Coming to an End

Madison and Addison and I went to the science museum today. It is one of their favorite activities but I generally save it for their Pop-Pop and Mam-Mee. They love taking them. But, as our time is nearly at an end, we need a few more memories, Pop-Pop and Mam_Mee get them for the rest of their lives, I only get a few more days with the chickens I've spent each week with since they came home from the hospital two years ago. 4400 hours together and people think nannies aren't important. I'm not saying I've had a lasting impact on them, I'd love to think so, but I know better.

I spent three years with Zander. She was a newborn when I started, her brother Rowan was a toddler, she was collicy and he was the apple of Beckett's, his mother's eye. I arrived and was handed little Zander so that Beckett could spend some quality time with Rowen, mind you I'm not knocking this, mothers NEED this. But little Zander didn't need to be away from Beckett for 60+ hours each week. Three years at 60+ hours a week, sometimes more, 9360 hours I spent with that little girl. When I left she was well-rounded, content, spunky, fun and well-mannered, and a light reflection of me. Now? She's the spitting image of Beckett. Yo would never know that I spent more than an hour with the girl except for the way she responds to me, emails, hugs and loves to be around me.

I know that nannies don't really have a long term effect on kids, not like parents, but think about the nanny. About her life. Those 9000+ hours? They have shaped my life. Those 4000+ hours? Have affected me, who I am, the way I see things. Every family affects me, every family changes me just a little. And, if I'm good enough, I change them, jut a little I help the parents see things just a tiny bit differently. I love my work but it isn't easy, it's so much harder caring for someone else's kids than for your own.