Each December, our staff likes to take a look back at our past year. We look at all the aspects of our nanny service from practical results as well as more important personal goals.
We invite our families and nannies to stop and consider the progress they’ve made in the past year in these infinitely more important dimensions.
We label our progress:
1. Doing Tremendous!
2. Making strides, but still a ways to go
3. A challenge area
4. Oops! Do I really have to do this?
You’ve had a good year if:
You spent more time evaluating your past year and planning for the direction of your life. We all have room to grow. How was your year?
Your family relationships strengthened.
Did you spend more time of richer quality with your spouse and children?
Did you make more time available to your spouse and less to your hobbies or business?
Did you spend focused time teaching your children values?
Did you eat dinner together as a family more and watch less TV?
Is your love and service to them greater than it was last year?
We can only bring to our career what we already have in our lives and in our homes.
Our outward achievements are only a reflection of our inward success.
If you saw yourself more as servant to your employees, clients, peers, and suppliers, with a goal to make them more successful, if you’ve made the effort to encourage and edify others, then you’ve had a good year.
You are even slightly less acquisitive.
The urge to acquire things is very human, and there’s nothing wrong with having it, but stuff doesn’t truly satisfy. We know that there’s no joy or peace in material things. In fact, the more we get, the more were distracted, and the more work we have to clean it, organize it, insure it and store it. If youve extricated yourself, even a little, from its grasp, if you’ve reduced your debt, even a little, you’ve had a good year.
You are more grateful and content.
What do we have that we deserve? We live better than kings and queens in the past, so how can we not be grateful? Can you say I have more than I deserve or need and really mean it?
You have more peace in your heart.
Its been a rough year economically for many. If our peace depends on the Dow average, it comes and goes.
If you see blessings in all your circumstances, both good and bad, more clearly this year, you’ve had a good year.
You became more proficient in your job.
If you consider that your business or occupation is a gift that you’re to lead with passion and youve been learning and using better ways, you’ve had a good year!
You took better care of your body.
Did your exercise and diet prove you’re developing more self-discipline? Mastering yourself is a key to maturity. If youre in better shape than a year ago, you’ve had a good year.
I hope you have a wonderful 2010,
Beth Weise
Everyone is back in school and the world runs at a more predictable pace with set routines and children in uniforms. Our entire staff is also back at school this semester, at SCC, on-line, as well as MCC, sharpening our computer and communication skills. Much of our weekends are spent laboring over our laptops. We also want to encourage you to send your nanny to school if she hasn’t already. Our valuable Nanny Boot Camp began in June of this year, and we have continued to receive encouraging feedback from nannies as well as families.
It’s also homework time for many of you also in the evenings, and research shows that when parents become involved in their children’s schoolwork, the children do better in school, as well as benefiting their self-esteem. When my children were young, we always used “Grandmas Rule”. It was reputed that Grandma said that there is no dessert until you are finished with your spinach, and hold off on watching TV and other fun activities until homework is completed. A helpful website to help parents motivate children with homework can be found at http://www.kidsource.com/schwab/ten.homework.tips.schwab.html.
When children start school, it can create a quandary for the family’s childcare arrangements. You only need a nanny for the few hours in the morning and when the children are home in the afternoon. With our service, we require that the nanny have a four hour minimum each time she comes, due to her travel time and gas expenses. Obviously, you don’t want to pay for childcare while children are at school. Some families will switch to an after-school nanny who comes in from 2pm to 6pm, and their nanny will move on to a younger set. Some nannies find they are so bonded to the children they don’t wish to leave; however, they can’t afford to only work part time. This may be the time when families consider changing their job description to Nanny/Home Manager. The variety and creativity of this new assignment may appeal to the nanny, and give her an opportunity to expand skills of multitasking and organizing.
A Nanny/Home Manager can do the marketing, keeping the household supplies fully stocked, plan and prepare dinners, pick up birthday gifts provide pet care, complete family laundry, run to the dry cleaners or Post Office, change the oil, manage the family calendar, organize after school activities, research summer camps, make travel arrangements, and provide extra supervision and security if a child has a sick day or early release. This Family Assistant provides additional value by giving you that indispensable time after work so that you are free to spend time with the most significant people in your life, as well as giving you that cherished time to recharge. Some nannies may be interested in providing full housekeeping as well during the time the children are in school, if that is an option you are seeking. Many families find a solution in letting their cleaning service go, and using a Nanny/Housekeeper to meet the total needs of the family.
This plan may not be in the budget for every family, but we at Caring Nannies want to undergird you and your family during these challenging years with all the tools and resources you and your family need. We are just a phone call away. Let us know how we can help!