Summer Vacation

Vacation comes from the word vacàre, which means to empty, to be at leisure. During vacation, one is free from occupation.

Summer vacation is a time children look forward to with great anticipation. Particularly for school aged children, summer vacation allows them an extended time to play. Play is not merely a means of relaxation for children; it is their main medium for learning. Play is natural and spontaneous. It exercises a child's curiosity, energy, vitality, and capacity for learning.

Play benefits children physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially. Physically, children gain body control, develop coordination, and purposeful movement. Intellectually, they are able to practice new skills with words and objects, experiment with equipment and solve problems. Emotionally, children build self-confidence and learn to cope with their feelings. Socially, play assists in the growth of self-awareness and allows for the joy of sharing. Children need both structured and unstructured play.

With a vast number of organized summer camps and other activities, there is a tendency for summer to become an overly scheduled frenzy for many children. Some families use these facilities for childcare. Others have the desire to allow children to experience as many fun activities as possible, or to further educational skills. When planning summer activities it is important to consider the needs of the individual child. Balancing the child's summer with structured activities and spontaneous events will enhance the learning experience. By allowing more down time or periods of inactivity, children are encouraged to use their imaginations and learn to amuse or entertain themselves

Parents and nannies have the opportunity during summer to provide children periods of undirected, unstructured play experiences. The responsibility of encouraging children's powers of observation, teaching them to appreciate nature, art, music and much more can seem a daunting task. However, it is one that should be fully embraced. Summer can and should be a wonderfully enjoyable experience for children, parents and caregivers. Have fun!!!

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Traveling with Your Employer

A benefit of working with a family who travels is that the nanny can enjoy the opportunity of seeing new places and far away lands. For some nannies this is a great way to break from the regular routine. For others it becomes more challenging than fun.

When the nanny travels with the family it should be viewed no differently than a business trip. When a person working in the business world travels for work, the positive is that they may go to interesting places paid by the company. Often times, though, they are too busy working to really enjoy the environment. The work hours are longer and more exhausting than normal. Because there are similarities for the nanny on a "trip for work", neither the employer nor the nanny should view the traveling nanny as the nanny's vacation or any different than "work".

Most of the time nannies travel with their employing family harmoniously. But the times when it is less than enjoyable, it typically rests on one issue. The family and the nanny have dramatically differing views of the benefit of this type of "vacation" and have not communicated with each other.

The family feels that the nanny should not look at this as work but as a "free vacation". The thought is that they are paying for the nanny to travel, sightsee, eat in restaurants and enjoy a time away from home. As a result the nanny should feel not only grateful for the family providing all of this, she should not consider her assumption of responsibilities away from home as "work". All of these thoughts are understandable, but the reality is that the nanny is working. As long as she is not able to do what she wants when she wants and must be there to be on duty", she is working!

She is working away from home and may enjoy the environment, however this is not her choice. Her schedule is typically chaotic, she is not on her own plan of activities and she is often working for a portion of each day she is away instead of 5 days on and 2 days off. Although she may be performing her duties under a palm tree or at Disney World, she is not on her own vacation. Just as the businessperson who gets to play golf while away on a company paid trip, she may be having some fun doing "required" activities.

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