Yesterday while walking in the neighborhood where I nanny, I heard someone call out my name from the park I was passing by. It ended up being a nanny friend of mine who was off for the day but was hanging out with a nanny friend of hers who was at the park with her 2 charges. It got the 3 of us talking about our jobs and what we liked, etc.I have realized through my past jobs and my current position that it makes a BIG difference when there is freedom in the position to take the kids out of the house and participate in various activities throughout the day/week. I nanny an infant currently, but we meet up for ‘play dates’ with other babies several times a week—mostly for myself in order to get out of the house! I LOVE planning activities and outings for older children---especially in a city with SO much to do and see.
With summer soon approaching, I would love to hear about some of the creative ideas for outings other nannies have come up with (along with the ages of the kids)!
I would also be interested to hear from anyone who has had positions when they couldn't leave the house with their charges and how they dealt with this and/or still made for enjoyable experiences for the children.
11 comments:
I schedule a lot of 'field trips' throughout the entire summer
Luckily we are in the suburbs of a big city with tons of museums plus a zoo so we make sure to do all of that every summer, plus nasa, plus to a farm to pick strawberries, and an indoor bounce house, and an indoor play place and of course there are a TON of water parks. We always have busy summers. Mom has a membership to the children's museum as well as the zoo so we do those more than the others simply because going to the other museums can be 75 bucks for us to go!
It gets pretty hot here so we usually do the outdoor activities in the beginning of the summer and save the indoor activities for the end when its well over 100 degrees outside.
Now if I could only convince mom boss to let us go to the beach and the other activities they have there we would be all set but for some reason she's terrified of water and wont even let us go to the island to the museums
I don't leave the house BUT I have 3 children under 3yrs old to care for and we are quite far from 'civilisation; so it would take to least half an hour to drive anywhere. MB is going on maternity leave soon and they are moving into the suburbs which is near to a lovely park. She has already encouraged me to find activities in the area (preferably walking distance). I won't be able to fit 4 baby seats in my car so I doubt we'll be driving anywhere. I don't mind too much. 3 little ones are a handful and we get up to all sorts at home. I do get a bit cabin feverish every few weeks but it passes! I'm also hoping to meet a couple of other nannies to arrange play-dates.
My charges (ages 2 and almost 1) and I don't leave the house a ton, but we go out for 30 minutes a day 3 days a week - Gymboree on Tues, storytime on Wed, and usually the park on Friday.
It gets very hot in Texas in the summer of course, so a lot of the parks here have sprinkler play areas for the kids in the summer and wading pools. MB is also talking about putting the toddler in a swim class since I'm comfortable in the water and have lifeguard training.
I work part-time with one 11 month old girl. I actually turned down a full-time summer position because of the fact that I'm stuck in the house almost all of the time. I can deal with it on a part-time basis but I would go crazy if I was inside all summer long.
MB and DB have their own business downtown and they live within walking distance of their office, as well as a great park and lots of little shops, and actually, I could potentially walk to the aquarium/children's museum if I was feeling ambitious.
However, they are pretty paranoid and don't like us going anywhere. MB has offered to, and actually has, dropped us off at the aquarium before, which has been alright (But I must admit, when the baby sleeps I sit down to read. There's only so many times I can see the same fish before it gets really old). But between fears of people abducting us, and it being "too hot" (it probably hasn't gone above 85, and there's loads of shade), I haven't really been allowed to take her outside much.
If I had my way, we would spend all day walking around outside. Inside, I make do with lots of games and music and playing, but it's definitely not a situation I would want to be in all summer!
My charges are 1,2, and 4. I tend to go stir crazy if we are cooped up in the house for too long. We like to meet up with friends at parks, museums, the zoo, or the indoor bounce place. Every once in a while we take a daytrip, visit their dad at work, or go out to lunch. I love that their parents trust me to take them just about anywhere.
I work with preemies and they're usually pretty fragile for the first nine months to a year, especially if it's during RSV season, so we don't do many outside activitie other than walks. But when they're older, I love Gymboree and storytimes at the library and Barnes and Noble, as well as the playground and walks.
I'm a former preschool teacher, so while we're at home I do circletime with them and activities that help develop their fine motor, gross motor and language skills.
I've worked for a family who was so cool as to leave the keys to the minivan, a credit card for activities/lunches, and a blessing to go out and have fun- with two infants! - and a family who was so strict and ridiculous that getting out to walk the baby in a stroller around the block was a stretch. (The latter family also had a work from home parent. Fun times...) The children from family # 1 went to parks, laid on blankets in the grass, "people watched", went on baby swings, occasionally went to the mall- they got tons of stimulation, social interaction, fresh air! The child from family # 2 basically sat home all day. I was much, much happier with family 1, and so were the children. I simply don't get it. If you can't trust someone to be responsible with your children out in public, how can you trust them, at all?
It always amazes me that some parents do not allow a nanny to take out the children on daily outings. It is better for the nanny and the children to get out of the house and participate in fun and educational activities. I think many parents do not like the idea of a nanny driving their children around because they are afraid the children will die in some horrific accident. Well, once the child enters school, he or she will be riding school buses for field trips. Also, when they have friends they play with, they also will participate in carpools and such.
I NEVER accept a job where I cannot get out of the house. I enjoy taking the children to the library, park/playground, zoo and aquarium, etc. If I have to sit around the house all day w/no T.V. access, I would go crazy.
Oh, I also took one of my charges to puppet shows (which he LOVED!), The Aquarium, Discovery Museum, to see Barney, Storybook Land. We had so much fun!
He's 8 yrs, old now and I'm no longer his nanny, but I see him regularly. I plan to take him to his first (and probably only) drive-in movie this summer.
In my last job I wasn't allowed out. New parents to an infant (10 mo when I met him 13 when I left) and didn't trust me - for no reason.
We played a lot of games. He had baby legos (huge legos) and he loved them. I gave him some free time and texted a lot. Listened to music. I can't interact solely with a child in their bedroom for 8 hrs a day. We danced, walked (assisted) and sometimes I left the door unlocked and walked him the close to 1 mile to the park on my hip because the day was so nice and I couldn't stand being in. But half the time I was a crappy nanny bc I resented not being trusted and not being allowed out so I texted a lot.
Now I can leave and we go to parks daily. I google them or just walk around and happen on them. We jog and walk on trails. Go to the library for story time. If you have an iPod or iPad or iPhone use Goby its an app that shows Events and it has a children/family section that shows museums (for children) story times, parks, etc. It's great!
My kids are 1.
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