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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Former nanny here--you do get burned out and it can be hard to make the switch to a different line of work even when you know you need to. Covid was hard for me because I had older siblings home too--first because school was closed and then because the schools were on zoom for a year. Everything was cancelled or closed in terms of activities we did pre-covid--no story time, no music classes or events etc. It was really hard.

I don't love crafts because of the mess--I did them when I was a new nanny but got burned out on the mess and really they don't really need or care much about them most of the time (especially boys for some reason.)

So--yeah, you nanny very may be burned out. Maybe she prefers infants who sleep a lot. Maybe she needs a mental reboot. Who knows. 
I also think nannies see the kids in a different way than parents--parents often say oh they don't need a nap anymore or they only need one nap, when with the nanny that is clearly not the case--they're falling asleep in the stroller or car or melting down because they're so over tired from only one nap or no nap on the weekend.

If your toddler is falling asleep easily for two naps, then they still need it. It's fine to start pushing the morning nap back and pulling the afternoon one forward until they merge, but I wouldn't go from two naps to napping at 1 pm. That's ludicrous. Start by napping at 10:30 instead of 10 and then 10:45, then 11 and it very well may stick at 11 for a long time. It's ok to nap through lunch.

Crafts--eh, I wouldn't worry about that as much. Bubbles--yeah, that's easy and fun. You can put some bubbles in 2-3 shallow bowls or saucers with food color and blow the bubbles onto watercolor paper and have "art" that way with less clean up. Maybe she needs some fresh ideas, or a cohort of other nannies to do things with and take turns hosting or meeting up. Nannying is isolating and having parents work from home isn't fun at all.

Good luck with whatever you decide.[/quote]

OP here again - this is so helpful! As a former nanny how would you recommend approaching these topics with her? This morning I mentioned toddler's sleep has been wonky (fighting going down and early wakings), and with it getting hotter midday during their usual playground time, I would like him to be on one nap by the end of the week. She had a stoic response. Thinking I'll follow up asking her if she has any concerns about it and that I'm fine with her taking a gradual approach with the timing, etc.?

Super cute bubble idea! Should I do it with them the first time to get the ball rolling, or would that be too much?[/quote]

Approaching her could be easy or hard depending on her personality, but I'd approach it as a "we'd like to start merging naps" type thing. Be realistic that there might be days (or a few days) where the baby still needs 2 naps or needs to go down at the old time but might be able to power through the afternoon (or have a cat nap in the afternoon.) If your baby usually goes down at 10, for example, ask her to push it to 10:15 for a couple of days, then 10:30. Tell her you're merging naps, and are hoping to have one nap from 11-2 (or whatever it ends up being, but I think 11-2 is realistic to start with) within a month. In a few months you can try to push it back again to get it to noon. Make her feel like you're all on the same team, and this will help them to be able to do more/longer outings and will help provide consistency with what you're doing on the weekends. (Keep in mind there will be days when things go perfectly and days they slide backward. Moving naps is like a roller coaster, not a linear line.)

There are some books on toddler crafts, maybe get a one or two that have super simple stuff, but I'm not going to lie--toddler crafts are not much fun until they're about 3. I wasn't able to find it in a google search, and I don't remember the name, but there was a great craft book that bought a couple of copies of that had easy set up ahead young kid crafts that could be scaled up or down depending on age/interest/skill level. Lots of tissue paper and paper plates involved and I could set up stuff for several of them, put the pieces in a baggie until we were ready to make it--paper plate bunnies w/ cotton tail, paper plate and construction paper monster trucks or rocket ship, fish, sun, sail boat, that sort of thing. For younger kids, playdo is good, or bubbles, or scribbling on paper or finger paints, but that's about the extent of it.

Playdo makes a nice starter kit that has a couple of colors, a rolling pin, some "scissors", shape cutters and "knife" in a carrying bag for about $10 which is perfect. You can also save egg cartons and cut them up. Cut in half length wise to make a caterpillar--paint them and add some pipe cleaner antenna and google eyes. Cut them into twos to make an owl face or whatever.  Use the top part w/o the egg compartments for a paint pallet. Don't go crazy buying pipe cleaners though--parents tend to go overboard on them and no one really knows what to do with them aside from the occasional antenna.  :D Buy all the googly eyes you want though--you can never have enough googly eyes. Also, don't underestimate tape. Little kids love tape--Washi tape, scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape, orange tape, blue tape, all the tape. Give them some tape and help tearing it, and let them go to town on a big sheet of paper. Maybe tear some pictures out of magazines and let them tape them to a piece of paper. Also dot paints can be fun and relatively easy to clean up--not at all messy like finger paint.

Anyway--just kicking some ideas out there in case your nanny is just bored with the same ol' same ol'. Sometimes you need fresh ideas to reinvigorate yourself and get your creative juices flowing again.

Good luck--I hope it all works out really well for all of you![/quote]

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