital part of a child's day but can also be a stressful part of a nanny's day when it goes bad. How do you determine when nap time should be? What should you do if your nanny kid falls asleep in the car right before nap time? How can you help younger siblings with their nap time FOMO? Brittany and I cover it all in this episode! Plus, I share my guaranteed method for getting kids to fall asleep. Thanks for listening!
Learning how to entertain ourselves is an important life skill! Teaching children how to play by themselves sets them up for success now and later in life. In this episode, Cady Leinicke and I discuss how to encourage individual play with your nanny kids. Kids learn so many skills from some alone play time and you get a brain break! It's a win win all around!
Did you know that when a child first begins to lie it's actually a developmental milestone? From little fibs to invisible friends to be huge lies, this episode will help you navigate all the different ways we interact with lies as a nanny. Cady Leinicke is my guest and, as always, she brings a wealth of knowledge and book recommendations to this episode! If lying is something you're struggling with in your nanny family, this episode is sure to help!
Summer is starting to wind down and that means our kiddos are getting a little antsy. Lately, my guest, Leah Frires and I have been hearing choruses of "I'm bored" coming from our charges. Teaching kids how to handle being bored is such an important lesson and this episode is full of ways to combat boredom! From making a Boredom Jar to teaching them chores to having them create a play, this episode covers so many boredom busters, you'll never get bored again!
Every nanny has those days where literally everything that could go wrong, seems to go wrong. So I invited my friend and world class sommelier, Dan Kroes, on to pair some drinks with stories from the nanny community of no good, very bad days! This episode is fun, but please enjoy these recommendations responsibly! Enjoy!
ouble your trouble, double your fun! Nannying for twins may be twice the challenged, but it's also twice the love! Annie Lynch is my guest this week and we not only discuss strategies for nannying twins, but we also discuss our favorite movie twins! This is a fun episode that was a blast to record!
For many parents and nannies, mealtime can be one of the most difficult times of the day. Cady Leinicke is back again to talk us through ways to end mealtime power struggles once and for all! From picky eaters to slow eaters to messy eaters, this episode covers it all! Thanks for listening!
Cady Leinicke is BACK and she's here to offer some alternatives to timeouts. Though discipline styles differ from nanny to nanny and even from child to child, these are some strategies to try when timeouts aren't working! Check it out! And thanks for listening!
My guest this week is dear friend and summer activity genius, Carleigh Obrochta! Carleigh spent last summer eating her way around the world with her kiddos! They would pick a different country every week and make food from that country and plan an activity from the area too! What I love about this activity is that you can tailor it to be as involved or low key as you like!
This week's episode is very special because I have the two ladies from the Practically Perfect Podcast on in a crossover extravaganza! We are discussing online nanny websites and problems with the rating system on said websites. It's a hot topic and all three of us see it slightly differently! If you haven't listened to part one of this episode, go download it by searching "Practically Perfect Podcast" wherever you get your podcasts! And thanks for listening!!!
Transitions from parent to nanny and then back again are some of the trickiest times of day! Leah Frires is back to talk us through transition times and how to make beginning and end of day smoother for all parties involved!
Bullying is a complicated and difficult topic. As nannies, we are often the first to see signs of bullying in our nanny kids and, sometimes, the first person a child tells when they are being bullied. My guest this week, Katherine Siegel, is currently directing a play (Gideon's Knot) that really digs into these issues and came on to talk about ways we, as nannies, can help set our nanny kids up to not be bullied and also not become the bully!
Photo Scavenger Hunts are one of my absolute favorite activities to do with my kiddos. They are engaged with the world around them in such a fun and intense way! And we always find new ways to look at common objects in the world. And this is an activity that can grow with kids! If you've never tried one with your nanny kids, I highly recommend it!
This week is all about moving with or for your nanny family! Andrea Murphy is an amazing guest who has moved so many times over the past 8 years! She is also recorded this episode while traveling across the country for a nanny family! Even if you're not moving with or for a nanny family, this episode has some great tips for general moving! Check it out!
This week's episode comes to you by request! A wonderful listener asked us to cover micromanaging parents and boy did Brittany Vogel deliver! Always a wonderful guest, Brittany has some wonderful ideas about how to make it work when it comes to dealing with micromanaging parents and when to walk away! If you have ever felt put under a microscope as a nanny, this episode is for you!
