Full-Time Child Care Provider Available in Dyer, IN: Alicia K.

$18/hr

3 years of paid experience

A little bit about me

Hello! My name is Alicia Kulik and I love the field of early childhood education. I have my degree in music education with experience in special education and I worked at a preschool and infant/toddler center for 2 years. Now I am a nanny and I love what I do! I do all things with patience, kindness, compassion, and silliness. I take on the roll of "best friend" where I actively play with them the whole time I am there. Through child-led play, we work on vocabulary, manners, safe play, and I throw in other educational tidbits like counting, colors, shapes, etc. No matter what the child wants to do, I am right there with them: running around the house with them, drawing with chalk, playing with play-doh, playing with legos: I am there. I am really good at matching the vibes, humor, and energy of the child. My favorite thing is seeing how excited the kids are to see me!! "He is so excited to see you, he adores you!" "She wouldn't stop asking for you!"

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Looking For

Availability

Start: ASAP

Monday, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun 7:00am - 9:00pm

Full-time

Live-out

Age Groups

Infants

Toddlers

Preschoolers

Grade-schoolers

How often do you need a child care provider?

Full-Time Part-Time

Qualifications

Certifications

Driver’s License

CPR

First Aid

Other

Car

Light housekeeping

Meal prep

Special needs

Work Experience

3 years of experience caring for:

Infants (0-11 months)

Toddlers (1-3 years)

Preschoolers (4-9 years)

Grade-schoolers (10-12 years)

More About Me

Relevant experience where I also cared for children were...

at the Indiana State University Early Childhood Education Center!

Activities I enjoy doing with children...

I will do any activity that the child is interested in, I fully involve myself with whatever the child wants to do. I like to act like a patient friend who plays with them all day while also teaching them how to play kindly with others. I love to throw in educational tidbits with these activities because the child is most receptive to learning when it's an activity they love to do. My absolute favorite is building marble towers, but I also love building with blocks, train tracks, magnetiles, etc. I also love swimming, running, and drawing with chalk. I also love to draw things that the child is interested in, like Scooby Doo or cars. Then I outline the drawings in ink and the child can color it in if they want to. I love this type of collaborative work.

The most important part about being a nanny...

Personally, I will always act and speak in kindness. I firmly believe children need kindness, patience, and in building communication skills, they need to be listened to. I will never talk over a child who is excitedly telling me something. It is also very important for me to always keep perspective on what it means to be a 2 or 3 year old child--to have only a tiny amount of time and experience living on this world. Every single task has to be learned, and this is extra difficult for them as their little fingers are still developing the strength necessary to carry out more difficult tasks like buttoning pants, opening up Play-doh, or undoing buckles. This goes hand in hand with understanding their big emotions. For them, these emotions feel all-consuming and things like exhaustion and hunger can impact the gravity of these big emotions as well. I am all about endless patience and teaching emotional regulation.

My experience with special needs children...

I completed a class on music in the special education field and did field observations and lessons in a contained classroom. I have also babysat for children on the spectrum and worked on developing the speech of said children. I occasionally babysit for an 18 year old girl on the spectrum and hang out with her--she gets very excited when I come over and she loves hanging out with me!

The most important part about being a nanny...

It's so hard to choose a favorite but I remember one time this very sweet kid got us both pillows so we could pretend to sleep. Every time I would pretend to fall asleep and make hooonk mimimi noises and then I would just start singing random melodies. The kid would laugh and yell "WHAT?! Why are you singing!!" Then he would explain how to sleep. Perks of having a music education degree? Being able to sing little melodies from a Mozart opera on the fly.