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[quote=Anonymous]I am a nanny. I am also looking for a new position and updating my skills for the current job market. Something that I am curious about is the need to provide formal educational training for young children. Many nannies seem to believe in curriculums and meeting core standards and the like. I assume this reflects also what parents are expecting from their nanny?

I am intrigued by the fact that Bill Gates did not play with computers as a kid. In fact, it's well known that he did mostly kid stuff like playing outside, digging holes, and (gasp) climbing trees. My approach the learning is play based. I think kids can learn the essential skills to prepare them for formal education by just doing kid things. I am thinking of the the skills that can not be taught such as creativity, problem solving, imagination, and perseverance. Imagine when your sole mission for a summer afternoon was to dig the biggest hole in your back yard that you possibly could. You had to sweat in the hot sun, with only your Easter bucket and a large stick for tools, and because you discovered so many cool rocks and bugs along the way the hole wound up being a couple feet deep at most.

When did we decide that two year olds need to learn to count in ten languages or that three year olds need to know every state Capitol? I would love to work for a family that doesn't mind me sitting in the back yard explaining whether cutting that worm in two will make two whole new worms or designing the perfect fire fly catcher out of old peanut butter jars. Why waste a perfectly good summer days sitting in the house from of an ipad app? Am out of touch with the market for nanny skills?[/quote]

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