Kathy, a Nanny for Hire in Groton, MA 01450
My name is Kathy. I am 42 years young. I have loved and been fascinated by children of all ages for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Andover but spent my summers on the Cape. From sixth grade through my senior year in high school I babysat for various families on a regular basis during the school year. (I also happened to be a drummer, was quite involved in competitive marching bands and taught private drum lessons for about ten years). During the summer months I worked full time as a live out nanny for eleven years (sixth grade through the end of my undergraduate years). Ten of those summers included positions on the Cape. I spent two summers and the school year in between working for one family in Andover. I also worked in a daycare caring for one and two-year olds one summer. Ages of the children I was lucky enough to care for during this time included:
Jodi, age 1 (one summer)
Brian and Brandon, ages 6 and 3 (two summers)
Margo and Eric, ages 5 and 2 (two summers and the school year)
Stevie and Matthew, ages 6 and 2 (two days one summer)*
Francesca and Nicholas, ages 3 and 8 months (two days one summer)*
Amanda, age 2 (two days one summer)*
*I nannied six days/week one summer working for three different families.
Sophie and Joseph, ages 8 and 4
Marissa, 1.5-7 (5 summers and half of a school year)
In addition to providing first-rate childcare my responsibilities as a nanny have included various combinations of the following: child/family laundry, child/family meal prep, child’s space/whole house organization/full cleaning, weekly food shopping, all errands (dry cleaning, post office, returns, etc.), transportation to and participation in (as appropriate) all of child’s activities, setting up and hosting play dates (or as the neighborhood mothers refer to it – “Kath’s day camp”), bath/bedtime routines, Christmas shopping for children, birthday party planning, setting up and carrying out . . . .
I also worked for a Nanny Temp Agency for two years when I first began teaching. The agency hired me out for jobs at hotels and in homes. Many of my jobs during that time were at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston. I have also cared for children/run different households for multiple days or a week when parents have had to go out of town.
Upon graduation from high school I spent a year at the Berklee College of Music. Long-term wear and tear on my wrist forced me to have to abandon a career as a music educator.
I attended the University of Lowell the following year as I figured out a new career path. After a great deal of reading and researching I knew I wanted to teach the children that no one else wanted to teach, the ones teachers found unreachable and the ones principals hoped would move. I wanted to re-establish a feeling of safety and positive self-esteem in children who were acting out or shutting down as a result of emotional issues. I wanted to help make their childhoods joyful and inspire them to love life and learning. I especially wanted them to re-enter regular education classrooms and show their teachers, peers and themselves that they could be successful. I also hoped, at some point, to have the opportunity to work with children coping with selective mutism.
To accomplish these goals, I headed to Bridgewater State College and graduated with a B.S. in Education, certified in both Early Childhood Education and Special Education. I spent the following year at Smith College, completed internships in preschool through high school and left with a Master’s in Deaf Education. Since most of my training was in oral programs I was well trained in language development.
I began my professional career in the Wellesley Public Schools where I taught a grade 3-5 language class for children with expressive and receptive language disabilities. I then moved to the Methuen Public Schools to create a program for emotionally disturbed and behavior disordered children, grades PreK-4. During this time I became quite passionate about new curriculum in the areas of reading, writing, spelling and math and decided to spend some time in regular education practicing all that I had learned. I taught in a third grade classroom for eight years in the Natick Public Schools. While working in Methuen and Natick I was very active in training others about new curriculum, methods and approaches as well as strategies for successful behavior management and time management/organization in the classroom.
As a professional, I have spent my summers teaching or directing the summer school/special education programs offered by the different school systems employing me.
Craving the chance to work with emotionally disturbed and behavior disordered students once again, I jumped at an opportunity to restore order to a program for K-4 students in the Westborough Public Schools. I enjoyed this challenge for three years. Budget cuts for this current school year resulted in me being laid off at the close of school last year. Sadly, the program was dismantled.
My commitment is always to the “whole” child. This means I can’t help but go above and beyond what is initially expected of me. I work hard to raise children who feel secure/safe, loved, respected, happy, and confident. To accomplish this, I spend a great deal of time talking to and (more time) listening to kids; this includes communicating constantly with babies – language development is of the utmost importance from day one. While I have excellent behavior management skills and am more than comfortable setting firm limits/being consistent, I am kind, patient, and able to gear my language/approach to each child’s developmental level. With older children I weave humor in to ease difficult situations/avoid power struggles and with younger children I don’t miss an opportunity to be playful and silly. Whether I’m in the classroom or at the changing table, I can’t help but take advantage of all teachable moments. I spend all day talking and explaining what I am doing, why I am doing it, what we’re going to do next, etcetera, to my own infant; again, I know language fluency is critical. Once children are talking and asking questions, I am turning those questions right back around to them to start that critical thinking as young as two years of age. I encourage and praise a child’s best effort and the ability to try, fail and try again. My line is not “practice makes perfect,” but instead “practice makes improvement.” Additionally, I strive to foster independence and personal responsibility in children.
Activities I seek to engage the children in my care in include (but certainly aren’t limited to): reading many, many books, baking/cooking, listening to music, singing songs, doing arts and crafts projects, building forts, exploring outside, inviting friends over, going on “field trips” to the library, the airport, museums, the theater, concerts, puppet shows, magic shows, the park (picnics and play), the woods, the beach, etc., i.e. whatever we can take advantage of locally. I take kids blueberry picking, convince pilots to allow them into the cockpits of small planes, have been on train rides and even bus rides (upon the request of a child). I have done all of the above with children as young as one year of age. For older kids I am a game player and can teach any of them to “almost” beat me at a game of “Spit” (cards). I shoot hoops, make ramps for Matchbox cars, create musical instruments, do paper mache, make gigantic bubbles on a humid day, draw in chocolate pudding, marbelize shaving cream with food coloring, make Kool-aid play dough . . . and am known for creating fun with little on hand. There is no limit to the ways we can enrich the life of a child and I’m always up for anything a child or parent might suggest. . I tend to be a neatnik and an organizer, so don’t worry, you would never come home and find a cookie sheet in the sink or glitter left on the table.
Communicating with parents about their children is about as important to me as caring for the children in the first place. I view the two or three of us as a team always striving to keep the child’s best interests in mind. I am open to any and all suggestions as to how best to meet your child’s needs and greatly respect parents’ wishes for their children.