What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

New Year’s Eve can be the most difficult holiday of the year for children. All of the waiting, as they’re growing tired, for excitement that typically doesn’t begin until far past their bedtime. There are a variety of ways to best handle this situation, which have been perfected by the nannies at The Philadelphia Nanny Network. If the children want to stay up until midnight, and it is okay-ed by you, the nannies come prepared with many activities that will keep the children’s spirit up for hours. Some ideas include arts and crafts time to make homemade noisemakers or countdown number signs, or different games and activities at each hour to give them something to look forward to periodically throughout the evening and not just at midnight.

Or you could celebrate the holiday with your children and still make it out in time for a party! For example, try celebrating the new year with your children, complete with a countdown and noisemakers (you can even reset a clock to simulate when the clock strikes 12!), in the late evening before you go out for the night and leave your babysitter to put the children to bed at a regular hour.

If you do choose to stay home to ring in the new year, you can find additional games and activities many places online; ie: http://familyfun.go.com/new-years/.

And REMEMBER, it’s not too soon to book a babysitter for New Year’s Eve!! Give us a call at 610.645.6550 to book a sitter now! Or visit www.nannyagency.com  for more information.

Favorite Tips to Fight the Flu

All of us at The Philadelphia Nanny Network have been seeing and reading a lot about how to best prevent the flu, and we’re sure you have too. There are so many good tips out there, unfortunately, not in the same place, so we thought what better than to compile many of our favorite tips (from reputable health sources) in one place! Remember to bookmark this blog so you can always go to this guide.

• Consider getting your child a flu vaccine—remember young children are included in the “high risk group” by the Center for Disease Control 
• Make sure your child washes their hands often with plenty of soap and water 
• Remind your child to try to avoid touching their face
•  Try to avoid letting your child come in close contact with someone who is sick 
• At first sign of flu-like symptoms, allow your child to stay home for 24-hours of rest 
• Prepare healthy meals, take part in physical activities and make sure your child gets plenty of rest—boosting their immune system will do wonders for preventing the flu                   

Sometimes even if you take all of these steps, the flu can be unavoidable. So here are some tips of what parents and nannies can do to help your kids feel better: 

• Make sure the child stays hydrated with plenty of water—as try ice pops or fresh fruit icy drinks 
• Dress the child in layers—making it easier to deal with chills and fevers 
• Make sure the child is getting plenty of rest—encourage them to stay in bed or on the couch
•  Wash your hands and get a flu shot—Don’t let the flu spread around your family!

Do you have any tips that you would love to share with The Philadelphia Nanny Network, other nannies and/or other parents? Please leave a comment on our Facebook or Twitter page for everyone to see!