About Me
Who am I?
I am married, have a young daughter of my own, and have lived in Scotland for over 9 years. I grew up on a ranch and owned and trained horses. I love nature, animals, crafts, music, and children.
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When I was young my neighbour used to babysit me and my siblings on occasions. She was the first babysitter to actually play with us, treated us with respect and kindness, was absolutely ridiculous yet responsible, got to personally know us, and never had any TV on at all. She was the BEST.
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She greatly inspired me and has influenced my values and ideals in my many childcare endeavors and still does. I remember what it was like to be a child and how important it was to freely explore, have a wide variety of play, secure relationships, firm but calm behaviour management, consistency, to be given opportunities to try new things, and learn in an enriched environment, I intend to always apply these in my services.
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(photo of child I was a live-in nanny for, she is now 13 years old and we still keep in contact.)
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My Experience
Dependable and Dedicated
2002-2013
Babysitter/Live-in Nanny
Caring for kids started when I was 13 years old at Sunday school and from there I babysat for over 100 hundred different families. Through word-of-mouth alone, I developed a strong reputation in childcare, some childcare jobs were irregular and others were regular. Some kids even invited me to their birthday parties, I couldn't resist. After a few years I became a live-in nanny and was delighted to watch a child grow and develop into the amazing young lady she is now.
2005-2008
Daycare Assistant
While working in this position, I gained valuable experience guiding young children so they’d reach their milestones. I became a trusted and integral part of each family and am still in touch with many of the children and families I took care of. At this time in my life I began to learn more about child behaviours from the children in my care and how to adjust to each child as well as to each circumstance. Many parents sought out and appreciated my advice on how to proceed with their child's most challenging behaviours.
2008-2010
Nursery Director
I oversaw the care of up to 200 children and supervised about 25 staff at this position. While at this position, I was in charge of arranging and supervising nursery childcare for multiple local special events, recruiting, and training staff. Being a young manager to staff who were a fair bit older than me posed a few challenges but with diplomacy, compassion, and my expertise I quickly gained their respect.
06/2007-12/2007
Direct Care Staff
Responsible for care of 6 mentally/physically and special needs disabled adult clients, observing and recording daily behaviors diets and immediate surroundings, working with team staff, general care, and reporting unusual and/or harmful behaviors to medical staff.
2005-2010
Respite Inc. - Special Needs Care
Responsible for supervising child/teen with Autism, supervising activities, babysitting, chaperoning, occasional short-term solo guardianship, social behavior guide, and tending to individual’s special needs of assigned child. We became dear friends and still keep in contact to this day.
2012
Child Counselling Training
When I lived in London for 3 years, I took a few courses and training to increase my knowledge and expand my skills. Through Place2Be training I developed a few methods and theories that have helped me better understand and adjust to varying behaviours and emotions in children.