These recession times have been hard on everyone due to the continuous rise in unemployment and the increasing salary cuts. One sector that has been greatly affected by this is the child care industry, specifically nannies and nanny day care jobs as we have previously discussed. Finding child care has, in fact, become easier for parents due to the excessive availability of nannies. Not only can the parents be picky as to who they choose now, they can provide suitable and affordable childcare for their children right from their own homes. There has been a significant shift in childcare from part time day cares to part time nannies due to the current state of the economy.

Part Time Nannies In Excess

Earlier, when the economy was booming, nannies had a particularly strong say on their salaries and benefits. However, within the last year, a lot has changed in the nanny day care business. Parents are finding that they are in control and hold the reigns again which is especially good news for single parent homes. Due to the numerous layoffs, part time nannies are finding it hard to demand what they previously took for granted and are having to settle for much lesser terms thus proving affordable child care to families. While earlier the nannies got to decide which house they would work for, parents are now getting the opportunity to be pickier and choose who they deem fit to care for their child. Nanny agencies now send more than double the number of nannies to choose from to parents. Hiring in these agencies has reduced by 30%-50% within the last one year.

Part Time Nannies: Overqualified & Underpaid

Not only are part time nannies in excess now, most of them are also usually much too overqualified for their jobs. However, they are hopeful to find any job and thus settle for nanny jobs even if they are qualified to achieve much more. Individuals with a Masters degree, years of experience in caring for children, and fluent in English and Spanish are now being looked upon as appropriately qualified for a nanny job. These are extremely high standards compared to last year. Moreover, as parents now don’t have to worry about their nanny being taken away by others if they are not pampered enough, they are now paying them much lesser than they deserve. On average, the pay of a nanny has gone from $700 down to $400 a week. They are also now being required to assist in household cleaning work as well. Even though this seems unfair to the nannies, parents are now rejoicing at finally having found affordable child care for their kids.

With the luxuries of the past life taken away from them and their salaries driven down due to the fallen economy, nanny jobs are now starting to look like affordable child care for parents. With the excess of nannies everywhere, finding child care has become easier now. Parents can now be selective and choose from a variety of overqualified nannies waiting to be employed by somebody. While families everywhere suffer from lower pay and job cuts, affordable nanny day care comes as a blessing to them all.

Reference:

1. Recession shakes up child care for families – CNN

Development through Play – Types of Play

Children engage in different forms of play, and while they don’t understand this categorization, it is important that parents and child care professionals do, so that they can direct the activity and ensure that children are exposed to and can learn from games. Children play either on their own, with other children, or with adults. Games take the form of activities that involve exercise and movement, or activities performed while seated or sprawled out, with limited motion. Games also include use of toys, props, imagination, and children’s tools or play-items like beads or coloring books.

Learning Through Games – Life Skills and Play

The strength, energy and fitness levels of children increase when they play in a healthy manner. Exercising muscles, developing active habits and burning up excess energy that could turn destructive are the more obvious benefits of learning through games. Play time is also a good time to teach children about life skills like good manners, appropriate behavior, obeying rules, sharing and team playing, cooperation, and concepts of winning and losing. Vocabulary, speech, curiosity, problem-solving, cognitive and intellectual understanding are some of the abilities that develop through play that is guided or planned. Behavioral problems such as temper tantrums, fussy eating and refusal to perform tasks like using the toilet appropriately or getting dressed can be solved through patient play.

Learning through Play – Tips on Learning Games

• Role playing and dress-up activities help children develop their imagination, and teach them about different roles in society
• Sorting, building and fitting shapes and blocks help children understand concepts of color, shape, size and relative concepts like inside/outside, bigger/small, above/below
• Singing and reciting rhymes and songs develops vocabulary, speech patterns and introduces new ideas
• Story telling encourages children to pay attention and to ask questions
• Painting, cutting and pasting, drawing or coloring and jigsaw puzzles develop motor skills and coordination, as well as teaching about colors, shapes and new objects

Directing and guiding play activities are an important part of a caregiver’s role. Children can often lose focus, put themselves and others at risk, or just get bored while playing. A caregiver is there to side-step these issues and lead children towards healthy development through games. A good child care professional knows when to let children play on their own, and when to control or monitor a game. A simple “What are you doing?” question during a game can lead to the child having to think through a concept, use vocabulary to explain it, and develop interpersonal interaction skills in replying.

Finding and employing a nanny for your child is an important decision as the person you choose will be in charge for the hours you are away of your child so it is important that they are up to the job. Three of the most important things to look for when choosing a nanny are patience, experience and training and you should interview candidates as thoroughly as possible before choosing one.

You will also have to make the decision of hiring a live in nanny or a day nanny, this of course will depend on the hours that you would need a nanny and the type of work you do.

If you frequently have a change in the hours you work or work odd hours then having a live in nanny could work out better. It is important to have a rough idea of your expectations of a nanny before interviewing, so talk it over with your partner before beginning the interviews.

A live in nanny

This type of nanny will live in your home and have room and board in addition to a salary, live in nannies have more flexibility when it comes to your working hours and can develop a closer relationship with your child for being in the home.

A live in nanny may also help manage the home but this should be discussed beforehand and should be made clear if this is what you would expect.

The downside to having a live in nanny could be a lack of privacy within the home and rules would have to be discussed beforehand concerning this, not only privacy for you and your partner but also privacy for the nanny should be taken into account.

Usually a live in nanny will be given her own transport to use during the week for transporting your child if necessary so this is also an added cost as you are usually expected to provide the transport.

Live out nannies

A live out nanny will provide your child with the same quality of child care but will be expected to have her own transport for taking your child out, though usually you will be expected to contribute towards some of the cost and this is usually included within the salary.

Another consideration is commuting time this will affect the working hours and possibly could alter schedules if for any reason the nanny is held up in traffic.

A live in nanny becomes almost a part of the family to your young child and an important part of growing up for your child is being with people other than family, a live out nanny can be like a breath of fresh air for your child in this aspect.

A live out nanny will not have any problems into adjusting into a new environment, many live in nannies suffer from homesickness in their new position. Live out nannies often have families of their own and so will only work set hours which are usually defined beforehand this could cause a problem if you work unpredictable hours or often have to work overtime and weekends.

There are benefits and pitfalls to both live in and live out nannies and being aware of these and being honest and straightforward during the interview process can save both you and the candidate valuable time.

You should always ask for references when considering hiring a nanny, and be outright and ask any questions you feel appropriate, questions to ask could be:

• How many years experience the nanny has had.
• What age groups has the nanny worked with previously.
• Where was the nanny last employed and did they give her a reference.
• What was the reason for the nanny leaving the position.
• Is the nanny qualified in first aid.
• Would they be willing to be flexible in working hours.
• How would they reprimand your child if it was needed.