Nanny Life Articles by Hope at Nanny Shecando

Back-to-school blues.

Nothing. Gah. Don’t ask me that. Boring!

Are the words most often out of my kids mouths shortly after the school pickup. There’s also a good chance these words are served with a side of some substantial huffing and even a little storming-off-to-slam-a-door if they’re feeling particularly committed to their performance.

Usually my gentle prompting elicits the afore-mentioned closed-mouthed, teenage-esque type mumblings (ironic really seeing as they’re not even close to being teenagers – I’m pointing my finger at the invasion of American television for this. J’accuse!!)

As you can imagine, with this kind of attitude, it’s always interesting to hear what they have to say. Sometimes I’ll get lucky and receive a non-committal: “I can’t remember”, followed by: “we had (insert occasional random subject like Chinese or Art or Cooking).

This usually plays out for at least the first hour that we’re home in the afternoons. I’ve learnt to leave them be, to give them their space, to let them digest the day’s events. This is in the vain hope that they’ll come to me once they’ve cooled off and volunteer the information I seek freely and happily.

This scenario is nothing new and can be found in most households (don’t quote me on this, but come on. Really?!). According to certain respected (maybe respected?) child psychologists and educators, this occurrence can be attributed to the idea that children form “schemas” based on their experiences and the norms of everyday life and routine. Interestingly, I find that as adults we often do the same. For example, I can have a full-on day at work and still come home and say, “oh the usual, nothing major” when asked as to how my day went.

Source

It is thought that once a routine becomes a habit, it is no longer viewed as being special or different. From the perspective of the children, their day is regarded as being somewhat uneventful and mundane, thus explaining the boring responses in answer to my (Spanish) inquisition.

So, as today marks the first day back at school for this family, I have a teensy-tiny request to all of the teachers out there. Note: I shall include myself in this poor lot and mark a permanent yellow sticky-note to my brain for future reference.

“To all of the teachers out there: please change it up a little bit every now and then. You know, ‘variety is the spice of life’ and all that. Please make an effort to engage your students each and every day, to encourage them, to inspire them, to fuel their never-ending hunger for information and to equip them with the necessary skills to go forth and conquer.”

And if nothing else, tell a new joke each day. I’d love the chance to have a normal conversation in the afternoons without feeling as though I’m pulling teeth. Hey, I might even be dazzled with a smile.

The Only Way To Have A Friend Is To Be One

The Joys of true friendship

I’m currently loving the good vibes of a long weekend. There’s just something so great about getting a three-day weekend every once in a while to change it up a bit. It’s the equivalent to a mini holiday in an otherwise long few months. Even better than enjoying a three-day weekend is getting to spend it with my best friend. She’s back in town for the weekend and I’m loving it; happy days!

I recently saw a blog post by Tiffany Zimmerman @ The Working Mother’s Notebook. She was talking to her kids about “How to be Friends”. She went on to quote Emerson, saying that the only way to have a friend is to be one.

It’s really quite timely that I happened across this post at the same time my best friend was to be back in town. We usually keep up a long-distance relationship. Yes, it call it a relationship and not just a friendship. We’ve been maintaining this since we both graduated from university and went off to make our mark in the world.

In my opinion, Emerson really sums up the conditions of friendship quite nicely and it got me to thinking. This insider wisdom is something that I’ve been trying to impart onto my kiddies for a while now. With all the girls at stages of their lives in where they’re undergoing changes in activities and interests, they’re also changing friends as well. Because that’s what kids do right, they haven’t quite learned that having friends with differences can actually be advantageous. We’ve had many talks about liking each and everyone for who they are, despite their differences, and to show kindness and respect to all. We’ve had talks about the need to show empathy and understanding, to have the want and inclination to be able to put ourselves into the other person’s shoe and to see what they see. And we’ve had talks to explain that sometimes friends go their separate ways from time to time, but true friends will always withstand and come back together when the time is right.

That’s exactly the way it is with my best friend. We weren’t always friends. In-fact, for a while when we first met at university you could say we were anything but friends. We were chalk and cheese. But we overcame our differences and went on to spend years together. Studying together, living together, working together, holidaying together and no-doubt driving each other crazy together. We shared our dreams and aspirations and helped each other to meet our goals.

These days we’ve gone our separate ways. We faced a fork in the road and I suddenly decided to go left and she kept working towards her goals to the right.

Thankfully our friendship has survived (like it wouldn’t)! When you have such respect and love for one another, and a deep-rooted appreciation for the friendship and you each commit yourselves, I think you’re in with a good chance. Essentially, I think that’s what Emerson was saying. It goes both ways, and takes a fair amount of contribution. Nothing comes for nothing, it all takes work, but the rewards in doing so are exponential. To quote my dear friend, you won’t get it if you don’t ask for it.

So girls, next time you’re facing friendship struggles, remember that you have to put yourself out there. Say what you want, mean it, work for it, respect it, and value it. In turn, it will all work out for the best. Remember, the only way to have a friend is to be one.

With love to my best friend. xx

Do you keep up a long distance relationship with a friend? Are you friends with someone now who you weren’t always friends with?

Tuesday: the new hump-day

It’s Tuesday.

Not quite yet hump-day. But its dragging all the same. We did have tentative plans to go to The Zoo today. But we rescheduled when I checked the weather forecast and saw that afternoon storms were on the agenda. Yep, that wasn’t going to be such a great day out at the zoo.

So we’ve instead been making the most of our time spent inside. As we’re now well into our second (and final) week of the school holidays, it’s highly possible that I am slowly running out of fun-laden activities to keep us all occupied and happy. Disclaimer: I’m actually full of ideas but my material (the kiddies) that I have to work with are kind of holding me back. It doesn’t help when they are self-proclaimed hermits who would rather watch back-to-back episodes of iCarly and Big Time Rush than venture out into the great unknown. Talk about needing a good ‘ol push!

We’ve absolutely turned the kitchen inside-out and upside-down making pancakes, brownies, various fruit muffins, cupcakes and cookies. We’ve turned the house-work into games (yay for getting the laundry done ahead of schedule). We’ve played board games and numerous variations on the classic hide ‘n’ seek. We’ve done arts n craft and colouring in. Oh my have we done some colouring in (sadly I’m pretty sure the red texta is never, ever coming out of the carpet).

We’ve even made a fairy house for our special little fluttery friends out in the rose garden. (Ok so this was probably my favourite activity to be honest. I’m a sucker for some glitter, coloured paper and a glue stick!).

What else can we get up to in the coming days that will entertain a house full of girls? Any ideas you’d like to share? Help is needed!

Trending: kids with vampire fangs

An open letter to Miss Charlie:

Miss Charlie, you are an amazing girl with such a vivid imagination. You are bursting with creativity and clever ideas. When everyone else is thinking logically, you’re thinking in the abstract. At just six years of age you’ve already progressed to development stages well beyond your youthful years, a feat that not even Piaget could have accounted for. You should be so incredibly proud of this. I know I am proud on your behalf. Your level of maturity and sage perspective makes it an absolute pleasure to spend time with you. Everyday you make me smile and laugh and ensure that I rethink my viewpoint on most things. I look forward to listening to all of your interesting stories from your adventures at school. Also, don’t tell anyone, but I especially love the 3pm school pick up because it rationalises my longing for ice cream. I mean if you’re eating ice cream then I figure I can too right?

My only wish, and I say this out of the kindness of my heart,

is that you stop trying to turn me into a vampire.

I of course more than willingly do Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy, The Easter Bunny and all of your imaginary friends. Sometimes I convince myself that there is a Sock Fairy that has a thing for creating odd socks, and I often wish for a Cleaning Fairy that would magically sweep her wand and make everything sparkle. Come to think of it, I even have a resounding belief that Fairies really are out there flitting about in the magical woods. Despite this, I simply won’t do ‘vampires’. Yes Twilight is a pretty cool story. Yes Dracula is a classic and puts forth a solid argument (not that you’re old enough to have read the rather imposing tome). But I simply can’t possibly believe that vampires exist. I know this because if they did, Edward Cullen would already have been mine. I would be enjoying an ever-lasting lifetime of sheer angelic beauty, unparalleled senses and a love story like no other. I am sure of my convictions.

So please, and I cannot stress this enough, please stop trying to bite me and turn me into a vampire with your razor-sharp vampire fangs. It’s kind of weird to have you show your teeth and hiss at me. My blood does not taste sweet, it tastes metallic and I’m sure would be rather unpleasant to drink. Please stop refusing to eat all food except that which resembles blood, you’re doing my head in and making meal times even more difficult to plan than they already are. Furthermore, please stop trying to bite yourself! Your precious skin will thank you for it when you’re older. Most of all, regardless of the benefit of hindsight, it’s just simply not worth the pain and heartache.

Keep in mind my requests, give it some thought and see what you think. You should find that I’m not really asking too much of you.

Yours truly,

Nanny SheCanDo.

Fighting the crowds to meet the dolphins.

So we went to the beach today.

Yes it was hot. Yes it was super jam-packed and busy. Yes we had to fight the crowds to find a car-park and then fight off the same crowds for a little peace of sand (preferably in the shade).

But my gosh it was beautiful. A picture perfect day. And well, I guess that’s kind of what I did. Take pictures. That’s what happens when you’re snap-happy. The pistachio gelato may have influenced that slightly. Just saying.

p.s. It was Bubba’s first time at the beach. Congratulations to her, what a milestone. Way to get her started on a true Australian past time from such a young age. It was an introduction that she’ll remember for a lifetime. The fresh salt air, the cool breeze blowing, the harsh glare of the light coming back off the water, the greasy skin coated with thick heavy layers of sunscreen, the sand between her toes. The sand all through her bag. The sand mysteriously finding its way into any number of drink bottles. The sand in her glasses and sunglasses and their respective cases. The sand all through her coin purse. The sand throughout each individual page of whichever book or magazine she may be thumbing through so that as she turns the page it crinkles and becomes sticky. Come to think of it, she may as well just prepare herself to have sand go everywhere. And anywhere. Because that’s just what it does…

No, that gritty feeling in your mouth is not toothpaste. It’s in-fact sand.

That’s the beach for you. Heaven in liquid form.

Enjoy. Love it. Live it. Look after it.