Nanny in Calgary, Alberta

Hey Families!! My name is Erika, I am from the East Coast. I moved to Calgary in February 2013 and became a nanny to two amazing young girls. I just got back from travelling Australia where I was an Au pair. (Live in nanny) for two amazing families. Right now I am back in the east coast visiting my family but driving back west in May so looking at what's available for jobs at that time. After graduating high school in 2008 I worked at a day care full time for 3 months with the infants. I had two infants and was in charge of making lunch for the centre. I left that position to explore education options for myself. Next I worked at another centre where I worked with the 2 year old group. At times we had up to 12 toddlers in our room with two adults. Planning lots of group activities for the little ones! I have done a lot of babysitting and daycare work but since moving to Calgarg and nannying, I have found that I love nannying so much more than a daycare. You are able to build such a better relationship with the kids and their parents when working so closely with them. I love to do different activities with the kids to engage them in learning. Depending on their age of course. Learning songs, learning their name. Learning to spell their name. If the parents want I will help them memorize things like phone number and address for emergencies. I love doing science experiments and things to make the kids go WOW! Going to parks or for nature walks. I'm a big hiker so I love to get the kids outdoors. I know these days a lot of kids watch too much tv and of course everyone loves a good movie day! But I do try to get them outside and physical in whatever we can do. A dance party inside on a rainy day, or even out playing in the puddles and straight into a bath. You can make any kind of weather into fun and keep it safe! Things I really like to focus on, and this is also to the parents discretion, is teaching them to be good kids. Good manners, please and thank you, learning respect, doing chores age appropriate, cleaning up their toys when they're done. If they do not listen or have bad behaviour I will do whatever you as the parent would like but the go to for me is time outs. If that's ok with you the parents. I do not like to yell unless necessary. I believe in explaining the situation to them and trying to get them to understand. If they need a time out I use that time to get them to settle and try to discuss the situation with them and if an apology is needed or a toy needs picking up. We do that. I'm pretty much a kid inside so I love to be silly and have fun. I have references I can provide from Calgary, PEI, and Australia. I love kids and working with them is the best job! One thing I like to be honest and up front about is wage... It's a bad topic to bring up but I don't want to waste time discussing the job and all your life details without mentioning this first. Living in Calgary for me is expensive. I have my own vehicle. It is a 2013 Honda Civic so fairly new, with the cost of my car, insurance, living costs of Calgary. I hope to find a job in the 20$/hour range or more hopefully. I believe that my experience and work ethic make it worth it. I don't sit on my phone all day while the kids play. Usually I will change my ringer so that the parents have their own ringtone so if you are texting me I know I should check it. If it's not your ringer I don't need to have my phone! I hope this doesn't put you off of reading my profile I just don't want to waste time and I am up to negotiate as well! Some personal information about me if you got this far! If you see my pictures you will notice that I do not have hair. I have Alopecia. It's an auto immune disease where my immune system attacks my hair follicles and it falls out. Life is easier without wigs so I just shave what grows and go bald all day. Not sick and doesn't effect my health :). Thanks for reading!!