Nanny Continuing Education Event a Success!
I just hosted an event at my home for more than 20 of Austin’s best nannies who all came to hear Claire Flynn from For Kids’ Sake speak about terrible twos and terrific toddlers. Although our family has just barely past this stage with our youngest (3-year-old twins), there was still much knowledge to glean that carried over.
I was pleased to see two employers attend with their nannies hoping to take in the great message together and more easily reference what they learned in future conversations. It is heartening to see caregivers so invested in their charges and making their lives better that they are willing to come on their time off, after a long day of working, and take in anything new they can learn. Many shared stories (temper tantrums in the checkout lines), anecdotes (a spoon of honey before bed to control bladder accidents), and sought advice for dilemmas they were encountering from the former Stanford specialist.
The main theme we took in was casting a vision of who you want your child/charge to be when 18 or 19 and leaving the home and working backward from there to teach these core competencies and life skills beginning as early as possible. Claire focused on “democratic parenting,” teaching children they are not the center of the universe, giving them the freedom to fail, equipping them with independence, self reliance and problem solving abilities and spelling out the consequences of any action ahead of time to secure the child’s “buy in.” Role playing and encouragement verses praise. And then, repetition, repetition, repetition!
Our caregivers were coached on how to remain neutral (at least in appearance!) when a child acts out in order to keep from giving them what they want…a reaction! They were empowered and extolled for their professionalism and daily commitment to an often challenging but very rewarding vocation. After more than 2 hours of coaching and Q&A, our session came to and end and it was another half hour before Claire could sneak out and head home.
The only feedback I received was “I wish it was longer! I have so many more questions!” Be encouraged…we will bring her back again next quarter to impart more pearls of wisdom!
Tags: Austin nanny coaching, dealing with terrible twos, Nanny Continuing Education