Practically Perfect Podcast- For Nannies by Nannies!

In this episode, Sue talks about the new book The Agency with the author Monica McGurk. The Agency is Mary Poppins meets James Bond and is YA fiction fun for everyone. We chat about writing books, why use nannies as a subject and some more serious issues that Monica is passionate about. You can learn more about Monica at MonicaMcGurk.com 

It takes good communication, good boundaries and some flexibility to support a new mom and be a great nanny during this transitional time. 

When a new baby is added to a family, many things will change. Sue discusses her situation as a new baby is coming any day now! We will be discussing many of these issues in further episodes. 

The beginning of the year is the perfect time to get a contact in place or renegotiate your contract to include things you may have forgotten! We discuss how to approach this. 

Can you just skip over a bad reference? What can you do if you know a reference is not going to be great? How can an agency help? 

Household Manager. Family Assistant. Nanny Manager. These types of jobs are in high demand, but the titles used can be confusing. What does its meant to say you are a family manager? 

We discuss the hot topic of the season-bonuses! We have a few different ways to look at it- and we disagree a little too!!

We discuss how nannies get upset when parents offer super low rates. 

Do you charge a flat rate for overnights or do you ask hourly? We unpack the details of negotiating an overnight rate. 

What makes a great agency? What should you look for when choosing?? We discuss things to look for and what to watch out for when searching for an agency. 

Everyone makes mistakes, what happens when you do it on the job? Marker on the couch, broken dishes, what can you do? 

Sue and Lora discuss the new normal - working from home parents!! 

A replay!  How do you handle difficult conversations with your employers? As a nanny, you will have to give notice, discuss issues with the children, maybe ask for a raise. We mull over these and a few others and give our ideas on how to tackle them. 

Lora and Sue have been in the nanny world for many years. This week we think about what advice we would give to our younger nanny selves. 

Right now there is a nanny shortage and demand is high for nannies. What does this mean? How can you take advantage of the market? 

After an extended hiatus, Sue and Lora are back and we are talking about COVID conversations you should be having NOW!!! 

Many nannies find it challenging to work with kids who are a little older. So we are chatting about children who are school age and brainstorming ideas about how to deal with a few of those troublesome issues. 

We continue our series talking about difficult behaviors and how we as nannies can handle them. This time we focus in on 3 and 4 year olds. 

We discuss common challenging behaviors with toddlers and how nannies can work with them. 

We kick off our summer series this week on handling difficult behaviors age by age. We discuss here what kinds of behaviors are challenging. 

In this episode we discuss time out/time in and what these terms really mean? 

In this episode - a double sized one- we discuss quitting the job. When is it time and how do you give notice? We will discuss what comes next in a future episode. 

You sometimes hear about nannies who have to deal with employers that "yell at them". We talk about what it might mean, how to process it and deal with being yelled at. 

We discuss the idea that nannies should be able to screen families the same as families can screen nannies? Are the rules the same for both sides? 

We discuss what happens when someone says they don't want to play with your kid. Do we step in? Do we coach thru the situation? How can these situations really be a learning moment? 

Do we need to complete paperwork as nannies? Yes! We discuss keeping a daily journal and other records as well as Sue's new Kickstarter for Our Nanny Diary! 

In our series finale, we finish with a couple more mock interviews. Thanks for your support of this series.     

This two part episode lets us demonstrate a few mock interview situations as well as pick them apart for mistakes, wording and how we can interview for the nanny family we all dream of! 

In this continuation of the series, we tackle talking compensation. Speaking to potential employers about money and benefits can be tricky- so we try to give nannies a few ideas of how to approach this. 

To really be successful with the interview- there is a need for us to really sell yourself. It does not come naturally to many of us so we discuss why it's important and how to get in the right mindset. 

We are back to our interview series of the summer with a discussion on situational questions in interviews. What are they? Why are they important? Nanny employers use them all the time- we should too! 

A new law is waiting to be signed by the Governor of New York that makes it a misdemeanor for a caregiver to provide a misleading reference. We discuss the importance of this for nannies and the future impact we see for this law. 

AN important step in prescreening is the phone interview. We discuss why to have one and what to discuss in this episode. This is part three of our nanny summer series on interviewing. 

Second in our interviewing series, in this episode we discuss what to where and what to bring to that interview. Nanny interviews may follow different rules than office jobs for what to wear. And we talk about what you may want to have in your nanny bag when you show up at the house. 

We kick off our summer series on the nanny interview with a look at knowing what you want and when do you ask for it? We are excited to talk all summer about the finer points of nanny interviews. 

This time we are talking texting! Texting with employers as a form of communication (or using email) means setting boundaries in new ways. How do you deal with messages after work hours? What is best way to discuss this topic? Nannies and their employers have more options than ever to stay in touch- but it can be problematic. 

In this episode we discuss toxic people and relationships. We try to each define what a toxic person is, and how they feel it impacts the nanny community and nanny leaders. We go back and forth on what we can do to deal with these negative relationships and people. 

We discuss the methods we have used as nannies to potty train children. It's not always so easy, especially getting parents and nannies on the same page. We share what has worked for us. 

How do you handle difficult conversations with your employers? As a nanny, you will have to give notice, discuss issues with the children, maybe ask for a raise. We mull over these and a few others and give our ideas on how to tackle them. 

In this episode we discuss the popular TV show This Is Us and how it helps us view parenting and raising children. SPOILER ALERTS_ we discuss up to the February 2018 episodes including the week after the Super Bowl. 

The International Nanny Association just released their 2017 Salary Survey in conjunction with HomeWork Solutions Inc. We discuss what it shows, what it doesn't and some interesting insights. Are you a nanny that participated?? 

Self care is often discussed within nanny circles. But let's take a deeper look at what self care means- beyond bubble baths and shopping trips! 

It's that time again nannies! Year end or holiday bonus- do you get one? Do you expect one? We discuss our opinions on this touchy subject. 

Another year- another time to discuss what nannies might want to give this holiday season! 

We talk about nannies and free range parenting style. What does that term mean? What is the difference between freedom and lack of safety? 

In this episode we discuss the philosophy of Reggio Emilia Schools and how nannies can incorporate those ideas into their own practices. This series hopes to help you identify and focus your own childcare philosophy. *-

In our fifth installment discussing developing your childcare philosophy, we give a brief overview of positive discipline. We discuss how it is different from traditional methods as well as some of the core beliefs. 

In the fourth part of our series- developing your childcare philosophy- we discuss Waldorf education. What are the core tenets and what ideas make this one of the faster growing preschool trends. 

In this installment of our ongoing series, we give a brief glimpse into the RIE methodology developed by Magda Gerber. Please listen to parts one and two before diving in here! 

Nannies need a childcare philosophy! This is the second part of our series on developing yours. We briefly go over the work of Maria Montessori and discuss the parts of the Montessori philosophy that we have adapted into our own work with children. 

Sue and Lora kick off a new series about developing your childcare philosophy. In this episode, we discuss what it is and why is it important. All nannies should have a definable childcare philosophy.