Walking Around with Little Children

I love encouraging my charges to walk so they don’t become overtly depended on the buggy. Many people think that children must exercise by climbing the play equipment at the park but something as simple as just walking around the block is just as good to keep little children active. They love to explore the world just outside their home too. This is made easier if they live in neighbourhoods with less traffic. Depending on the child’s walking ability, I usually start doing this from the age of around 15-18 months. The child learns to hold my hand and we start off by just walking up and down the sidewalk outside. When they are ready, we might increase the distance to walking around the block. We do not go far and never crossed any streets at first. I keep it easy and manageable. We also stop to talk to friendly neighbours. This introduces the child to people in their neighbourhood and a start to learning what it feels like to speak to other people. I believe that it is through this type of repetitive familiarisation that a child can begin to learn what feels alright and what is not. I am not saying that this is a perfect ‘Stranger Danger’ lesson but it is a positive step for the child rather than scaring them into thinking that everyone is a monster. The child’s parents are always notified if some kind of conversation had taken place.

Children like Bree and Stella are easy because they do not have siblings to distract them or egg them on. Children with siblings are trickier, which is why I am always on guard. When going out as a group, the growing tot and older siblings may start to test their freedom at some stage but this should be taken care of ASAP before they get worse. I usually have a brief chat with my charges just before any outing. We talk about the destination, what we are planning to do and simple rules or expectations. I also find conversation with the children helpful in keeping everyone together. By engaging the child that is most likely to run amok, it helps to keep him occupied and distracts him from getting into any mischief. I must say that this is not fool-proofed. Inevitably, some children may have already developed bad habits by the time a nanny comes along. These children will need lots of work on the side before walking properly outdoors as a group is possible. In such a situation, the younger sibling/s of the offending child (hopefully there is only just one main offender) will need to be strapped into a buggy until the whole group can manage the walk. This is for the younger child/children’s safety in case if there is a flare up. In households where I am left with the youngest child for most of the day while the others are at school or kindergarten, the toddler and I go, when possible, walking just before the older children come home. This is timed to coincide with the older children’s arrival because they usually get quite a buzz seeing each other.

In my many years of experience, children that I look after from babyhood behave relatively well when taken outdoors and their parents notice the difference between them and their older siblings that weren’t in my care until much later. (The parents also notice other things as well.) Not all older siblings are little devils. The cheeky ones just need some extra work to learn what is appropriate and they usually come around within weeks. This does not mean that children seen taking a walk with me look like robots obeying my every order. Working with children is unpredictable and someone will test the nanny at any moment when she least expects it. I am not a perfect nanny but I haven’t been in any potentially dangerous situations for a while. That is because I am now working with the two easiest to look after little girls ever and one of them (Bree) has been under my care since she was a newborn.