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.


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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!


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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.