Feeling burned out

[Anonymous]

I love my two-year-old charge as well as my employers. I am well paid and appreciated.

However, I am feeling stagnant and tired lately. Nannies, what do you do to reinvigorate your routine? My charge and I go to a class every morning (which she loves) but we have our afternoons free. We read for over an hour a day and I do bath before her parents get home so we have about two hours to do something new.

Any ideas? TIA

[Anonymous]

How about some online classes? There are a lot of nanny training sites. Your NF might even pay for them.

Or, maybe the problem is that you need something not related to work. You could try taking a class, or learning a new skill. You could even pick something you could work on at work, like knitting, or a new language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about some online classes? There are a lot of nanny training sites. Your NF might even pay for them.

Or, maybe the problem is that you need something not related to work. You could try taking a class, or learning a new skill. You could even pick something you could work on at work, like knitting, or a new language.

Thanks, PP. But I was thinking more along the lines of something to invigorate my time with my charge. My work is in a rut more than my personal life (although that could use a little excitement as well).

[Anonymous]

Two is still so young. They don't have a lot of sustained attention time, and if this is after bath, you don't want to get dirty.

Maybe come up with a weekly theme and put together nightly activities that relate? Like, "vehicles" week, and one night you'd work on a town made out of blocks to drive cars in, another night you'd make a wearable car out of box?

[Anonymous]

What’s tour weekly routine look like? Do you spend time with other nannies? That helps me when I’m in a rut.

Also winter is overall hard with so much time spent indoors. Once the weather improves, spending afternoons at parks and lakes is a great way to feel invigorated.

[Anonymous]

I tend to do my indoor activities in the afternoon. So in the morning we go out, then lunch and nap. Then I have about 2 hours to do something. Thats when I get play doh out, or puzzles, or build a fort, that kind of stuff. If its nice we might go for a neighborhood walk, or in the summer get the paddling pool out.
Maybe you could plan on one activty for each day of the week. Like Monday is fingerpainting day, Tuesdays is playdoh day, Wednesdays is puzzles and simple games etc. End the week with a movie afternoon with popcorn. ( As a former Nanny and now MB I would be ok with this, its a relaxing way to end the week.

[Anonymous]

How will another outing help with feeling burned out? Are you feeling bored? You should look into training for another job. Being a nanny is fun for a few years but most people burn out after awhile. I wish I would have done this before becoming a sahm. I am in grad school now and it's such much harder to find time to study.

[Anonymous]

Nannying is very boring after awhile. My advice is to find something fun to do in your off time that you can look forward to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tend to do my indoor activities in the afternoon. So in the morning we go out, then lunch and nap. Then I have about 2 hours to do something. Thats when I get play doh out, or puzzles, or build a fort, that kind of stuff. If its nice we might go for a neighborhood walk, or in the summer get the paddling pool out.
Maybe you could plan on one activty for each day of the week. Like Monday is fingerpainting day, Tuesdays is playdoh day, Wednesdays is puzzles and simple games etc. End the week with a movie afternoon with popcorn. ( As a former Nanny and now MB I would be ok with this, its a relaxing way to end the week.

OP here - great plan! Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Two is still so young. They don't have a lot of sustained attention time, and if this is after bath, you don't want to get dirty.

Maybe come up with a weekly theme and put together nightly activities that relate? Like, "vehicles" week, and one night you'd work on a town made out of blocks to drive cars in, another night you'd make a wearable car out of box?

OP here - I love the theme of the week! We used to do this when I was teaching preschool! Thank you!!

[Anonymous]

Not sure what the weather is like where you are but putting on boots and going puddle stomping and looking for worms is fun in my area. Looking for signs of spring is fun. Making cookies or play dough (lots of different recipes with different ingredients are online.) not a bad age to introduce some simple games like red light green light, tag, Operation, memory or connect four etc. Even cards such as old maid or playing cards for go fish can be fun for learning numbers or talking about how queens and kings live far away (cue nursery rhymes) etc. Is there a pool you can visit once a week? Are you giving her plenty of uninterrupted solo play time too?

[Anonymous]

Definitely echo the idea of a theme-- even if you're doing similarish stuff it feels different both to you and to your charge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure what the weather is like where you are but putting on boots and going puddle stomping and looking for worms is fun in my area. Looking for signs of spring is fun. Making cookies or play dough (lots of different recipes with different ingredients are online.) not a bad age to introduce some simple games like red light green light, tag, Operation, memory or connect four etc. Even cards such as old maid or playing cards for go fish can be fun for learning numbers or talking about how queens and kings live far away (cue nursery rhymes) etc. Is there a pool you can visit once a week? Are you giving her plenty of uninterrupted solo play time too?

OP here and thank you! I love the game ideas - we don't really play games except hide and seek. I think she would love red light/green light! My charge is just two and solo play time is not her strength right now. She will play by herself in the morning for about 10 or 15 minutes but will not play alone in the afternoon. We're working in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely echo the idea of a theme-- even if you're doing similarish stuff it feels different both to you and to your charge.

I agree - I love the idea!

[Anonymous]

Op you don't know the difference between being burned out and being bored? That's concerning. I would suggest going back to school but I'm not sure how you would do.