‘Illiterate’ Nanny Ranting About Literacy/Spelling

A popular half hour show on TV has bugged me a great deal last week. The issue of poor spelling among young Aussies was brought up again and of course TEACHERS were to be blamed again. What infuriated me most was that the show has used the same case study of a father and son time and time again.

In the short segment about the father and son, the show highlighted the father’s frustration when he found out that the child’s teacher had not corrected his spelling mistakes in what looked like to me, an exercise book for creative writing. I really can’t stand parents who seem to think that they know it all because they have managed to produce little human beings. So instead of finding out why the mistakes were not corrected and read up on today’s literacy education, he jumped to complain to the media first.

Anyone who has seen a child develop from being a newborn to an active toddler would have realised that a baby that has just learned to sit up unaided is not going to step up in the next minute to hop to the toilet. There are other skills in between for the child to master first. There are different stages too in Language Development. In speech development, interested people are often at awe at how a toddler masters his mother tongue without signing up to a formal language course. In reading and writing however, the child must be shown keys so as to gradually apply them to unlock the mysteries of reading and writing. This can be a speedy process for some children and a slower process for others. Do not be fooled into believing that a preppy will learn all he needs to be a reader/author in the first year of school.

When a child enters the first year of school, he brings with him an extensive and well developed vocabulary. At school, his teacher will offer him the keys (like learning the alphabet and their sounds) to learn to read and write in a well-designed language rich classroom. It is in such a secure environment, (hopefully) free from unnecessary interventions and judgements, that a child experiments for himself, trying out the keys (he has learned so far) to write for the very first time and then to read simple text. This is when inventive spelling starts to appear in the child’s work. For example, the child may write ‘cum’ for the word ‘come’ or ‘egs’ for the word ‘eggs’. This is the stage when the child is trying to write phonetically. Read the misspelt words and you will find that they are pronounced the same as the original words. This shows that the child is intelligent and resourceful in trying to apply some of the sounds he has learnt into his own writing. Parents should be happy to see that their child is inquisitive enough to want to experiment in different ways. Gradually over years (shorter, in some instances), the child will master the entire set of 44 (or 45, depending on where in the world you are) sounds of English and then begin to learn alternate spellings for sounds they have learnt earlier. (English is a non-phonetic language. There is a combination of skills to learn to be able to read and write properly.) This is when the child will start to show accurate spellings. Instead of writing ‘plai’, he may now be able to write it properly – ‘play’. Continued exposure to book language through read-alouds and shared-reading enhances spelling accuracies as well.

Most teachers are discouraged from correcting the young author’s spelling mistakes. This is partly because teachers do not wish to discourage the child’s new found interest in writing. By being a picky parent, judging the child’s every mistake, he runs the risk of putting the child off writing. Visualize a child too worried of failing to even want to try. I believe that Cathy Freeman as a 6 year old didn’t run as fast as she did at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Everyone should be patient and allow each child the time to blossom naturally.

The little boy featured in the TV show was 6. His state of origin was not mentioned. He could have been a preppy or in Grade 1. From the footage no one can be sure if his teacher never records his mistakes into her own folder. Respectful teachers do not mark out a child’s beautiful piece of writing. (Which La La Land is this nanny from?) That’s like tagging a beautiful public structure. Dedicated teachers are likely to record the child’s mistakes in a separate folder. From there, the teacher may invite the child for an individual or small group (with children sharing the similar mistakes) discussion. If not, the teacher may create a mini lesson to be presented to the whole class. No shaming is necessary and the child/children who made the mistake/s are never mentioned. The teacher may include examples she created herself. No one can be sure if the boy’s teacher ever carried out what I mentioned above. (Why would the show’s producer want to give her a chance to speak up? She is only a teacher.) Facing a dad who was on a mission of picking errors from the child’s work, the boy is likely to just back down and accept what is dished out. As a nanny, I have seen children who are so tired at the end of the day, they just agree with what is ‘thrown’ at them from their parents. This is quite a funny sight because children are known to be troublemakers and not the parents.

I love this blog. I get to speak my mind even though I am just a nanny. Readers may not agree with what I have to say but I get to say it anyway. If you totally disagree with this nanny, please drop me a comment.

Travel Dreams

As expected, Ettie took Bree and I out for most of the day on Tuesday. She bought us brunch and afternoon tea. Ettie actually wanted to drive but Bree's dad was using the spare car because his was taken to the workshop for servicing. So, we ended up using the taxi to go shopping. Also as expected, Ettie bought heaps of things for Bree. She bought three outfits, a couple of picture books and toys (including a T-Rex).

While I was sipping an ice cold lemon tea, Ettie asked me of my plans for my annual holidays at the end of the year. I told her that I really wish to travel. I told her about my plans to go to Japan but it won't be happening during this coming holidays. I am intending to have a good time in Japan and will have to budget carefully when travelling around this beautiful country. Ettie remembered me telling her that I went to Euro Disney years ago and she asked if Tokyo Disney will be on my list of places to visit. Of course Tokyo Disney will be on my list. I have heard so many great comments about this theme park. Some said that the Japanese one is the best of all of them. Despite believing in a need to avoid licensed characters, I also believe in the practice of moderation. LOL.

I have been returning to the Hotel Reservations.com website regularly to see the kind of accomodation and packages on offer for Tokyo. I am planning to have a short stay near the city so I can explore Tokyo on my own. I would like to stroll in the Imperial Gardens, take photos of the Imperial Palace, to window shop at Shibuya, to experience the serenity of the Meiji Shrine and to travel on a bullet train (Shinkansen?). In my desperation to travel to Japan, I have also started to take up Japanese casually. My friends in Japan can't wait to show me some aspects of Japanese life. They like it there so much that none of them are planning to come back to Australia anytime soon.

Hotel Reservations.com is a handy website to shop around for hotels, motels, holiday packages, bed & breakfast options, car rentals and airline tickets. They also offer vacation rentals to people (especially families) with a bigger budget. A vacation rental is not just a basic hotel room. It is usually a larger self-contained suite that includes handy cooking facilities like a kitchenette, fridge and microwave. This website is very easy to use. Visitors can search for examples according to their individual needs. They do not list only the high end options but affordable options to cater to those of us who are planning to travel on a tighter budget as well. While they also offer more destinations within the USA, their coverage for the rest of the world is pretty extensive. Everytime I check out the super affordable accomodation options on offer in other parts of East and South East Asia, I become so tempted to ditch my plans to visit Japan. Some of the 3 Star hotels in Thailand have rooms starting at less than US$50 per night! Some friends who visited Thailand also had heaps of great things to say about Thailand, including one who went when the Tsunami hit at the end of 2004.

Travellers should really visit HotelReservations.com to see what is available out there. Travellers booking their reservations online are given Special Internet Rates. For greater reassurance, phone bookings are also available. People from the US, Canada and Europe can book by calling toll free numbers outlined on the website.

As it turn out, Ettie told me something I didn't know about the family. Ettie and her husband (Bree's grand dad) lived in Japan for a couple of years in the 70's. The couple moved there to work. Bree's dad was sent to a boarding school because he didn't want to leave his mates. He used to visit his parents during school holidays. No wonder there are bits and pieces of Japan around the house. There is a wooden bucket in the home office where Bree's dad 'hides' his pens. These are souvenir pens he receives as giveaways from functions and events. I just learned that the bucket is actually a traditional Japanese rice storage container. People in Japan probably do not use such buckets anymore. In the land of gadgets, they might have already created a digital rice storage container with smart technology.





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Begging For A Pixar Show Bag at ACMI

I had Thursday off thus creating an extra long weekend for myself because I am getting Monday off as well, because grandma Ettie is here to visit Bree. Stella had an appointment at the dentist and was also invited to celebrate her friend’s birthday party. It was kind of weird to have the party on a weekday afternoon and Stella’s mum wasn’t looking forward to it because it was based on the Disney Princess theme.

After reading for 6 hours, I decided to take a break by going out for a walk. I was meant to just go down to the Ferris wheel by the Yarra to take a few pictures and ended up paying $15.00 to check out this popular exhibition at ACMI called “Pixar: 20 Years of Animation”.

I enjoyed the exhibition more than expected. It was interesting to see how much effort the artists put in to create the movies or short features that we enjoy at the cinemas. They actually made 3D models, to show everyone involved in the production the size of each character in relation to the rest of the characters. The whole process seemed pretty time consuming. I used to think that they used only computers to create this form of animation but it turned out that they still use traditional techniques in the process. I was of course delighted to see the magical Toy Story Zoetrope. Although I knew what it was, I refused to believe that I was still looking at the same figurines for a little while. I kept telling myself that when they started to spin real fast, someone must have removed the figurines discretely and replaced them with a screen to show the same characters doing their stuff. LOL. The Zoetrope is not suitable for people with certain medical conditions because they use Strobe lights, but I actually found the Artscape experience dizzying for some reason.

To me, the service was pretty good at first. The lady who sold me my ticket was friendly. The guy who checked in my backpack was friendly. The lady who checked my ticket was also friendly. At the entrance of the exhibition, I was welcomed by another lady, who gave me the leaflet as pictured here. She too was friendly. The attendants at the Zoetrope and the Artscape were friendly and cheerful. I almost gave the whole experience a thumbs-up until I witnessed what I would consider as pretty ugly on the way out. What I think is ugly may not have been necessarily ugly to other people, especially among those who are totally desensitized in the rat race of life.

I was on my way out. Immediately in front of me was a casually dressed young couple in their late 20’s. In front of them were 4 tall men (3 in power suits), chatting to the two attendants there while blocking the rest of us from exiting. After they stepped onto the escalators, the couple in front of me moved forward. They asked for a show bag. The attendant asked them bluntly if they had any children. Her body language was clear that they were not entitled to the show bag. The couple did answer yes to the question but the attendant only reluctantly gave them one after a long pause. There was another attendant but he didn’t speak the whole time. I didn’t bother to ask for one. As much as I enjoy the movies made by Pixar, I can live without too many products linked to licensed characters. Super sensitive me didn’t like the way the couple was treated, especially because the attendants were super friendly to the 4 men in black before the couple. When I did finally get up to the next level, I did see the men again. They were just men (probably from offices nearby) without their wives and kids. This is what I noted. One man had five show bags, the second man had 3, the third man had one and the youngest of the 4 didn’t have any. So, is it that expensive to give the young couple one show bag? Is giving away one show bag to a paying couple who didn’t take with them their kid/s going to cause serious constraints to the budget of the people who brought this exhibition to Melbourne?

The men left the building looking very happy, stepping out to Flinders Street. Where did the couple go? I went to the Gift Shop and they were there too. Poor me bought 4 postcards to give to the Good Samaritan. As I stepped out of the shop, the couple was getting served. Judging from what I could see, they were paying for a number of items. Now, suited up men do look like they have the power to spend big but that is not always the case. This young couple spent more at this exhibition to deserve that one show bag than those men. Jokingly, I am suggesting that parents who visit this exhibition without their children should take with them their children’s birth certificates and family portraits to show when requesting for the show bag/s. Maybe the show bags should be made available for a small fee of a few dollars for those who do not qualify for some reason. Nothing is Free in life these days. Gee, I really wonder what is in it anyway to make it so precious!

About The Previous Post.

This is just a brief reminder that names of people on this blog are altered. In the previous post, parts of the names of my neighbours were also altered. Winnie helped me to select the initials to create the Chinese names. Seeing that I am having so much fun writing this blog, she too is thinking of creating her own blog, describing her new life in Victoria.

I Agree With You, Inga Gilchrist! (Re: ‘Pumpkin’)

My Singaporean neighbour, Winnie, and I have been following the news closely since learning about the little New Zealand Chinese girl who was abandoned at the Southern Cross train station. Before we found out what had happened to her mum, we wondered why she was abandoned. We almost naturally wondered if the little girl was abandoned simply because she is a girl. One of Winnie’s cousins was born in the year of the tiger in the 60’s and was given away because she was a girl. Winnie explained that people used to believe that girls born in the year of the tiger may never find suitable husbands. She said it had something to do with the Chinese Horoscope cycles. I know that there are 12 animals in the horoscope, rotating in a 12 year cycle but I only just learned that there are other cycles involved. It really is quite intriguing.

On Thursday, I picked up a copy of MX (free mini newspaper) to read on the tram. On page 4 was a piece written by a journalist named Inga Gilchrist. It was about the nickname ‘Pumpkin’, given to the lost little girl. Coincidentally, I too was wondering what a little Caucasian child would be called if he/she was abandoned in India. Sauerkraut or Brussels Sprout in Hindi? That evening, when Winnie popped over, I asked her for her opinion on this nickname. Her first response was that ‘Pumpkin’ sounded cute. She also said that everyone concerned should keep calling her ‘Pumpkin’ to keep things simple. Apparently, no one had managed to pronounce the names of the people involved in this case accurately in the daily news on TV. I secretly thought at the time of our conversation, that the newsreaders do not really want to learn to read the names properly. This could be partly because the parents and the child are not VIPs. It was only a couple of weeks ago, when most of them were pronouncing Hu Jin Tao’s name properly at APEC. A few did say ‘Hugh’ instead of ‘hoo’. Winnie also pointed out to me that even the Chinese language media (as shown in one of the short footages on Sky News) was referring the child as ‘Little Pumpkin’, in Chinese characters.

When I first met my Singaporean neighbour, he introduced himself as CK Leong and his wife as KH Wong. Yes, I was meant to call him CK and her KH. I did wish that they had given me a chance to call them by their given names. I would have tried my best to pronounce them properly. As I got to know them better, I did learn of their given names and do call them by those names occasionally. Their young son joined them later and he already had an anglicised name, Michael, even though the family is not Christian. Like the person the journalist mentioned in her article, who called a famous Chinese actress ‘the Z girl’, CK had a similar experience at work. His wife told me that people initially had trouble remembering the alphabetical combination. Some started to call him KC. His wife KH too, experienced the same at their son’s school. In Singapore, work colleagues had always called him CK and his wife by her given names. The couple decided to use the alphabetical initials of their given names for the both of them when they moved here, because people found it hard to pronounce their names. When people still find the initials tricky, they set out to find themselves anglicised names in frustration. So, CK was reintroduced to me as Leon (inspired by his surname) and his wife became Winnie. On learning that his wife is now Winnie, one young bloke at his workplace asked why he didn’t choose the name Vinnie for himself. He was not amused.

I agree with the MX journalist, Inga Gilchrist that we should make more of an effort. These are people’s names, given to them by their parents. Winnie said that Chinese names are usually carefully selected or created with pride. I think we ought to show newcomers respect and give them a warm welcome to our country. We shouldn’t be expecting them to learn all about us and live like us without learning a thing or two about them. They have heaps to enlighten us on.

Note: In my posts, I have referred to this family as my Singaporean neighbours. Some people may find it offensive that I keep describing them as Singaporean but I am only doing this on the blog. It is easier to give the readers of this blog a bit of background information on the people I am talking about. I can’t refer to them as just plain old ‘neighbours’ because I know quite a few in this building of 144 households. I have English neighbours, New Zealand neighbours, Korean neighbours, and since a month ago, Indian neighbours. It is not done intentionally to offend negatively.

Can’t Live Without My Digital Camera

The camera that I was given when I was 11 died in 2004. I had always wanted a camera with zoom function but hated to just throw my beloved camera away. It was after it stopped working (beyond repair apparently) that I finally bought myself a digital camera. Not only am I blessed with 10x Optical Zoom, the best thing I like about digital cameras is the LCD screen that allows me to check the shots that I have taken. Pictures that didn’t turn out ok can be deleted instantly. At the photo developing kiosks, pictures can be further enhanced so that the end result is almost always brilliant. How wonderful, huh? Digital cameras are so easy to use that even one of my friends was producing great shots of her son playing footy recently. She is the last in our circle to purchase a digital camera and she bought one for less than aud$200!

On my way out to the city today, I walked past a few trees behind the National Gallery of Victoria that were starting to bloom. Being a fussy person who is always planning to make beautiful and quality products for young children to use, I stopped by to have a good look. I decided right then that I have to go back tomorrow morning to take a few shots. I would like to take pictures of the leaves in various stages of development. It is a pity that I didn’t have my camera with me today. At home, I sometimes even take pictures of general items to create flashcards. My ongoing language project requires heaps of pictures and what can be better than creating my own.

Greedy me would like to buy another digital camera with at least 8.0 megapixels and 12x-18x optical zoom next. It is hard to settle on one from a growing selection out there in the shops. New technology is introduced regularly. I just saw the new iPod in the paper today. This nanny will have to work really hard to keep upgrading.

Nikon D300

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Accepting Gifts – Flowers

Being a nanny, I receive gifts as tokens of appreciation from my employers. Being a nice nanny, I thank them each time for going out of their way to get me gifts. Being a nanny, I also receive different types of gifts. These are usually things that my employers no longer want. They range from theatre tickets to flowers and cakes. I always decline things like theatre tickets or vouchers. (How rude, huh?) I accept other little things. It makes them really happy to be able to ‘assist’ me.

In this post, the unique gift I will talk about is FLOWERS. Thoughtful employers who know me well will never buy me flowers. They definitely will not present me with a bouquet at this time of the year when I am usually suffering from hay fever even though I do try to keep my hay fever under control by taking medication. Because of side-effects, I sometimes try to go without my medication to see if I will be magically cured. It never works. In fact, come to think of it, my hay fever was especially bad in the years when I was looking after Alexandra and her siblings.

When I first started looking after Alexandra, I told her mum that I suffered from hay fever at the end of each year. It obviously didn’t bother them that much or they wouldn’t have hired me. Alexandra’s mum respected my problem with flowers at first. Then she started to drop hints about how bare her house looked without flower arrangements. I ignored her comments but my nose couldn’t stand the new flower arrangements popping up in my work environment (her home). With medication, my hay fever was just under control. Instead of just suffering from hay fever at the end of the year, it became a year long thing. I just had to put up with it quietly. In the last few months that I worked for this family, she presented flowers to me on two different occasions. The second one was given to me a few weeks after the first in October and November. In terms of hay fever, that is usually the worst time of the year for me. Being a nanny, I accepted these flowers graciously. I ought to be grateful when they were just trying to cheer up my miserable life. By the way, the flowers were not bought especially for me. The first bunch was a mini flower arrangement that had been sitting in the sister’s office since the Monday before they gave it to me on a Friday. The second one was a bouquet. Alexandra’s mum and aunt were meant to have lunch with a relative but that was cancelled. I was ‘lucky’ to be given the bouquet that was meant to be for the aunt in the first place.

The day I received the bouquet was also a Friday and she returned home late. Instead of leaving at 5:30 pm, I didn’t leave till nearly 7:00 pm. My friends were all waiting for me by the time I got home. Someone made a joke about the bouquet that I had in my hand when I walked in. My eyes were already watery because of it. That person made a comment about my employer’s bravery for giving me flowers again. Another person suggested that I should have thrown it away before entering the apartment complex.

On the following Monday, I was asked by Alexandra’s mum if I liked the flowers. I thanked her and then said the dumbest thing after that. I told her the casual comment made by my friend. That sent her up the roof. She turned around and told me sternly that I as an employee had no rights to choose what to be given and should be happy that I was given a gift at all. I wasn’t happy with what she said but I was angrier at myself for telling her that. I learned instantly that no matter how friendly my employers presented themselves to me, there will always be a line between us. I, as a nanny should never cross that line. I am usually pretty careful with what I have to say but I really don’t know what happened that time.

I will post a few other stories of accepting ‘unique’ gifts from Alexandra’s mum another time. I sometimes wondered if she was bullying me through kindness. Did she give me the flowers (knowing full well that I suffered from hay fever) just like how she added the mini Nuttela packs into Alexandra’s lunch box (knowing full well that the little girl’s kindergarten is a Nut Free zone)?

Pay Per Post: A Week On…

I have been a Pay Per Post postie for a week. Time really flies. In that time, I have written around 6 sponsored posts (not including this one). I received a confirmation email yesterday that one of them has been approved. Having only just started 7 days ago, I have not been paid yet. I think I will be receiving payments soon. I am aware of the amount of money that I will be expecting as it is stated on my blogger dashboard. I am actually pretty pleased with the amount (in USD) considering that I didn’t have to work my butt off to earn it. I am still debating as to what to do with the pocket money I earn from writing sponsored posts. I am hoping to make enough to cover the cost of Christmas but I am tempted also to spend it on a big ticketed item for myself but that’s wasteful though. It might be better if I just save it to fund my big project later. I can also use it to fund my trip to Japan. Woo hoo!

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Stella Wrote Pretty Well!

We finally had a finger-painting session on Wednesday. Stella had a ball. She helped to get the activity started and then helped again to clean up her table. I suggested finger-painting because I wanted to see if Stella could write the letters in the alphabet properly. I needed to take note of which ones she knows and to observe the correct order of each letter’s formation.

I did gather information from this activity. I learned that Stella knew more or less all of the letters in the alphabet already. She knew them by name and by the sound. She made a few mistakes when she wrote them with her fingers. I tried to engage her by asking her to write a few of the letters at first. Letters from her name were chosen first. After that, I suggested to her a challenge to see how many letters she could write. She slowly chanted the alphabet as she went about writing them. She did make a few minor mistakes that I expected. For instance, she got ‘b’ and ‘d’ confused. She also preferred to show me her upper case letters and took a tad longer when writing the lower case letters. (Stella can be very fussy with the turnout of her writing and drawing.) When she encountered something a little less familiar, she tried to correct the error. For instance, when asked to write the letter represented by the sound /p/, she wrote ‘b’ first and then erased it with her palm to write ‘p’.

I knew Stella was able to write some letters of the alphabet for a while. I have seen her name scribbled on almost all of her artwork. Other letters had also appeared in some artwork as well. I was also aware that her mum had been preparing her during their spare time. Stella was also able to write simple words. She pointed to my cup and wrote the word for it. I did wonder if she knew that word by heart but she also labelled the toy animals that she had lined up along the window sill earlier. The first animal, dog, was easy-peasy. After that she wrote, pig, dog (again), cat and fox. She struggled when she got to the chimpanzee. It was obvious that she doesn’t know the /ch/ sound. I noticed that she did try to write the letters ‘m’, ‘p’ and ‘z’ but wiped them out quickly. She also struggled with the word giraffe. She spelt it as jruff. Her mistakes with the words didn’t bother me at all. In fact, I found her effort impressive. Writing words wasn’t something I had in mind when I suggested finger-painting.

With the information I have gathered from the finger-painting activity, I am all ready to implement the alphabet sewing activity. I was intending to defer it to around late November or early December because I wasn’t sure if she knew her letters. I already have the alphabet sewing cards made but they won’t be suitable for Stella. Her mum had taught her to write in the ball and stick style. She obviously didn't know about the cursive writing style adopted by many Victorian schools. The letters on the sewing cards that I made are printed in that cursive font. This means that I will have to make another set of cards using the ball and stick style of writing to make them more appropriate for Stella. I don’t think I want to change her handwriting for my sewing activity. I am reluctant to interfere like that. I am just the nanny, remember?

Travelling Made Easy

Australia is geographically very isolated from other countries. Islands like Fiji and Vanuatu have never attracted my attention much, New Zealand too for some reason. My folks love New Zealand. They kept telling me how green its country side is.

I went to England years ago. While I was there, I did a little bit of travelling in Europe. Travelling around Europe is not only just so easy; it can be pretty affordable if you shop around wisely. I shopped around for short breaks within my budget to cities that I was interested to visit. Because of the close proximity to Europe, many people book themselves into weekend breaks to relax with the family. Europe is filled with history and culture. There is always plenty to do for the whole family. Couples too can book themselves into city breaks to enjoy what cities like Paris have to offer in terms of entertainment and of course shopping.

There are now greater numbers of cheap flights and holiday offers to Europe than ever before. Instead of taking some time off work to visit a travel agent, one can now browse what’s on offer by going online to visit websites of travel companies like Dialaflight. Their website is jammed pack with useful travel information. They offer cheap flights, accommodation options and travel ideas to help would be travellers better plan their holidays. From their website are also links to search other important bits and pieces related to travel, such as car hire. What I really like about Dialaflight is that the procedure to book anything is not done entirely online. I like the idea of speaking to one of the travel consultants over the phone. With all the horror stories of shonky travel companies, it is definitely reassuring to speak to a travel consultant to make sure that any travel plans are carried out properly. It is also an opportunity to have any queries answered without having to email them in and then wait for a response.

So, where did this nanny go after she was done with England? I went to Paris to visit the Euro Disney. Sorry, I was young at heart then and still am now. I also went to Rome to experience what the Italians had to offer.

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Ettie Is Coming To Town

Ettie, Bree’s grandma, announced over the phone on Wednesday that she is coming for a visit. She asked Bree’s mum and I what she had to bring with her. Living over in Sydney made her feel guilty for not spending enough time with Bree, so she has a tendency to spend a fair bit buying goodies for the child. (She bought Bree a tricycle the last time she was here. It was an online purchase, timed to reach here before her. Unfortunately, the tricycle was a wee bit too big.) Once she is here, she likes to play full-time grandma by participating as much as she can.

Ettie will be here next Friday which means that I will have the following Monday off. I have been told by Ettie that I will be looking after her and Bree on the day after that. That means that we are going off somewhere for the day. This is all good news to me as I need the day off so I can try to get as much of my first assignment done as possible between now and then. I didn’t go to the library as planned last Sunday and that decision has been bothering me ever since. Spending a day with Ettie and Bree is going to be fun. We are likely to go out for morning tea. The woman has a bit of a sweet tooth, like me. She is a pleasant lady to spend time with and she certainly doesn’t put on airs like a few grandmothers I have met as a nanny. Ettie always makes sure that I feel welcomed and comfortable in everything that we do together. I wonder if Bree’s parents have told her about the lollies. I think she will laugh her head off at her grand-daughter’s antics.

Christmas Will Be Here Soon!

We are fast approaching the end of the year. We will be putting up our Christmas tree in just a few months. While we look forward to Christmas, our relatives working and living in the US will be anticipating the triple celebrations that line up the rest of the year. They will be celebrating Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Three celebrations in succession must severely deplete their savings as well as increase their stress levels for having to jostle through the crowds to get their shopping done. If you think the traffic is bad in the week leading up to Christmas, spare a thought for those who live in America and have to do it three times in freezing conditions!

Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular. With a little planning, one can get most of the shopping done online nice and early without ever stepping foot into a crowded mall. Online shopping is not necessarily expensive, especially in America. There are plenty of offers and savings to be made. One way to save money from shopping is to check out the discount coupons and promotional deals at CouponChief.

I checked out some of Coupon Chief’s extensive list of web merchants. At the time of my visit, the Target Coupons were offering a $5.00 discount to online shoppers who spend $50.00. Another one of the Target Deals was FREE SHIPPING to shoppers spending $25.00. I am wondering if one of my relatives is aware of this as she has had a ball purchasing educational products for her child lately.

GAP is one of my favourite stores and Gap Coupons were offering online shoppers a 25% discount for spending $125.00. BestBuy Deals will be popular with the guys and there were plenty of discounts on digital cameras, home theatre systems, home entertainment accessories and computers. A FREE SHIPPING* offer was also available from BestBuy Coupons at the time of my visit. Please be aware that the currency quoted here is in US dollars and please always check the expiry dates to the offers before committing to any purchases. Once a web visitor clicks on a certain coupon/offer, the website will automatically transfer him/her over to that merchant’s website so the shopper can almost immediately browse the store’s goods. A smaller window also pops up to give the shopper extra instructions for that particular coupon.

With the bulk of the shopping done, there will be more time for everyone to just enjoy the celebrations at home with family and friends.
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Bree’s Introduction to LOLLIES!

Bree and her parents visited some friends on the weekend. She had a ball. In fact, we think she had a bit too much fun. I heard that she got to ride a pony, cuddle a couple of rabbits, pat a guinea pig, jump on a big trampoline, play with big boys and girls, and ride on a tractor. The biggest bombshell is that Bree had her first taste of LOLLIES! The kids of her parents’ friends beat Ettie (Bree’s dotting grandma) to that honour. Naughty Ettie did try to introduce a little bit of chocolate (Freddo’s head) to the then 13 month old Bree at Christmas time but the tot spat it out in disgust to the delight of her mum.

All was well on Saturday. Bree’s mum did inform those big kids not to share junk food with her. They were between the ages of 8 -16 and they just couldn’t resist playing with their little visitor. They apparently treated her like a little baby and she enjoyed every bit of the attention. Some time after lunch on Sunday, Bree’s dad was supposed to be watching over her while she played with the youngest children. Bree’s mum came out looking for her. She found Bree holding a bag of candy sticks (like musk sticks apparently) and she had a mouthful of them. Bree’s mum told me she didn’t want to make a scene so she tried to gently coax Bree to let go of the bag. Of course the child wouldn’t let go. The 8 year old and her 10 year old twin brothers even told Bree’s mum that it was ok for Bree to have some lollies. Then the adults started to say the same thing. Bree’s mum told me that she let the issue go for another 15 minutes or so and during that time, she saw Bree stuffing herself silly with a smorgasbord of different lollies. Her friend kept telling her that Bree would be fine. She did try to think that junk food in moderation was ok, but when she just couldn’t stand it anymore, she took Bree indoors for a toilet break. Apparently she didn’t get much peace in there either. Bree’s toilet ritual had been quite an attraction to a few of the other kids since her arrival.

The car trip home was peaceful. The tot was exhausted because she didn’t have a nap. Her nap was interrupted on Saturday as well. She was already wide awake when they reached their street. Bree played with her dad while her mum prepared a simple dinner for her. Her mum noticed that her little girl was already more active than normal. Half way through dinner, Bree decided she had enough and from then onwards, a different child emerged. She was loud and hyperactive. She was dancing and singing one minute and then running around in circles the next. Her father was surprised that she can sing that many songs. They placed her in the bath to calm her down but she chose to attempt to climb out instead. Bree wanted neither her night time nappy nor her pyjamas. It took a bit of effort from her dad to get them on her eventually. After the wrestle, she decided to turn the couch into a big trampoline. The adults watched her and were pretty sure that she would slow down soon. She did indeed slow down to play with her toys. The adults thought the storm was over. Her dad stepped into the office to check his emails while mum was busy ordering Chinese food over the phone. The next time she turned around to check on her daughter, Bree was standing on the dining table laughing and dancing. Bree’s mum had never seen her behaving that way. (This is exactly how Alexandra used to be except that it used to happen at least a few times each week.) Bree was in such a jolly happy hyper mood until around 11:00 pm. After that, her mood swung to the other extreme as she became increasingly tired. She kept her parents up because she didn’t want to sleep. She was upset and demanded to be entertained even though she was obviously tired. This carried on till around 1:00 am.

I arrived at work on Monday morning approximately half an hour early. Bree’s dad was on his way out. He had a silly smile on his face and warned me that I would be in for a big surprise. Bree’s mum, looking tired, welcomed me and filled me in on the details of what had happened. There was no sign of the friendly little tot who would usually race down the hallway to greet me. After leaving my stuff in the laundry, I entered the family room to find Bree lying on the couch with a bottle of milk. I didn’t notice her before that. She was still in pyjamas. The tired little one didn’t say a word to me. After much urging, she managed to give me a weak wave. Before Bree’s mum left, I was instructed to have a slow day and to let Bree nap for as long as possible. To prevent her from staying up at night again, I made sure her nap started just after morning tea. She slept for 4 hours straight. This bumped her lunch to much later. She didn’t say much before her nap except to request (more like a demand) that she should be allowed to wear her nappy. She didn’t say much immediately after her nap but after lunch, the Original Bree gradually returned. She even requested a bath. She was happy to go nappy-free after that. Bree was exhausted again by the time her mum returned home. I didn’t see any of the wild behaviour. I obviously arrived after the storm was over. Lucky me!

Question: Do you think Bree’s wild behaviour was a result of eating lollies? Or do you think the excitement of those two days in the country and exhaustion affected her? Or do you think it was caused by a combination of different factors?

Cheaper International Phone Calls

We used to dread receiving the monthly phone bill. The bill used to be expensive because we made a lot of international calls. We decided to try prepaid calling cards around 2 years ago. This move immediately slashed the costs considerably. Now, I can talk longer without feeling too guilty. Once the prepaid credit is used up, we would then go searching for the best rates by popping from store to store, reading the fliers to find the best phone card to suit our usage. This slight hassle sent us surfing the net for an easier option.

Pingo is one provider offering such international calling cards. Being the 10th largest carrier of international phone calls, they offer competitive rates. For example, it costs only a little over 3¢* per minute to call the US from Australia. (Bear in mind though that the rates do fluctuate due to currency exchange.) Calls can also be made to the UK, Japan and many other countries. Pingo’s website offers more details on their current rates and the countries they cover.

New members are now being offered up to 5 hours of FREE International calls for signing up to a Pingo account. Readers of this blog will receive $8 in FREE CALLS. There is also a special phone card blog discount coupon called “ppp3” available that is valid for $3 off Pingo. That means that you will receive a $25 phone card for just $17. Pingo charges a small monthly account maintenance fee of less than USD$1. Calling time can be purchased online with a credit card or via paypal. With that, a toll free access number and a unique PIN number will be provided to allow immediate usage. Read more about this by clicking on ‘How It Works’ on Pingo’s homepage.

Virtual Calling Cards or prepaid calling cards have made it possible for everyone to enjoy chatting with friends and relatives living overseas. Such a service is also a blessing to those of us who are managing a small or micro business from home. This allows us to contact suppliers and customers from around the globe within a tight budget.


long distance calling card




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Itchy Fingers @ the City Library

It was only weeks ago I wrote about how I love the City Library in the Melbourne CBD. In that post, I mentioned the Nintendo Wii station located in the Young Adult section of the library, but guess what? This little bit of free entertainment is no longer available. Some one cheeky yanked off the controller and took off with it. The Nintendo Wii controller is wireless but this was chained to prevent theft. It obviously didn’t stop this cheeky human from pinching it. Although the console and TV were not damaged, the games can’t be played without a new controller. According to a note stuck there, the library will no longer offer this piece of equipment for public use due to the recent theft. Apparently the library (or was it the City Council) had already made plans to expand the range of games but because of one (or more) senseless human, no one gets to enjoy any of it anymore. What happened didn’t affect me personally, but I just hate it when people damage things that are made available for the public to enjoy. I wonder if there are any footages of the joker/s work.

A Wish to Travel Overseas

I have been planning on a trip to Japan for a while now. It is never cheap to travel to this exotic country. It is especially expensive for someone earning her living as a nanny. I really should consider other countries in Asia but Japan has been on the top of my list of destinations for a long time.

I do check online from time to time to see what sort of travel packages and accommodation options are out there. There are many places online where one can arrange their travelling needs. One such website is Hotel Reservations.com. This company offers travellers good prices to hotels in many countries around the world. They specialize in Bed & Breakfast and private condos/apartments as well. (The later is definitely out of my budget range. LOL) Vacation packages are also available. Hotel Reservations.com also covers hotels in Japan. Some of the hotels featured are pretty reasonably priced and within my budget since I only need to use them for a few days during my trip. Even the cheaper options are said to be close to facilities like the subway. Staying in hotels close to all the action allows me to spend some time exploring Tokyo. Luckily I won’t be spending the whole trip staying in hotels because a couple of friends have already invited me to stay with them. One of them is married to a Japanese guy. It will be interesting staying with her because they (like many Japanese) do not sleep on beds! They apparently sleep on traditional Japanese futons – thin mattresses that are rolled up for storage. They are such nice people though. They have offered their son’s bedroom to me. At my rate of savings, the kid (who is 3 now) might well be a teenager by the time I take up the offer. LOL.






Hotel Reservations

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Take A Break. It is Sunday!

The Good Samaritan talked me into taking a break today. I was planning to go to the State Library to do a bit of researching but was talked out of it. Instead of work, we went out for lunch in the city. I did do some reading when I was out. We went to Borders and I checked out a few books that were not related to my coursework at all. I will continue to pretend that I have made the right decision for now and hope that I won’t have to live to regret taking a day off my coursework.

Come to think of it, the Good Samaritan may have been right about not going to the State Library today, as it is Sunday. It has always been disappointing to go to the State Library on the weekends. It gets so crowded. I always suspect that people camp out on the library’s front lawn overnight to get in line nice and early to be the first to get in. How else do these people manage to hog a table and a chair for themselves? Sometimes I don’t even get why these people turn up at the library in the first place. They just hog the table and chat or even sleep. How very annoying?

Since I blew my chance of going to the library today, I might as well write a sponsored post. By the way, where did the weekend go? Why do I always feel like I am running out of time?

Tuition to Improve Literacy and Mathematics

Most people think that a nanny’s job is to look after her charges. This includes bathing, feeding and entertaining the little ones and ensuring that they are all safe and sound. I however take a special interest in their overall development and education as well. In my experience, I have come across a few children who seemed to struggle in the first year of school. Alexandra is one example. She has always struggled to concentrate. 3 years of Kindergarten didn’t seem to prepare the child for Prep year. I was discouraged to improve her situation in any way at the time because her parents received advice that my ‘intervention’ may confuse the poor child further. I was also too busy looking after the other two siblings and completing long lists of chores (that a nanny shouldn’t be made to do). Months after I left the family, her mum called to ask about tutoring services to improve Alexandra’s literacy and math skills after school. I found it hard to believe that she actually bothered to ask for my advice. I thought I was only a nanny. Score’s innovative tutoring programme would be a great help for children like Alexandra. Score! Educational Centres have been around for 15 years and they are part of the Kaplan family. Attending this type of after school programme will help Alexandra to catch up to her peers and keep up with new work at school. I dislike rushing children academically but some children do need extra help. If the child is struggling, it is best to work out a way to improve the situation now than to wait till it is too late. It is still easy to help children struggling in the early years of primary school.


Innovative Tutor

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A Day Spent Running Around

It has been a long day. I can’t believe I managed to have almost everything on my ‘to do’ list done. I did some simple chores before leaving home around mid-day to pick up a few books that I had ordered from the City Library, had a quick lunch and then I headed straight to ALDI to buy a few things. I then lugged the groceries and books home and left again to do a bigger shop at QV’s Safeway. Once I got home, I did two loads of washing. Being not very computer savvy, I had to sit through an hour long instruction on how to write sponsored posts. Thank goodness that this Good Samaritan was very patient. I cooked a simple dinner for us after that. It is now my turn to use the computer again. I don’t think I will be going to bed till late. I still have one more thing on the list to do: Ironing. All of these have to be done today because I want to spend the entire Saturday reading my course work and then spend a big part of Sunday burying my head in more books at the State Library.

This Nanny is a New Pay Per Post Postie

I have always wanted to have my own blog. I was curious to see what others were doing with their own blogs, when I noticed that other bloggers were writing sponsored posts for Pay Per Post. I wondered what the fuss was all about. Later on I found out that these bloggers were actually making money from writing sponsored posts! A light bulb turned on in my head immediately. I thought that maybe I could do the same.

I got this blog up and running in June. I blogged about my work. I waited patiently for 3 months, because that is how long it takes for a blog to become qualified. As soon as I was eligible I applied to become a postie for Pay Per Post and I have just been approved today. This will allow me to write about various topics and still earn a little pocket money for myself. Writing sponsored posts may also allow me to write about things that I do not usually blog about. This way I will not run out of things to say. Hopefully the opportunities will also improve my writing skills.

I work as a nanny and on top of that I am also a student, studying off-campus via Open University. I do not have a lot of extra time to secure another casual job to feed my expensive hobbies. The thing I like most about Pay Per Post is that it allows plenty of flexibility for people like me. I am not made to work to a quota. I can work as little or as much as I want, provided that I follow the ground rules laid out by Pay Per Post. This is my first sponsored post. I can't wait for other opportunities. I would definitely be a liar if I said that I was not looking forward to getting paid via Paypal. I have already been daydreaming in the last 3 months as to what I will do with this extra pocket money. I might save it for my grand project or I might save it for the trip to Japan next year. If I am not careful, I might spend it all at Christmas time! Look out shops, this nanny loves to shop!


blog reviews

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Mr Smith and the 143 Potential Thieving Families

I came home today to find a note stuck in my mailbox. It was from a certain Mr Smith of apartment XX. He wrote about how his car was broken into on the weekend and about things, including his new GPS unit, which were taken. He declared that he knew the culprit and warned the person to watch his/her back. He also complained about the lack of video cameras within the complex and garage areas. I found the note offensive because it sounded like he was referring to me. Before I went to my apartment, I decided to drop by my elderly neighbours on the ground floor to see if they received the same note. They didn’t but decided to go with me to check their mailbox anyway. Sitting there indeed was the same note. My neighbour read it and scrunched it up. They told me not to be bothered by the note. On my way up to my apartment, I bumped into my Singaporean neighbours. I asked if they also had received the offensive note. They said they too received such a note. They wondered why Mr Smith didn’t just tell the police who he suspected the thief to be and let the police to do their job. By then, I was pretty sure that Mr Smith had left the same note in everyone’s mailbox. There are altogether 144 apartments in this complex. Is Mr Smith accusing everyone except himself?

Mr Smith is wrong to whinge about the lack of video cameras. The complex is already hooked up with many cameras. There are cameras in the garage, in the foyer and there is even one overlooking the communal areas. There was none of these gadgets when I first moved here. Today, I can’t help feeling like I live in a complex not much different from the Big Brother House. All these security measures are expensive too. I would like to see the Body Corporate fees better spent. I absolutely disagree with the installation of the one spying on the communal facilities. Aren’t people even allowed to enjoy themselves without having their privacy invaded like that?

Writing In The Air Is Not Really A Joke.

I suggested the idea of writing in the air last week. I wasn’t being sarcastic. That really is a recommended activity for young children. This is great if you would like the child to guess the letter that is being ‘written’ in the air. To do this, the adult should gently hold the child’s dominant hand and draw a letter of the alphabet in the air. The letter should be ‘written’ according to the correct order without any jerky movements to distract the child’s concentration. Initially, you may need to do this slowly and repeat it a few times. Letters like ‘i’, ‘l’ and ‘o’ are an easy start to this game.

Writing in the air is not suitable for what I intend to do with Stella. To find out if Stella is able to form the letters that she knows in the correct order, I need to be able to physically see the formations as well as her writing to be certain. At this stage, I will still be doing this by inviting her to a finger-painting session with me. Today would have been a fine day for such an activity but Stella begged to go to the beach when she got up from her short nap. It looks like it will have to be carried out next week because Stella will be playing with Lachlan at the big park tomorrow. There really is no rush. I hate to rush a child to do anything that is ever so slightly ‘academic’. At her age, Stella should be having lots of fun like playing outside. She is already quite advance for her age so there really is no need to rush at all.

It is 12:07 AM! I need my beauty sleep.

Recent Happenings to This Blog

A Good Samaritan has added a few things to my blog in the last few days. Hopefully these new additions will increase traffic to my blog. Already I can see that a bloke has dropped by. It is good to know that people are actually reading what I have written. I am also hoping that the increased traffic will make it possible for me to write some sponsored posts in the near future. This will allow me to make a few extra dollars to put away for the grand project I have been working on forever.

To all my visitors, I would like to take this opportunity to stress again that this blog contains my own personal views. Names of the people in the many stories that I tell are changed to protect their identities. Suggestions I have made are based on my experiences of working as a nanny. While most of these have been applied successfully in my work experience they are not guaranteed to work for everyone else. I encourage anyone who wishes to adopt any of these suggestions to exercise good judgement before doing so.

I am also hoping that visitors to my blog will leave me a comment (preferably positive ones, LOL). It will be great to see what others think of what I write. This invitation is not just open to all the nannies out there as I welcome everyone who is passionate in the care of young children to drop me a line.