Mother’s day is a wonderful time for each of us to take a moment and celebrate Mom.

On this special day tell your mom (again and again) how much you love her, make a poem, write a letter, take mom out to her favorite restaurant, buy flowers, give her a day off (let her relax while the rest of the family does the work), etc.

Touch your mothers heart by writing these sentimental quotes in Mother’s Day cards, letters or gift wraps.

• “A mother’s arms are more comforting than anyone else’s.” — Diana, Princess of Wales

• “By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not have regular time off. They are the great vacationless class.” — Anne Morrow Lindbergh

• “A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.” — Dorothy Canfield Fisher

• “Never marry a man who hates his mother, because he’ll end up hating you.” — Jill Bennett

• “It is not until you become a mother than your judgment slowly turns to compassion and understanding.” — Erma Bombeck

• “Becoming a mother makes you the mother of all children. From now on each wounded, abandoned, frightened child is yours. You live in the suffering mothers of every race and creed and weep with them. You long to comfort all who are desolate.” – Charlotte Gray

• “At work, you think of the children you have left at home.At home, you think of the work you’ve left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent.” — Golda Meir

• “All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.” — Oscar Wilde

• “There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.” – Chinese Proverb

Mothers Day Poem
M – O – T – H – E – R
“M” is for the million things she gave me,
“O” means only that she’s growing old,
“T” is for the tears she shed to save me,
“H” is for her heart of purest gold;
“E” is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
“R” means right, and right she’ll always be,
Put them all together, they spell
“MOTHER,”
A word that means the world to me.

Howard Johnson (c. 1915)

HAVE A HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

                          

Choosing child care is an important and sometimes hard decision. If you go back to work, it may mean the end of the special time with your child. For some parents it may feel good, since it means that you have time to do some things for yourself again. Whether you need child care for a very small number of hours or full-time (40 hours a week), spend the time needed to find the setting that is right for you and your child.

There are many child-care choices available. Some families have grandparents or other family to look after their children, while others have a babysitter or a nanny to come to their home. Some take their child to a family daycare provider who cares for a small group of children of different ages in their own home. And still others choose group child care at a centre.

Think about what it is that you are looking for or need.

Plan What Will Work for Your Family

• Do you need care full-time, part-time, or for only a few days a month?
• Can you get your child to daycare or does the caregiver need to come to you?
• Do you need care for the same days each week? Or will you need someone at short notice, or someone who can stay at night if necessary, or someone to care for your child on different days each week?
• How many hours of child care do you need each day? Think about travel time to and from daycare.
• Can you find child care close to your workplace?
• How much can you pay? (Find out about child care subsidies)

Plan What Will Work for Your Child

• Does your child like large groups, small groups or does he like one-to-one attention?
• Do you think he will be happy at home with one caregiver? Having brothers or sisters at home helps.
• Does you child like going out and having lots of things to do, or does he like quiet times the best?

Children can be happy in many different sorts of child-care settings.

(Toddler’s First Steps – A Best Chance Guide to Parenting Your Six-Month to Three-Year-Old)
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If your family has two or more children, childcare performed by a nanny is likely to be a money-saver. Pay rates in this case range from the minimum wage ($8.00 per hour in B. C.) to about $10.00 per hour. At the lower end of the scale, the cost of having a nanny is comparable with that of keeping two children in day care.

Even if you have one child, a live-in nanny still have an advantage. You can confidently leave for work in the morning without rushing your child to a the day care. If you are on shift work, a nanny can adjust her hours to accommodate yours. Also, beyond the care for your children, some domestic chores can be performed by the nanny allowing you to spend more quality time with your children after a day’s work. These criteria also apply to a live-out nanny who visits your home daily. However, a live-in has the advantages of never arriving late for work and having little chance of canceling at the last minute.
Do you have more questions? Visit our Forum: CAREGIVERS in CANADA.

The biggest bonus in this case is that nannies are less likely than other types of caregivers to switch employment. Therefore, a nanny can give your child a sense of consistency. Between one and three years of age, children establish strong bonds with caregivers. At this stage, a child’s language skills are too undeveloped to understand why the childcare arrangement has changed. When a nanny suddenly leaves, a toddler may react with aggressive behaviour or retreat into babyish activities like thumb-sucking. The child is displaying bewilderment over the loss.

From age three to six, a child will be more understanding but will still experience distress if a favourite caregiver leaves. This happens often with informal baby-sitting arrangements. Even at day-care centers with prescribed child-minding philosophies, staff turnover is high. Live-in nannies are more stable because leaving their jobs means leaving their homes.

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A part-time nanny is required when parents need help with the care of the children for less than 40 hours a week. For example, care for the children before or after school, or when a parent is working from home and a nanny is needed to watch the children only for a few hours a day. Even for a stay at home mom, a part-time nanny is ideal when she needs time for herself to run errands or go to the gym, to mention just a few. In general, a part-time nanny hourly salary is higher than the full time one. Consider the following:

1. The cost and the time consuming transportation to and from the employer’s home is the same for either case. However, the ratio between time consumed and daily income is much less favorable for the part time nanny.
2. Job security is at a lower level for part-timers as conditions may change more often
3. More flexibility is required to meet the employer’s changing schedule.

Because of these and other factors, it is considered a lot harder to find a suitable part-time nanny.

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If you are looking for a nanny job, PARAGON Personnel Ltd. can assist you in your job search as we specialize in placing nannies with families all over BC.

Contact us at 604-298-6633 so we can find out some information about you – your background, current and previous childcare experience. Please specify if you are looking for a Live-in position or Live-out – Full Time, Part Time or Temporary.

You will be asked to come for a personal interview at our office. Please bring your resume and reference letters from your previous employers. If you are not a Canadian citizen, you are also required to bring your passport for identification and verification of your legal status in Canada.

PARAGON Personnel Ltd. will conduct a background screening to check your employment history.
When completed, we will arrange for interviews with our clients. During your interview, it is important to ask your prospective employer about your duties, responsibilities, work schedule and salary offered. You may also discuss issues like overtime compensation, medical insurance and/or any other relevant information regarding the position.
Do you have more questions? Visit our Forum: CAREGIVERS in CANADA.

Once all issues are discussed and agreed upon, we will provide a contract of employment for both sides to sign and keep one copy of the signed document. If you are under the Live-In Caregiver Program, we will initiate all procedures required to obtain a new work permit for you through Human Resources and Immigration Canada.

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In the last decade, many nanny agencies came to life like mushrooms after the rain. Only a few of those are still around but new ones keep coming and vanishing at an alarming rate. Some of these agencies owners came to Canada as nanny and later decided to put their “own shingle” and bring other nannies into Canada. Usually they operate out of their own basement, no professionalism, no license, no labor code. In some cases they offer their service free of charge to anyone willing to select their candidates. That should make you wonder: Where does their money is coming from? This fact alone should set the alarm bells ringing and the red lights blinking.

A few rules of thumb to remember when you are looking for a nanny agency:

• How long have they been operating? Are they operating from their own home?
• Are they members of Better Business Bureau?
• How do they find their candidates, locally and overseas? What is their screening process? What requirements the nannies must meet?For instance: in person interviews, childcare experience, first aid, CPR, etc.
• Do they have complete files of their applicants? What training / work experience they have?
• What if the selected nanny doesn’t work out?
• Who takes care of all documents and procedures?
• Does the service include support after the nanny starts working?
• Is there a contract / agreement between client and agency?
• Is there any obligation on the client side if no candidate is selected?

For the majority of employers who hired a nanny before, these questions are not new. For the new ones, all these questions are very relevant. It’s best if you follow one simple rule before you start your search:

“Investigate before you invest!”

Do you have more questions? Visit our Forum: CAREGIVERS in CANADA.

nanny

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According to Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, “a nanny is a person who looks after the child or children of one family in their — the child’s — home. Modern nannies may live in or out, like other domestic workers, depending on their circumstances and those of their employers.

A nanny may perform tasks such as:

* Providing childcare during the hours agreed upon with the employing family
* Supporting the physical, social, emotional, creative, and intellectual development of children
* Protecting children from harm and ensuring that they have a safe environment
* Preparing appetizing and nutritionally-balanced meals and snacks
* Maintaining good communication with the parents, informing them of each child’s development and concerns
*Maintaining the cleanliness and neatness of the house as affected by the children”

The same source a Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, defines au pair as “an Anglicization of the French term “au pair,” which means “on par” or “equal to” and describes a young person living on an equal basis with a host family in a foreign country. The au pair helps the family with childcare, housework, or both while staying as a guest of the family and generally receiving a small allowance (or pocket money). An au pair will typically be a young woman, or sometimes a young man, who is accepted into the host family as an extended family member. Both the family and au pair are expected to respect cultural differences and display tolerance towards one another.
Do you have more questions? Visit our Forum: CAREGIVERS in CANADA.

Arrangement
An au pair placement is an arrangement where an unmarried person between 17 and 30 years old lives for up to two years in a foreign country as a member of a local family, helping in the home for a set number of hours a day, often with at least two full days off per week. In return, they receive a reasonable allowance and a private room.
Treatment
An au pair shall be treated as an equal part of the family, not as a servant, and shall not be required to wear a uniform. There can be misunderstandings on both sides about what this means. The usual practice is that Au pairs eat with the family most of the time, and join in some of the usual family activities such as outings and trips. However, host families normally expect to have some private time to themselves, particularly in the evenings. During this time, an Au pair might retire to his or her room to watch TV or study, or go out with friends.

Being an Au pair can be a great opportunity to experience a different country and culture. The “job” of the Au pair will vary depending on how much the host family expects, although there are government set limits as to how much you are allowed to work. Jobs vary from taking/picking up kids from school, taking the kids to after school classes, cooking, cleaning, ironing, babysitting,etc. The au-pair is given a monthly allowance and all living/insurance/food expenses are paid by the host family.”

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Whether you are considering a live-in nanny or a live-out nanny, full-time or part-time, you must develop a “job description” before you venture into the actual search. You also need to prepare a balanced plan between responsibilities and expectations from the newly hired nanny.
Do you have more questions? Visit our Forum: CAREGIVERS in CANADA.

Usually, the nanny’s duties include: care for the children, housework and meal preparations. The priority in performing these duties is pretty much set by the children’s age and your personal preference.

Many parents will ask the nanny to concentrate on the child (baby, infant, toddler): to talk to, play with or go for a walk in the park rather then the household chores. Therefore, it is imperative to outline and discuss in details (during the interview) the role and the duties of the nanny, as you see them.

For the nanny position to be more attractive, you have to think of a balanced package to offer your new recruit. A fair compensation for the nanny‘s efforts includes a fair wages based on her personal experience and the going market rate, a medical insurance coverage and some extras on major holidays (Christmas, etc.)

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