this had a funny title which I forgot

I wanted to write about babysitters and nannies. Matt came up with a hysterical title. Now we both forgot it. Damn. But, I can still write about the topic.

A few weeks ago, I turned onto a street in my neighborhood and saw a toddler strapped in her stroller sitting by herself on the sidewalk. I realized it was my friends daughter. I pulled over and waited for her nanny to show up. And waited. And parallel parked. And waited a bit more. It was about 3 minutes total. The front door of the house was open and the nanny had obviously run in for a forgotten item. But man, it would scare me to leave my kids like that.

I have not told my friend yet. I meant to, but she is really a passing aquaintence, and I dont know her style. Maybe she leaves her daughter on the sidewalk too. It is a friendly neighborhood.

I have no real point here but to generally point out the need for quality childcare in America. We pay a lot of money to women who have no real training in childcare, child development, education or any related field. In most cases, these nannies want to be in America and this is a highpaying job that requires no college degree. Strangely, the childcare providers with college degrees work at certified daycares where they make a lot less money.

After college, I interviewed at a reputable daycare and the pay was pittance for working 8am to 6 pm! Turnover at daycares is high and no wonder. However, these young, educated and enthusiastic teachers prefer doing daycare than private nanny because of the reputation of the job. Many people perceive nanny as a demeaning job, not a career. Yet, childcare teacher is a prefectly respectable job. If you took a survey of college seniors and asked them if they would consider being a professional nanny, the results would be a resounding no. However, ask that same group if they would consider a career as a day care center teacher, many would consider it.

They just don't know the true job descriptions:

Job 1: hours 9-5 or 8:30-6 . Take care of less than 3 children. Determine your own schedule. Lunch with friends and their charges (usually paid for by your employer.) Picnic in the park. Take a break while the kids go to art or karate class. some light housekeeping. Make $12-$15 an hour, often with health care benefits. 2-3 weeks paid vacation of your choosing, in addition to vacations when your employers leave town.

Job 2: hours 8-6 or 7-5. Take care of 8-10 children. Follow a strict schedule- work extra hours on lesson plans and prep work. No lunch break, other than eating at a tiny table with your charges eating nast beany weenies and chicken nuggets. Housekeeping including- diaper changing, clean up after meals, preparing the meals, cleaning the toys, washing down tables, floors. 10 days vacation, generally not during holidays. Pay- $7.50-$10/hour. Health care included.

Which job are you taking? Job 1? Yeah, me too!

Happy Birthday to You!!

Seriously, I am alive, I just took a break from updating for a while. Sorry to all my avid readers, and apparently, there actually are some.

Anyway, just to catch you up since I last wrote;
1. Jacob is still screeching before and during dinner. At least it makes me lose my appetite, so maybe I will lose the last few pregnancy pounds.
2. Nate had his 4th birthday party- which I will write about
3. We are planning a west coast 2 week jaunt, which I am beginning to dread. I dont want to live out of a suitcase for 2 weeks in a hotel room! But, we will see some great stuff.

So about Nate's birthdays... I will admit it, I get totally, ridiculously carried away. For his 1st birthday, we had a "Chicka Chicka Birthday" (A play on the Bill Martin, Lois Ehlert book, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom). Obviously, that is not a theme you can find at the local party store, so I made hand-cut paper invitations and invited everyone I knew with kids. Nate was completely overwhelmed and spent the entire party with his head in our housekeepers lap. (She was an invited guest, as she had young kids). We had alphabet cookies, and alphabet pretzels and alphabet everything.

I calmed down slightly for his second birthday, and did a "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" theme, which was easier to find stuff for. I only went slightly bananas on the gift bags and was searching dollar stores 3 months before his party for cars and books about cars.

I got bitten by the smart bug in 2005 and outsourced his birthday party. I simply wrote a check to a local kids gym and had a Dora the Explorer birthday party (it killed me to do a tv theme party after my 2 previous creative themes), but I will admit, it was super easy. After all, I just wrote a check- the gym went to the party store and got everything Dora. I did go slightly crazy over the invitations. I could not simply get the ugly Dora fill in the blank teeny invite cards. I went to the paper store and got gorgeous heavy weight lime-green paper with bright purple envelopes. Then the invitation read, "Come on Vamanos, everybody let's go to...Nate's party!" It had Dora stickers on the envelope.

This year was much trickier, Nate wanted a Rainforest Party. Then he wanted a Superman party, then a swimming party, then so on and so on. We settled on a rainforest party, but I did not know where to hold it or what to do for it. After last year's easy party, I did not want to have it at my house, so I scheduled a swim party then changed my mind. (I did not want to cut cake in a wet bathing suit) Then made plans for a hiking party at a nature center., then decided it would be too hot. Finally, we settled on a party at the National Aquarium. It was perfect. It was low key, just a few kids were in town for it, so the numbers were not overwhelming.

Now I just have 12 months to plan for number 5. I can't wait to see what he is into next year. His parties are really emblematic of where his interests lie. I also see his birthday as my anniversary of becoming a parent, so perhaps that is why I make such a big deal over them.

What do you do for your kids' birthdays? Have you or anyone you know gone really over the top? Although many would consider spending $100 for renting the aquarium + $75 on gift bags, paper goods, art supplies +$70 on food over the top.