On nannies

This school year I am blessed to have all SIX children at the same NK-8 School. The same drop off and basically the same pickup (though the staggering dismissal times
put me infront of their school for about 60 minutes, and what a great chance to see
EVERYONE)

Can I take care of my children all by myself and hire assistance in everything else;

Everything else.....
*Taking care of the house, laundry, groceries and pets
*Taking care of the paperwork, repairs, appointments,reservations


Well it was working, until the cirriculum nights, pot luck dinners and NK--
First Grade--Fourth Grade--Fifth Grade--Seventh Grade and Eight Grade parent nights started to fill the evening calender. The exmissions visits for High School, I needed another body at home !

So I placed an ad on Craigs List in the Education Section of the Classified and advertised a nice hourly salary for a teacher who wanted to earn extra money working from
4:00-8:30pm.

I got a few fabulous candidates, medical school students, teachers. Then I narrowed
the list down to the people with the easiest commute. For someone who lives 3 blocks from me will fret less when I return home a half an hour later than expected.
I did a few trials.

I remember one trial, my child was in the playroom marching around with a whistle in his mouth and the "nanny" was telling him "No blowing a whistle inside?" then presented me with the whistle as it a trophy she took to show me that she was in control.

Later I explained to her, that my children live in a world where everywhere they go, people are telling them what they can not do. So many adults need to have control over them,** cant we create a safe space for them here at home, in their playroom and release some control to them ?**

Here is this house I want a safe space for things like blowing a whisle. No one was being bothered (it wasnt the dining room table) it was the playroom and why not grab a drum and march on behind him !


In raising one child, two children or six children, EVERYONE NEEDS a different amount of help, but make sure you are hiring people who can be your partners in raising your children and value what you value,

truly be an extention of who you are and what you want to teach......