Nanny Shecando

Supporting the international nanny industry

  • About
  • Blog
    • All Blog Posts
    • The Read Aloud Series
    • Nanny Life
    • ‘How To’ Series
    • DIY + Crafts
    • Nanny Careers Guide
    • Nanny Resources
    • Lifestyle
  • Work With Me
  • Press
    • Press Mentions
    • Nanny Industry Spotlight
  • Nanny Spotlight
  • CONTACT
    • FAQ
    • Disclosure + Policy
  • New Reader? Start Here…

Teacher Preacher

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Chatting to one of The Twins this afternoon, the dialogue went something like this:

“Are you going to be a teacher?”

I sure am!

“Wow, you’d be a really good teacher!” (Glancing at my study notes) “That to-do list is pretty big, that’s a lot of work!”

It sure is, luckily I have you guys to distract me from it.

“I guess you would (emphasis on the would) have a lot to learn, as a teacher you kind of need to know EVERYTHING. Better get studying!

 

…Jeez, thanks for the vote of confidence guys… good to know you’ve got my back.

 

July 26, 2013 By Hope @ Nanny Shecando Filed Under: They Said What?!

Kid Friendly Yummy Berry Muffins

cooking, recipe, muffins, kids, nanny life

It’s Friday Fun Day and we’ve got yummy Berry Muffins on the menu. These muffins are absolute winners with the kids and usually requested quicker than I can make them. The super easy recipe means that all the kids (no matter the age) can pull up a stool and don their aprons to become my sous chefs.

When making these muffins, remember that they’re super yummy. They’re also super easy. This means that the kids are keen to get in on the action (which is great) but also means they’re going to each call dibs on licking the bowl. To compensate, I usually double the recipe quantities to make sure we actually end up with a decent amount of muffins for afternoon tea and school lunches the next day.

Recipe: Kid-Friendly Yummy Berry Muffins

Given that this recipe is totally kid friendly, I do make sure that I’ve evacuated the kitchen of all the sharp objects. This includes the knives. I also add 1/3 cup of white chocolate chips sometimes as a special treat.

muffins, recipe, cooking, berry, kids, nanny life

[gmc_recipe 1736]

>>> Are you a muffin or cupcake person?

July 26, 2013 By Hope @ Nanny Shecando Filed Under: Kitchen

A Cappuccino Is Not A Flat White With Chocolate

areyouahipsterbarista

A Note To The Hipster Baristas

In another life time not too long ago I was a hospitality person. I spent many years across all areas of the industry. From cleaning dishes as my very first job, to studying commercial cookery with dreams of being a chef, to standing behind a coffee machine all day and training staff, to waiting tables in cafés and fine dining restaurants, to working in luxury hotels and even studying my under-grad at university in the field. You name it, I did it.

Further Reading: The Essential Coffee Ratio For the Perfect Coffee

What’s more, I tried my hand at managing restaurants – in where I took on the arduous and rather dubious tasks of all things associated with a) managing staff and directing traffic – my gosh, the pain of working with those who don’t care about doing a good job and who don’t appreciate the necessity for exceptional service, and b) wrestling every single day with the finances. Which was a nightmare in itself!

It was at this point that I left my career in hospitality, much to the surprise of those around me, and began my little foray into all things kid related. Although, to be brutally honest, the two are very similar. Both have me working with those whom I need to repeat instructions to, again and again and again and again until I think that I must surely be talking to the brick walls! Both need me to walk around and pick up after everyone and do a fair amount of “hand holding”. And lastly, both have me tearing my hair out at the end of some (most) days.

The advantage of my earlier career is that I’m left with just a tiny bit of knowledge under my belt. Knowledge and experience that I like to draw upon from time to time. So with that in mind, here is a little something that I feel like sharing today. It may be somewhat useful to those struggling in this particular area. To all the baristas out there, whether self-proclaimed or legit:

[tooltip text=”TooltipText”]A cappuccino is not a latté with chocolate on top. It’s also not a flat white with chocolate on top. Nor is a latté anything like a flat white.[/tooltip]

Yes Hipster Baristas, I’m talking to you. All you beard sporting, beanie wearing, checked shirt modelling guys (and girls) out there having a little boogie to the likes of Fat Freddy’s behind your shiny new La Marzocco machines. Listen up and listen good. You need to get you notes together and fix this. You’ve got unhappy customers everywhere!

On another note, just because you give marshmallows to my kids and call them cute, I am not going to forgive you for your lack of coffee skills. You’ve been warned.

campos, coffee, hipster, barista, nanny, shecando

July 25, 2013 By Hope @ Nanny Shecando Filed Under: Lifestyle

Magic Genie

Grant me a wish, or not…

Miss Charlie had a play date this afternoon. Well kind of a play date. Every Wednesday she and her best friend have ballet class after school. I picked them up from school and we fought our way back up the street. As usual they trudged along behind me and the pram, trying not to step on the cracks and gossiping in their secret code about the day’s events. More like who’s crushing on who no doubt! (I have it on good authority from The Twins that there is a certain “boy” on the horizon for Miss Charlie – I’ll have to keep you posted on that one).

As we cross the pedestrian crossing and the Lollipop lady scowls at me for lagging behind at the back of the group of sheep, The Friend skips up to me. She tugs on my hand and says in a rather unusual sing-song voice, one that could only mean trouble and one that is loud enough for all of the nearby parents to hear,

You look really pretty today.

I couldn’t believe it! I smiled and began to thank her, saying that it was a very nice thing to say, only to be cut off by her once more – she wasn’t finished.

The little-devil-monster, oops I mean The Friend, proceeds to tack on,

Much prettier than last week. Last week you were wearing those baggy genie pants… Uggglllyyyyy

Well, guess that’s that. Apparently my fat pants aren’t even fooling the kids…

Awesome.

July 24, 2013 By Hope @ Nanny Shecando Filed Under: They Said What?!

Learning To Invest Wisely With Monopoly

Investing Wisely: Monopoly

(Invest Wisely With Monopoly) The last day of holidays before school returned marked the end of an epic three-day game of highly competitive monopoly! It was fast paced, highly thrilling as each player faced unforeseen financial burdens, and frustrating as strategies were won and others lost.

The best part was that it was fun and enjoyable.

As the game drew to an end and those still standing carefully counted up the wads of cash in their pockets and added it to their prized assets (I sadly was not the proud owner of any high-priced blue or red coloured streets), I began thinking about the value that we’d experienced and benefited from in the last few days.

Quality Time Together

I realised that our epic battle had done wonders for achieving some quality time together. Not only had I successfully managed to divert attention away from the TV (iCarly and Victorious were seriously doing my head in), but I had also managed to initiate some family time that could be shared and enjoyed across all ages of the siblings.

Educational Value

The educational value in a game like Monopoly meant the older girls were exposed to real life concepts concerned with understanding monetary finance and how best to manage their money responsibly. It a lesson in investing wisely with monopoly. Simple mathematics of adding up and giving change proved rewarding to the little ones. It prompted them to consider the balance between the benefits of holding large cash money as opposed to owning many assets, planning ahead and budgeting for taxes and necessary expenditures (like landing themselves in jail or on the many hotels and houses placed on Park Lane and Mayfair), and the concept of working strategically towards achieving their goals.

For Miss 6, even though her interest in the game peaked at times and waned at others (a 6-year-old just doesn’t have the attention span for epic Monopoly battles), it was interesting to work through the challenges of simple mathematics with her. Whilst many might say that resorting to methods such as counting on your fingers is not beneficial to long-term development, it proved a great method in a time poor situation.

Miss 6 showed leaps and bounds when quickly counting her little fingers to add up the dice to move her marker around the board. When she landed herself in jail, we talked about the similarity between the two times tables and doubling numbers. Suddenly 2×3 was an easy “6” despite 3×2 proving a challenge. When the banker found herself short of $100 notes, Miss 6 understood that having 2 lots of $50 notes was just as good.

Team Spirit

Perhaps the most valuable lesson that all children faced throughout the duration of the competition was the importance of fairness and being humble. As older sister #2 landed on free parking for the third time, acquiring so much cash that she could barely count it, the rest of us found ourselves smiling and saying congratulations to her. We understood that whilst it perhaps was not fair that she had all of the good fortune, we we accepted that such was the luck of the game and the roll of the dice.

A family game of monopoly is a lesson fairness, team spirit, mathematics and investing wisely. #nannylife #schoolholidays

Click To Tweet

As official keeper of the peace and judge presiding over sibling rivalry, I speak for all when I say that:

No matter the outcome, win or lose; the experience was fun, thought provoking, highly entertaining, much more rewarding than another episode of Spongebob, and definitely one for the memory bank.

>>> Does you family play intensely competitive games of Monopoly? Do they invest wisely?

July 19, 2013 By Hope @ Nanny Shecando Filed Under: Nanny Life

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42

Oh, Hi There!

I'm Hope & I help nannies transform their approach to job search, and inspire those working with kids to maximise their potential within the international nanny industry. Plus, did I mention I like crafts + diy, baking & playing! Read More

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Featured Posts

A DIY Velcro No Sew Banner from Dunne with Style

A DIY Velcro No Sew Banner Craft

We received this cute heart-shaped VELCRO ® NO SEW BANNER craft, project designed by Dunne with Style, to feature and review on the blog. Given we love all things craft and DIY, we jumped at the opportunity to review this product. And when there’s Velcro © involved, well we thought it’d be an easy win […]

Make these kid-friendly salt dough necklaces for mother's day by NANNY SHECANDO and A Crafty Living

Salt Dough Necklaces for Mother’s Day

Give Mum a one-of-a-kind Mother’s Day gift with these simple kid-made Salt Dough Necklaces. We’ve teamed up with Olivia over at A Crafty Living to bring you this fun Mother’s Day gift idea. To make use of your extra salt dough, check out Olivia’s salt dough fridge magnets. With Mother’s Day approaching we got crafty […]

How To Make Recycled Egg Carton Mini Easter Egg Baskets with A Crafty Living and Olivia Foster for NANNY SHECANDO

Recycled Egg Carton Mini Easter Egg Baskets

Easter has come early this year! To celebrate our EGG-citement, for a long weekend, family festivities & of course, CHOCOLATE, we made these Mini Easter Egg Baskets! A hands-on, messy craft using just a few supplies from your craft box. These Mini Easter Egg Baskets are a great way to limit your child’s daily chocolate […]

St Patricks Day Fizzing Shamrocks Craft, A Crafty Living, easy kids crafts

St Patrick’s Day Fizzing Shamrocks Craft

We got in the spirit of St Patrick’s Day this week – Fizzing Shamrocks craft anyone? – with this awesome science-meets-art project. Have you ever tried the baking soda & vinegar experiment? This was the first time Mr3 had experienced it. To say he loved it would be an understatement! I didn’t tell him about the […]

Post Categories

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 132 other subscribers

Recent Posts

  • A DIY Velcro No Sew Banner Craft
  • Salt Dough Necklaces for Mother’s Day
  • Recycled Egg Carton Mini Easter Egg Baskets
  • St Patrick’s Day Fizzing Shamrocks Craft
  • Make These Valentines Day Heart Prints
  • Valentines Day Washi Tape Wall Sticker Love Notes
  • Make This Preschooler DIY Cutting Station
  • Toddler Friendly Easy Kids Christmas Craft
  • The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep Book Review
  • How To Make A Paper Pocket Watch
  • ‘Nanny Life’ Series
  • DIY + Crafts
  • Lifestyle
  • Careers Guide
  • ‘How To’ Series

Copyright © 2023 · NANNY SHECANDO by HOPE FOR NANNIES