Tanya

Wonderful with kids, flexible and caring

Tanya has worked for our family from November 2022 to July 2024, primarily as a full-time, sole charge nanny for our three children aged 5 and under. Tanya also provides housekeeping when the children are in school. Her employment with us is ending due to our relocating abroad.

Tanya’s responsibilities have included preparing the children’s lunch and dinner, bathing them and putting them to bed, keeping their rooms and play spaces clean (which she maintained to an impeccable standard), nursery and school pick-up and drop-off, laundry and ironing, taking them on local outings, and entertaining them at home. Tanya has also helped with the children’s medications, including inhalers, antibiotics, and everyday coughs and colds.

Tanya quickly developed a strong bond with all three children, innately understanding their personalities and preferences, which helps her ensure they are entertained and well behaved. The children love time with Tanya, and she easily transitions from giving one-to-one attention to engaging all three in active games. For example, if one child is feeling tired after school, she will set up an active toy for the toddler, then read quietly with the older child. Tanya has developed an especially close relationship with our youngest, who is now two years old, and she enjoys teaching him words, animal sounds, colours and counting as well as taking him on outings to local toddler groups and playgrounds. Tanya is very safety conscious and takes a proactive approach to ensuring the children’s health and safety is top priority. On the extremely rare occasion when Tanya needs to be firm, she will do so with gentle assurance, but because she has that rare ability to keep the children’s spirits high and engaged, they happily follow her instructions without fuss. Tanya undertakes housekeeping jobs while the children are at school and maintains the house to a high order including the kitchen, floors and especially laundry and ironing. She is always busy and will undertake whatever needs doing to keep the household running smoothly.

A further reason we have been so grateful to Tanya is the immense flexibility and dedication she has given outside of contract hours. She has never declined a request for evening or weekend babysitting and has helped us multiple times when we needed extended hours. For example, shortly after starting her employment with us, when my youngest was five months old, I underwent major surgery and was unable to pick up the baby or help with the older children. Tanya worked extended hours to help with handover to the night nurse. During this time, she was extremely supportive of my recovery: she would bring the baby into bed with me during his nap so we could cuddle, she would prepare meals and drinks that I could also enjoy, and she would gently help the older children into bed to visit with me and read books. She has also recently looked after the children over three consecutive days and nights when both parents are away, solely managing their overnight care, morning, school and bedtime routines.

Tanya has taken less than a handful of sick days in nearly two years. She is flexible in discussing time off for holidays and open to shifting her regular hours for one-off changes or school holidays.

Tanya will always hold a special place in our hearts and the children’s memories. We look forward to staying in touch and wish her the best of luck in future roles.

• Overall
• Setting
• Cleanliness
• Food
• Communication

by Larissa about Tanya on 05/06/2024