Houston

SEPTEMBER 2008 ISSUE:
Message from Kathy | Announcements
Ask the Expert | MBF Superstars | Craft Activity
What Clients and Nannies Are Saying | Job Openings at MBF
MBF In the News | Serving the Community

A Message From Kathy

First off, I hope you and your families are recovering from the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. Please let us know if we can accommodate your needs during the process of getting your families back to normalcy.

The schedule free days of summer have gone away, ushered out by the frantic race to get everything needed to begin school, Mother's Day Out, and/or extracurricular activities! You have no doubt been an integral part of that process for your client employers! At Mom's Best Friend, we have been talking a lot lately about the idea of service, what it means, and how it filters down from our staff to our caregivers to our client families.

The last few quarterly Q&A forums have included many questions revolving around the idea of service. How do we serve in our current role? What is appropriate to be asked to do (ie."it's not in my job description") and what is not? If I do it once, will it then become the expectation? My answer to this frequently asked question is this: we have placed ourselves in a vocation that requires an attitude of service and the measurement of success is how well and to what degree that service is carried out.

What does it mean to have a service heart? It requires a dedication to the pursuit of excellence in whatever form that might take shape. It requires caring, with a desire to do unto others the way you would want done unto you. When this is your measuring stick, your paradigm changes and you start to ask a different set of questions. How can I exceed expectations in my job? How can I seek to make the lives of those I serve better through my work? How can I provide a feeling of tranquility and refuge from the outside chaos by going that extra step and taking care of that load of laundry, getting dinner started, having the kids fed and bathed (fill in anything that's "not my job")?

It's important to recognize that when we chose this vocation as a CARE-GIVER, we give care not because it's always deserved, not because it's a paycheck, not because we will receive it ourselves, but because we believe this is our CALLING. In serving, we actually benefit. As I read in a recent business article "positive psychology studies indicate that when we're helping or giving to someone, it [quickly] makes us feel fuller, more confident and uplifted". What a win-win!

With that said, I would like to give you some praise and a pat on the back and tell you what a wonderful job you do every day for the families you dedicate yourselves to and what a difference you make in the lives of children!

THANK YOU!
Kathy Dupuy, Owner and Founder

Houston Home | Frequently Asked Questions | Staff Introductions
Nanny and Sitter Testimonials | Jobs | Charity Program

Four-Day Work Week
As the cost of gas rises, our office has instituted a four-day work week along with many other local companies. This helps many of our staff who commute from all over the area. We are still open five days per week (half of our staff works M-Th for 10 hrs/day, the other half T-F for 10 hrs/day), and each person has a backup staff member here in the office to field inquiries and manage any issues that might arise. Thus, the changes have been made with little impact to our clients and candidates. We appreciate your patience as we adjust to this new schedule.

A: Congratulations on making it a year with your family!  The time has probably flown by quickly as I’m sure you have had busy days with a family’s ever changing needs. A yearly salary and performance review is a standard practice for many families and their nannies if they choose to renew their contracts for another year. The most important thing to do for a review IS prepare for it.

The first thing to do is fill out a Day in the Life form. (You were given this at your Nanny Professional Development -- previously Nanny Training Institute --course, but please let me know if you need me to email you another one.) This will help paint a picture of your day for your employer. I'm sure your employer knows the extent of what you do during the day, but she may not know just what you do that is above and beyond your contract. If you feel like this is bragging or asking for credit for extra work you do out of graciousness... DON'T. Your boss wants to know what you do so he/she can let you know how much he/she appreciates you and give you a fair raise. You can go a step further and prepare a weekly task log that shows all that you do for the home on a weekly basis. I know your boss will be surprised and impressed when she sees all that you do!

Hopefully you have been having monthly one-on-one meetings to discuss any concerns and to set up goals for the children. Bring along any notes from these meetings so you can review (and pat yourselves on the back) the goals and tasks that have been successfully completed.

It's up to your employers to decide if they will give you a raise, but if you show that you have taken your job seriously and have worked diligently this past year, it would be hard to deny.

Lastly, don't forget to use this review time to set up goals for the next year. This is a good time to take things out of your contract that may no longer be needed and update it with current tasks. Be honest with your employer about what you would like to do differently, but also be open to what they might want to do differently as well. Open communication is crucial to a good working relationship and you are definitely on the right path by being prepared for your reviews.

Good luck!
Cecelia Zapalac, Autin Nanny Network Coordinator, ctaoftx@aol.com

Faux Stained Glass

Materials Needed: 

• wax paper
• crayons
• crayon sharpener (or a knife- to make crayon shavings)
• scissors
• any flat objects (like glitter, dried leaves, stickers, paper scraps, pictures from magazines, etc.)
• an iron. You'll encase the flat objects and crayon shavings in waxed paper, iron it, and then hang your masterpiece from a window!

Directions:

1. Cut 2 matching pieces of waxed paper in the shape and size that you want your faux stained glass to be.
2. Collect flat things that you want to encase in the waxed paper. Place one of the waxed paper pieces you cut previously on a flat surface. Arrange the objects on the paper.* Add crayon shavings from your sharpener for color accents.
   *these will melt later on
3. *This part is for an adult to do. Put a few layers of newspaper on your ironing board and put the waxed paper artwork on top of this. Put the second piece of waxed paper on top of the artwork. Carefully place a few more layers of newspapers on top of the whole thing. *Iron it on medium heat, checking it frequently to make sure it isn't burning. Stop ironing when the waxed paper layers are stuck together and the crayon shavings are melted. To help avoid unsealed parts, try to leave a rim of waxed paper around the edges without any fillings.
4. When the artwork has cooled off, trim the edges carefully, avoinding any of the filling. If there any unsealed parts, patch them with some transparent tape.* Punch a hole near the top of your artwork for hanging and you have a beautiful faux stained glass window!

*pinking shears make the cut out look great!

Everyone that I met with and worked with at MBF was amazing! I was very impressed by how helpful, organized, professional, kind and caring everyone was. –-Christiana Elmer,

Nanny I was very pleased with the permanent placement experience. Kate Joubert was very responsive, and worked very quickly to find nannies to interview. She was very open about the process. –-Juliet Davis, Nanny Client

If you know someone who is looking for part-time work, send them our way! We are seeking Temp Nannies with lots of availability!  Corporate Back-up childcare is also a great way for our nannies to meet wonderful families and help out working parents while getting in some great hours!  Please let us know if you know anyone who might be interested in these types of positions.

Also, don’t forget to check out the job board for all of the amazing opportunities we have available!

Exhausted parents turn to night nannies to catch some Zzz's
Mom’s Best Friend was quoted in a recent San Antonio Express article about night nannies.
August 23, 2008

New Background Check Does Work for Parents
Mom’s Best Friend was featured on CBS News regarding the exceptional new background checks provided by CSIdentity.
August 7, 2008

New Background Check Does Work for Parents
Tips for choosing a nanny and the description of Mom’s Best Friend’s new stringent background checks provided by CSIdentity as featured on Fox News.
August 6, 2008

Together we painted wooden animals and flowers to create fun decorations for their rooms! We also got their creative juices flowing as they built and created an edible snack with graham cracker, icing and some fun candy!