Meet Janine: A nanny and babysitter in Sydney, NSW

Nanny with 18+ years experience passionate about working with the development and education of children. I have extensive experience with newborns, toddlers, children's up to age 10, multiples, nanny share, and disabilities. 
Happy to keep log book for infant feeding, sleep, play, nappy change, and so on.

Common questions parents ask their nannies during interviews:

1.) What inspired you to choose to work with young children?

I was 18 and working in hospitality and not enjoying it. I watched an episode of Kids Say the Darnedest Things and said “every day working with kids would be one hilarious day after the next” The next week I landed a job at a daycare center working with the 3 year olds and I was right, everyday those kids would make me laugh out loud. But what has kept me in childcare is feeling that my job is directly nurturing the future of this world.

2.) What are you the most passionate about with your work?

Education and physical development. I have a very good eye on how the physical body is developing and I’m very passionate about preventing physical problems by aiding the body to be used correctly when learning crawling, walking, etcetera. Education through play, where it does not feel like learning, is very important to me. A child feeling smart is the first step in them being smart.

3.) Which activities do you feel are important in a child's development during the early learning years?

Interaction and repetition. Any games or activities interacting with others is key. Reading, singing, play time that incorporates multiple senses and movement like, paint, play-duh, sand and so on. For the under 1 year old, lots and lots of touch, singing, and exploring the outdoors.

4. Describe the most stressful situation you have been in when caring for children? Conflict with parents is always the most stressful part of childcare. Parents using positive reinforcement on negative behaviors ie: I make dinner for the children/ child, explaining this is what is for dinner, its ok if you don’t want it but that’s all there is for now. And then a parent coming in and giving the child a cookie. Telling a child he or she can do the next activity after they help tidy up but the parent comes in a gives them a new toy while there are 3 puzzles thrown across the floor.

Explain the strategies you used to manage the issue.

Communicating with the parent, explaining the situation with them and asking for their help to be able to do my job well.

If you like my answers and you’d like to chat feel free to give me a call

I look forward to talking to you about how I can best care for the needs of your family! Please provide email address and I will send you through my cv with a more detailed outline of my experiences.