I booked a hotel for my
stay in London this time; it;s cheap and the room is tiny, but it's
clean, I have an en suite, mini fridge, breakfast is included, and
it's close to buses and the tube.
I arrived back in
London on Monday morning, and thus far, only had a trial booked for
Tuesday. By 9:30am on Tuesday I had two trials and an interview
booked for that day and another interview booked for Wednesday!
My first trial was for
the family in Ealing Broadway with one 8 month old boy. I was there
for 3 hours and in that time, I played with him, fed him lunch and
put him down for a sleep, however; I never actually got to put him
'down' for his sleep, because the only way his parents put him to
sleep is by letting him fall asleep while they hold him, and then
trying to transfer him into the cot. I tried to put him into the cot
5 times, and every time he woke up and started crying. The end result
was that I stood, holding him for 50 minutes! I can't even imagine
what it will be like when his parents have another child! Aside from
that though, he was gorgeous. The house is nice, and his parents are
really lovely. They said that they had one more person to interview,
but that they really liked e, and would contact me on Thursday.
From there I rushed off
to my second trial of the day, got lost, asked for directions, got
directed to the wrong road, caught a bus back to where I'd started ,
met a nice Irish lady who gave me the correct directions, and
eventually got to the house 45 minutes late! Luckily the family were
very understanding. This trial was for the family of the lady I'd had
the interview with last Thursday (Sukhi). The kids were having tea,
but the 18 month old was not eating his meal, so mum got up and made
him a second (and then a third) one! The five year old played with
his food and his fork through out the meal, and his parents were
quite happily letting both children draw and play with toys while
they were supposed to be eating!!! To me, one of the most important
things about working with a family is that the parents have the same
rules and expectations of the children as I do, and there is no way I
would make 3 meals every night just because the kids changed their
minds! Also the 18 month old could not walk, could hardly speak and
seemed very detached (I wonder if he also has autism?). Regardless,
this was not the family for me.
My final stop of the
night was for a family in Chiswick, with two girls; Alyssa, 5, and
Lauryn, 3. Their current nanny is leaving to do nursing. The girls
were cute if a little over excited, but I got along well with the
parents who were very down to earth, and seemed to have all of the
same values and expectations that I would have for the children. The
eldest girl is at school full time, and the 3 year old will start
full time in September. I really like this family – they are
definitely my favourite so far!
On Wednesday I had an
interview with a family in Dulwich, a lovely green area, but not very
close to public transport, and not accessible via the tube. The
mother was nice enough, but kept saying how she did not trust her 2
year old son Caspar, with her 4 month old son Xavier, and that when
Caspar had been born she had not liked or wanted him! I also got a
strange vibe being there – another job to cross off the list.
Later that afternoon I
had a phone call from one of the agencies saying that the family in
Chiswick really liked me and would like me to come for a trial on
Friday 13th. I started the trial at 10am and at 1pm the
parents asked me if I would like the job! I said YES :) I will be
moving in on the 5/6th May, doing a weeks' hand over with
the current nanny and then it's all down to me! :)
