Every nanny has a list of qualifications ranging from meal preparing to diaper changing, tutoring to being an in-house family soccer coach.
Nannies, don’t get much free time with the kids given their day-to day busy schedules, involving homework and school, but what does a nanny do if the routine is broken?
If it’s a weekly holiday, if the summer vacations have started or if the parents decide to have a spontaneous outing that breaks the routine which involves more free time with their child?
Here we get into detail how a nanny can pass that additional free time with a child, while being productive and educational at the same time.
Play time Tricks for Nannies You Should Know
Reading
Books, novels and even morally bound graphic-novels are great for a child’s intellect. Fictional books carry themes of friendship, loyalty, ethics, courage and responsibility.
Kids of today like spending a lot of hours on their smartphone, PC, iPad or laptop, wherein the child, if guided correctly could be spending all those hours getting smarter and learning the basic values of life which will impact they’re growing ability and intellect in a huge way.
Kids who read educational books (not just academics) under proper guidance and supervision tend to WANT to study more from their text books.
Movies
This may come as a surprise for most caretakers, but movies have the same impact on a child, the way books do. Children pick up characteristics from movies more than any other media platform.
What they see is who they choose to imitate. Movies like the Lion King, Frozen, Toy-Story, The Jungle Book, The Incredibles etc have very impactful social messages with loyalty, equality and the importance of family tied into them.
Children watching the right movies under proper nanny supervision have the potential to not just expand on their social skills but also develop a positive personality as they grow up.
Sport/Outdoor Activities
Outdoor activities and sports especially have the ability to instill discipline in a child in the most easiest manner without one having to be too authoritative.
Children like being guided and taught how to play a sport, follow the rules of the sport and most importantly how to be part of a team, even if the team consists of just two people.
If the nanny isn’t very good at outdoor activities, she must make it a habit to accompany the child for atlas 30 mins a day to be part of a local kids team. Sport in school and sport during free time are two very different methods,
As sport in school makes the child feel like its part of their curriculum, however children participating in sport activities in their own free time, gives them the opportunity to practice the feeling of earning a victory while also maintaining the same rules and discipline under an authoritative figure.
To sum it up, free time with a child shouldn’t be wasted, instead it should be valued. Children grow up with the characteristics that their nannies and parents have most influenced upon them.
Characteristics of strong minded yet value centric individuals are best assimilated upon a child at an early age. Free time should be made fun, not boring.
Every learning activity the child does, shouldn’t be enforced upon, however the child should want to do it. How to get there? Make the spare time the most fun way to educate them, get creative, movies, art, music, reading and sports.
