Most nannies and their employers work and are paid on a set weekly schedule; however, from time to time the family will require additional hours from their nanny. Legally, nannies are entitled to additional compensation for additional hours worked, and live out nannies, at a minimum, are entitled to the overtime differential (1.5 times the hourly rate) for hours worked over 40 in a work week.

In New York, Domestic Workers United (an in-home caregivers advocacy group) recently established a help line for nannies, housekeepers, and their employers to explain New York's labor laws surrounding overtime for household employees. In California, affiliated worker advocacy groups have been actively organizing and educating their constituencies about California labor laws for in-home caregivers. Many employers, accustomed to being exempt, salaried workers professionally, neglect to pay their nanny or housekeeper accrued overtime. This is a risky proposition for the family. The convergence of Federal and State wage and hour enforcement efforts (an Obama administration priority), and the well organized educational outreach efforts of DWU and it's affiliates, raise the risk to the household employer that a disgruntled employee will file a Wage and Hour grievance. The consequences include awards of back pay, penalties, interest and attorney's fees. 

Families are advised to side step these risks and follow best practices that include:

• Have a written compensation agreement with their household employees that includes wages stated in hourly rate terms.
• Maintain accurate and contemporaneous time tracking records.
• Track and include overtime hours in the periodic payroll.
• Provide the employee with documentation of the periodic payroll calculation, including weekly hours worked, hours paid at the regular rate, hours paid at the overtime rate as well as applicable tax deductions. This is legally required in some circumstances! HWS clients who have any questions about their employee's payroll and time tracking are invited to call their representative to discuss their specific circumstances and best practices.

* Many states have customized overtime payment schemes - know your state's rules or call your HWS account representative to discuss your situation.

Source:  Kathy Webb www.4nannytaxes.com

http://www.MartaPerrone.com

This recall from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission includes 10 bike and bike-related items including baby seats, helmets and bike trailers. Bridgeway Bicycles

The bicycle chain can break, causing a rider to lose control and fall.

Trek 2012 FX and District bicycles

The bolt that secures the seat saddle clamp to the seat post can break posing a fall hazard.

Fuji Saratoga Women's Bicycles

The bicycle's frame can break in the center of the downtube during use, causing the rider to lose control and fall.

Public Bikes 2010 through 2012 Model Year Bicycles

The pedals can crack and break, posing a fall hazard to the rider.

Specialized 2012 bicycles with Advanced Group carbon forks

The brake component housed within the bicycle's carbon fork can disengage from the fork and allow the brake assembly to contact the wheel spokes while rotating, posing a fall hazard.

Chariot bicycle trailers and bicycle trailer conversion kits

The bicycle trailer's hitch mechanisms can crack and break, causing the trailer to detach from the bicycle. This poses an injury hazard to children in the bicycle trailer.

Topeak Babyseat II Bicycle Carrier Seats

A child can place his or her fingers in the opening at the grab bar's hinge mechanism. When the consumer lifts the grab bar to remove the child from the seat, the child's fingertips can be caught in the hinge mechanism, posing a laceration and fingertip amputation hazard to the child.

Little Tricky Bicycle Helmets

Product testing demonstrated that these helmets do not comply with CPSC safety standards for impact resistance. Consumers could suffer impact head injuries in a fall.

GT, Giant and Trek Bicycles with SR Suntour Suspension Forks

The suspension fork's internal support tubes can break and cause the rider to lose control, fall and crash.

Gore Bicycle Brake Cables for Road Bikes

When the brake cables are installed on Campagnolo style brake levers, they can detach, causing the brakes to fail and posing a fall hazard.


Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/05/16/3244542/10-bike-related-recalls.html#storylink=cpy

In today’s world, fluency in more than one language is becoming more and more essential. From communicating with the people around us to success in the job market, there are dozens of reasons why it’s a strong investment in your child’s future. For parents considering Spanish as a second language for their child, here are ten reasons to follow through.

1. Commonality – Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language in the United States, making it one of the most useful second-language choices for American children. As children get older, the likelihood of a communication barrier with Spanish-speaking coworkers and neighbors will grow exponentially if they don’t have some degree of fluency.
2. To Improve Fluency in Their First Language – Studies have shown that learning to speak a second language actually improves vocabulary, reading comprehension and written skills in your native tongue as well.
3. Creating Travel Opportunities – Spanish is spoken on every continent of the world and is the official language of the United Nations. Should your child choose to study abroad or to travel extensively, their experience will be greatly enhanced by being able to confidently and comfortably speak Spanish.
4. University Admissions – Foreign language classes are a very stringent requirement for some colleges and universities; beginning to learn Spanish during childhood will make those high school Spanish classes much easier. Those high marks in high school Spanish are likely to make quite the difference on college applications.
5. Employment Opportunities – By the time today’s children enter the workforce, the ability to speak Spanish fluently will greatly improve their resume and employment opportunities. Recruiters and hiring managers already understand that the need for bilingual English and Spanish speaking employees has grown; within a decade, demand for workers who speak both languages is likely to increase even further.
6. Reducing the Chance of Alzheimer’s and Dementia Later in Life – Studies have shown that people who speak more than one language are less likely to suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s than their single language peers.
7. Accessibility – The similar sentence structure, straightforward pronunciation and number of cognates make Spanish an accessible and relatively easy-to-learn second language. By beginning in childhood, your child is likely to reach adulthood with a grasp of Spanish that’s almost as strong as their grasp of English.
8. Cultural Enrichment – Being able to enjoy Spanish literature, music and film in their original forms will help your child understand the rich cultural contributions of Spanish-speaking artists and intellectuals, while affording them the chance to broaden their own horizons.
9. Learning a Second Language is Easier During Childhood – Children are already in the process of learning their native language, so they’re typically more open and easily coached in a second language than they would be later in life.
10. To Learn Other Romance Languages – With a solid grasp of Spanish, kids will have a much easier time learning French, Portuguese or Italian than they would otherwise, as they are all Romance languages with Latin roots.

These reasons are only the beginning of a very strong case for helping children to learn Spanish as early as possible. As parents, we all want to open every possible door and create every opportunity for our children that we can; giving them the gift of a second language is a great beginning.

Source:  http://www.Aupairjobs.com

With fitness experts so up in arms about how kids today just sit around playing games, it’s nice to think about how beneficial games can be.  Not just any games, but those that exercise the mind.

1. Matching games: We all grew up with these games, but now they have turned into big business.  I believe every cartoon character has a version of the memory game.  The cards are flipped face down in a grid formation on the table or other flat surface.  When it’s your turn you choose two cards to turn face up.  The object of the game is to have the most matches at the end of the game.  If the two cards you turned up match then you pick them up and keep them in your spot, but if they don’t match you must turn them face down again and remember where they were so when you turn up the match you can remember where it was.
2. Sudoku: This game is also played with a grid, but you have to get these puzzles premade in a book or on the internet.  The idea is to fill in the open spots on the grid.  There are 3×3 grids where you must fill in 1-9, but then the hard part comes when those smaller grids are part of a bigger grid and you have to also have each vertical and horizontal line contain 1-9.  There can be no duplicates.  The preprinted games come with some of the numbers already filled in for you and you do the rest.  This game can grow with your child because it comes in many levels of difficulty.
3. Mazes: These have also been around literally forever, but in their current format as long as we’ve had printed paper.  The object of the game is to start at the entrance and make it through the maze to the end.  These also come in books or you can print them online.  Just like in Sudoku they come in various degrees of difficulty and can grow with your child.
4. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box: This is probably the newest game on this list.  This game is a game for the Nintendo DS and has a video element where the professor is riding on a train to try to figure out what happened to a friend of his.  The train is filled with many different kinds of puzzles.  After you solve a puzzle you get a jigsaw piece that will help you solve the bigger mystery at the end of the game.  This game will give your child (or you) hours of enjoyment that is exercising their mind at the same time.
5. Jenga: This game is usually made of wood and it’s a stacked tower of different sizes of wood.  This game works on spatial awareness because you must pull individual pieces of wood out of the tower without knocking the whole tower down.  It probably also uses some hand/eye coordination as well.
6. Mystery jigsaw puzzles: Jigsaw puzzles are fun all on their own and many people find them very relaxing.  I’m not one of them.  However, they have come out with a twist on the old classic.  Now you have to put the puzzle together in order to gather the clues in order to solve the mystery or crime at the end.  There are many versions of these types of puzzles on the market, but it might be a fun activity for the whole family.
7. Clue: This is a board game that has been around for ages.  While travelling around the board you ask questions of your fellow game players and try to determine who committed the crime, where they committed it and with what weapon they used.  It’s a lot of fun and really makes you think.
8. Checkers: This strategy game has been around literally forever.  There are variations of checkers recorded as early as 1100 A.D., but it is believed to be older than that.  This game is played on an 8×8 gridded board with opposite colors.  The object is to diagonally jump your opponent and take his playing piece.  If you make it to the opposite side of the board you are “kinged” and you can now move your piece forward or backward.
9. Rubik’s cube: It was invented in 1974 and it was a really big craze in the 80’s.  This colorful cube is mechanical and you can rotate the rows of mini cubes on the big cube.  The object is to get each side of the cube to be all the same color.  It is very difficult to do and really exercises the mind because you have to think several steps ahead.
10. Word searches: These fun puzzles have words hidden amongst other letters.  The idea is to find the real words within the extra letters and circle them.  There are various degrees of difficulty in these and they can be printed online or you can even make your own with some help from online programs.

Content provided by: www.shareananny.com

http://www.MartaPerrone.com

At the Pump Station during National Nanny Training Day in Los Angeles (sponsored by Westside Nannies) Stella Reid (Nanny 911) gave a charming and humorous talk outlining the 11 Commandments of Nanny 911.  Here they are:

1.  Be Consistent - No means no and Yest means yes.

2.  Actions have Consequences - Good behavior is rewarded. Bad behavior comes with penalties.

3.  Say what you mean and mean it - Think before you speak, or you'll pay the price.

4.  Parents (and the Nanny) must work together as a team - If you can't be on the same page, your children are not going to know who to listen to and they'll end up not listening to anyone.

5.  Don't make promises you can't keep - If you tell the kids your're going to Disneyland, better get ready to pack your bag.

6.  Listen to children - Acknowledge their feelings. Say "I understand" and "I am listening" - then take the time to understand and take the time to listen.

7.  Establish a routine - Routines make children feel safe and give structure to their time.

8.  Respect is a two-way street - If you don't respect your children, they are not going to respect you.

9.  Positive reinforcement works much better than negative reinforcement - praise, pleasure, and pride accomplish far more than nagging, negatives and nay-saying.

10.  Manners are universal - Good behavior goes everywhere....please and thank you always.

11.  Define your roles as parents (and as the Nanny) - it is your job to keep your children attached to you. It's your job to prepare them for the outside world -and let them be who they are.

It is no wonder why she was Nanny 911; Stella knows very well how to manage all types of situations concerning children while getting everyone on the same page doing what is best for the child.


http://www.martaperrone.com

Nannies all over the nation are seeking training today at various designated agencies in many states.  This is a wonderful opportunity for nannies to get take additional training to become a more experienced nanny and household worker.  Families need to support these venues and send their nannies for further training to ensure that they are always growing in their profession. Joining the International Nanny Association is another good way to seek further training.  The Professional Housekeeper training center, we provide household management classes for nannies and housekeepers. 

If you want to be an awesome nanny who everyone wants to employ, then continue taking classes and learning more about your field.  Take advantage of today's training at your nearby Agency.  In Los Angeles, Westside Nannies is the sponsoring agency.

http://www.MartaPerrone.com

Scientists have identified a new enzyme that could lead to new treatment for preeclampsia, a potentially fatal condition of pregnancy. Preeclampsia develops in 7% of U.S. pregnancies. Symptoms for this are: dangerously high blood pressure, high urinary protein and increased blood-clot formation. In a recent study, there were significantly increased levels of an enzyme called thromboxane synthase which is associated with high blood pressure and clot formation.  Blocking or inhibiting the enzyme could form the basis for new treatment for preeclampsia.  Folic acid supplements also could protect against adverse DNA changes that could lead to preeclampsia.

Everyone goes through a period when their kids are acting crazy and running around in a frenzy and in the back of your mind you are hoping they do not have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).  Rest assured that all kids go through this and it’s just kids being kids most of the time.  There is a lot more to ADHD than being a little hyper from time to time.  Teachers recognize the signs and will suggest that your child be tested in first or second grade if they think there is a chance that your child has ADHD.  Prior to that time no one will really test for it, but check out these ten early warning signs for ADHD.

1. Aggressive kicker in the womb:  This may sound far-fetched, but many mothers of kids who later were diagnosed with ADHD have commented that their baby was always kicking them in the womb and it was severe enough to seem unusual to those around her.
2. Colicky baby:  Not all babies who have colic turn out to have ADHD, but it’s just another early warning sign.  This one you will more likely have to think back on once you’ve noticed some of the other signs.  Experts say that if a child has ADHD when they are 6-7 years old that they still had it when they were younger, but no one realized it.
3. Slow to walk: Children learn to walk at different ages so don’t panic if your child is a late walker, but see your pediatrician regularly and keep him/her informed about your child’s development.  Many times a child with ADHD will have balance problems because their eyes don’t work well together in the beginning.
4. Unable to sit and follow simple directions:  There are different kinds of ADHD.  Some children won’t be able to sit still and will constantly interrupt people, but others will sit in their chair and space out in a daydream.  They will have problems focusing on tasks that they don’t find interesting or exciting.
5. Can’t control impulses: Impulse control is a big symptom with ADHD.  Children will often say inappropriate things or ask personal questions and not realize that they shouldn’t do it.  Sometimes they will throw things or get angry very quickly.
6. Very impatient: Often children with ADHD want to go all the time.  They have trouble waiting in line so they might cut in front of other kids for lunch or on the playground.  They will interrupt the teacher or blurt out the answer before the teacher calls on him/her because they can’t wait quietly with their hand up.
7. Refuses to sit in the cart: At a very young age your child may refuse to sit in the cart at the store.  They may run around the aisles and grab items or open packages, not knowing that they shouldn’t do that.  Behaviors like this should be brought up to the pediatrician during your child’s well visit.
8. Very messy and disorganized: If your child tends to lose toys very easily or never knows where their shoes are this might be a sign of ADHD, but then again it might not.  Kids get distracted and so being messy or disorganized doesn’t necessarily mean they have ADHD, but if you notice this along with several of the other things it might be worth making note of and discussing with the doctor.
9. Gets up and moves around the classroom: Children with ADHD have trouble sitting still and concentrating on what is being said in the classroom.  This is not to say that kids with ADHD can’t sit still because they can if they are doing something that really interests them.  So don’t feel like you can rule out ADHD if your child can sit for hours and play with Legos or watch TV because they are probably interested in those things.
10. Daydreamer: So the opposite of the hyper child that runs around the classroom being disruptive is the daydreamer that goes off into their own little world and doesn’t listen or pay attention in class.  They may have trouble completing their school work in school and be constantly bringing things home to finish.  Sometimes children who are bored in class turn out to be gifted and since they already know what is being said they kind of zone out.  And many times a child may be both gifted and have ADHD.

Just keep in mind that doctors will look for multiple symptoms to occur in at least two different areas of their life before diagnosing your child.  They also have to have been exhibiting these symptoms for more than six months.

Provided by:  www.NannyAgency.net

http://www.MartaPerrone.com

Being a Professional Nanny means many important things. A true test is the nanny's level of understanding all concepts relating to childcare and household management.

1) A nanny must be experienced in childcare from age newborn to school age in every aspect of their growth and development: feeding, bathing, activities, behavior, sleeping and socialization.

2) A nanny must be educated in childcare and have taken child development courses and/or achieved a bachelor's degree in a child-related field.  She should consider joining organizations that provide have a credential exam, such as INA. This is a continuing learning process that requires keeping up with the latest concepts, methods and practices.  She should have knowledge on how to care for special needs such as autism.

3) A nanny must have excellent communication skills both verbal and written so that she can communicate properly with children, parents, teachers, doctors and anyone else with whom a child comes into contact. She especially understands how to communicate to children without getting angry, raising her voice or appearing frustrated.

4) A nanny must know how to be a good teacher, one that is patient, knowledgeable and capable of imparting information in a positive, motivating manner so that a child understands and learns the message clearly.

5) A nanny must know CPR, safety and how to handle any kind of emergency. This means taking CPR and First Aid and renewing these certifications as needed to keep their abilities fresh and current. She must have a list of emergency numbers for parents, police, fire, poison alert, doctors, hospitals, relatives and neighbors. All procedures for any type of emergency should be discussed and written out clearly.

6) A nanny must be a good driver, always adhering to the motor vehicle laws with attention to safety at all times.

7) A nanny must know where the electrical panel (circuit breaker), gas shut-off valve and fire extinguishers are located and how to operate these in the event a fuse needs replacement, plumbing problems, an earthquake, fire or blackout.

8) A nanny must understand a home security system and how to enable and disable the alarm along with the basic process the monitoring company goes through in the event of an emergency.

9) A nanny must know how to handle necessary medications and know where they are stored. If children are taking any medications on a daily basis or require ‘as needed’ medications (i.e. asthma inhalers), she should have a written chart for indicating the time and dosage of the medication.

10) A nanny must know how to cook basic healthy meals, beginning with knowing how to handle breast milk, formula, create a puree of vegetables for an infant to making a healthy meal for a school age child. She should understand nutrition and what types of foods are best for children of all ages and encourage good eating habits.

11) A nanny must be ethical, moral and well-mannered as she serves as an example to a child of what it means to be properly behaved. She must be understand the ways to discipline a child in accordance to the parent's wishes so that in a non-violent manner children learn the difference between right and wrong.

12) A nanny must understand how to clean, laundry and organize a household as she is responsible for these duties as it relates to the children, their rooms and clothes. This is called “light housekeeping” or “household chores”. It includes keeping the kitchen clean, dusting, laundry, organization and may extend to cleaning the child’s room and bath.

To be a Professional Nanny, you reap the rewards not only financially but emotionally as you become an integral part of a child's growth, safety and overall life.

http://www.martaperrone.com

Cops: Woman had counterfeit coupons and $3,000 in baby food

Now this is really cutting corners, or clipping them, to be more exact.

According to state police, around 6:35 p.m. Sunday, Amanda Panek, 27, of Lakewood, Ohio, went to the Walgreens on West Chester Pike in Chadds Ford and tried to use $10 worth of fake coupons to buy baby formula.

Police said the coupons were fraudulently reproduced. While they didn't say how Panek allegedly counterfeited the clippings, police did say she has also used the fake coupons in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Panek's van was seized and when it was searched by police, they discovered $3,555 worth of baby formula inside, according to a news release.

Either Panek had one very big and hungry baby or she planned to sell it on the baby formula black market. The stuff is expensive and people who steal it either tend to sell it or use it as a cutting agent to mix with illegal drugs.

There's no indication why Panek was allegedly employing her baby formula theft scheme in Delco and there's also no indication she is a baby formula terrorist, so that's good.

She was, however, charged with theft and related offenses.

SOURCE:
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/delco/Cops-Woman-had-counterfeit-coupons-and-3000-in-baby-food.html