The WAM Post: Girls Going Places

Trying to live by this photo. Seen in NYC.

Just wanted to update everyone on what I am doing because I haven't done so in a long time!! Also, everyone is asking where the hell I am... whoops.

I am in New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia, near where I was before. I was a live-in nanny with the family that I worked for last year, until they found a new nanny and I moved in with the kids' grandma. I have been back here since just after Christmas.

I am actually doing really well, I'm super busy! I'm doing a lot of resume building and self-development so I'm excited to share that because it makes me feel super pumped about life! I took some free lectures at Camden County College about autism from a child care provider's perspective. I learned about what autism is, the differences between tantrums and meltdowns, ways to communicate, how to teach them social skills, and much more. It has been so eye-opening and important! I am using some of the things I've learned already.

I'm also looking to pursue a Behavioral Assistant certification (also free!) which would mean I could help a child therapist with their patients and interact with the kids without having the therapist present. Although I am not planning to work as a behavioral assistant, I am passionate about teaching kids good manners, emotional health, social skills, and other important life skills.

I have plenty of work right now and luckily I pretty much make my own schedule. I have one family that I spend 15-20 hours a week with and three or four families that I babysit here and there for, on top of the learning that I'm doing, so it's great! I am teaching one of my kids Spanish which is challenging and so much fun for me.

I also joined a sign language group which meets once a week. I'm not able to give that one as much attention but it's good to go sit in the coffee shop and at least watch other people interact and try to stumble my way through a conversation. I've always loved sign language but I'm quite rusty right now.

I've interviewed lots with potential host families in the Netherlands about an Au Pair opportunity. If you don't know what an Au Pair is, it is a live-in nanny from a different country. You can hire them through agencies and they have a specific visa, with which the stipulations and duration varies per country but is used as a cultural exchange. It's a mutually beneficial situation because the host family, specifically the children, get exposure to a different culture and language, and so does the Au Pair. It allows a young person to travel and a busy family to have live-in help with the kids. I love the Netherlands so much when I took holiday there in December that I said, "I wanna move here!" and immediately started exploring different ways I could make that happen.

My current plans are to spend the duration of the summer in Jersey, learning and working as much as I can, then come home for all of August to attend a family reunion and spend time with loved ones, then head to the Netherlands in early September for a year-long Au Pair cultural exchange!
I'm excited and hopeful.

I'd love to hear from anyone reading this what they're up to lately, how they are and how their family is doing. I miss home often but can't seem to stay there long when the whole world is out there. So if you write me, maybe I can have the best of both, yeah?

Cheers,
Alison Maglaughlin
alimaglaughlin@gmail.com