Did you make a New Year’s Resolution? Have you already broken it?  No matter in a recent survey we discovered that 55% of Americans don’t manage to keep their resolutions for a whole year and 11% don’t even make it to the end of January. However, there’s a great reset button for the New Year’s Resolution that we’d like to share with you. Resolution setting as a learning tool There’s lots of evidence that setting an active goal is more achievable, and more rewarding, than a negative one and this is a tool we can help our children to develop, which will serve them well throughout their live ..read more

The holidays are here – and families with small children at home are rushed off their feet with all the excitement (and pressure) that this season brings. But expressing some appreciation for your Nanny is never more important than at this time of year, when they are probably taking up the slack around your home to help you cope with the Nativities, Carol Concerts, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa celebrations, Yule festivities and everything else that the season brings!  It’s traditional to give your nanny an end of year bonus and that should be a serious consideration if he or she has done a good j ..read more

Whether you love fireworks or hate them, Bonfire Night is hard to get away from! For many children it’s one of those high adrenaline events that can lead to tears and tantrums, not least because sleep may have been disturbed for several nights beforehand due to other people’s firework displays. However, a happy Bonfire Night is entirely possible thanks to our top tips :   If you’re going to have fireworks, make sure that you’ve bought from a reputable retailer. Designate one person and one helper to be firework lighters and make sure everybody else stays well back. Make sure the firework ..read more

One word. Pandemic. Childcare has been as shaken up by COVID-19 as every other sector. In the USA they’re seeing a fundamental shift away from day-care to personal care for five reasons: COVID fears – because many parents are worried about unvaccinated children being exposed to COVID-19, many have pulled their kids from nurseries to have them looked after at home. For those parents who can’t afford a nanny at home, a nanny share has become a real option, reducing the exposure risk and the cost at the same time. COVID failures – for many other parents, the constant need to organise at home car ..read more

The Euros have changed our view of women’s football – quite possibly for ever. Local clubs have seen an 83% increase in requests for tryouts and taster days for girls. So, should we all be thinking about girls and football and if so, how do we go about it? Let’s start with the reason’s for football for girls. Football players are famous for their physical fitness. It’s a sport that improves cardiovascular health, balance and coordination, and mental strength. Teamwork matters in football. Children are never too young to learn to socialise, work with their peers and teach collaboration and mut ..read more

The summer holidays are here!  If this is a period that fills you with stress, relax – we have solutions to make the summer break into a pleasure for you, your children and your nanny. Preparation is everything Print out a calendar and go through it with your nanny. Work out which days you’ll take the kids out and which you’ll have fun at home. Plan play dates so that you can ensure favourite friends aren’t off abroad and build in your own travel if you’re going away. This doesn’t just help everybody see what’s happening when, but also allows you to budget because we all know how expensiv ..read more

Let’s start with the bad news. The Unite union predicts that, unless the issues are resolved, this half-term’s airport “will last the entire summer season.” So the honest first time on our guide is to consider if you can avoid air travel during the peak season – maybe postponing trips until the autumn when demand will be lower. However, we don’t all have that choice; we might be travelling for family events or just not have much flexibility, so: Slow down Work out how long you think everything will take – and we do mean everything: Time from home to the airport Time need to check in How long ..read more

One thing the pandemic taught even the most technophobic of us was that the online world can be a friend. We all learned to use Zoom and go on ‘digital dates’ and for our children too, screen-life became an essential experience. The Elite Nanny Company recommends ensuring that you have parental controls enabled on all devices your children might access, and once that’s done, you can relax in the knowledge that your children, and nanny, are safe to enjoy some excellent programming especially designed for children. Here are five of our favourite YouTube channels for kids: Blippi Blippi has had ..read more

The post-pandemic return to school is on us, again. Children, parents and carers all have strong feelings about this process, some positive, some negative. Sometimes we have both positive and negative emotions at the same time. It’s all very confusing. The Elite Nanny Guide to returning to school cuts through the confusion to help you all manage the transition well. Talking helps Children often find it difficult to talk about their anxieties, either because they don’t have the vocabulary to express their concerns or are worried about burdening parents who have already had to cope with a lot o ..read more

As many families try to work out how to organise childcare in the new lockdown period, with the complication of working from home and maintaining support bubbles, finding a nanny has become a priority for many. As many nanny candidates come from Europe, The Elite Nanny Company has been looking into what is, and isn’t, going to happen in the post-Brexit world. First, it’s important to recognise that while there are new requirements to work in the UK, the underpinning relationship and working conditions established between the EU and the UK remain in place. This means that standard conditions fo ..read more