About
GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE BOSTON AREA NANNY SUPPORT GROUP:
“A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one’s heart, chaff and grain together, knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.” -Ancient Proverb
This group was started in March 2000 by a live-out nanny and a live-in nanny who were lucky enough to find each other and develop a friendship. The live-in nanny has since moved on, but the group has brought other friends and supporters….
WHO WE ARE: We are an independent grassroots group for nannies and by nannies, and have no ties to any agency or for-profit group. There are no dues, and no member registration process beyond a signup if nannies want to receive updates by email or phone. We welcome fulltime, part time, career, and temporary in-home childcare providers. Nannies can just show up, and are welcome to attend meetings and events as often or as infrequently as they like. We think we have a lot of fun and provide lots of interesting information at each event, but no one is pressured to be more involved than they want to be.
MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to provide personal and professional support to nannies of all ages and experience levels. This includes providing a structure in which nannies can discuss topics of interest, brainstorm current problems, network, socialize and generally make friends and help each other deal with nanny-related issues. It also includes orienting nannies new to the area and connecting them to nannies in their neighborhood, helping connect nannies to additional resources, and providing educational workshops for nannies. We update nannies about local and national nanny social networking groups, blogs, boards, and organizations. We feel that people who are working as nannies, either as a career or as a temporary job, need the opportunity to tap into the perspective and experience of other people who do the same work.
WHY A NANNY SUPPORT GROUP? We nannies can feel isolated in our jobs, and it helps to have other nanny friends. We need a community in which to network, vent, learn, share, problem-solve, and socialize. And sometimes we career nurturers need a little nurturing ourselves.
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***Meetings in previous years were held monthly, however with the boom of social networking groups, nannies are making connections with each other and meeting their needs through other means. Declining attendance caused a shift in our focus away from central gatherings and toward encouraging nannies to hold gatherings with local nannies in their own neighborhoods. We provide support and networking connections for these events through the BANSG email newsletter.
As of 2008, we hold occasional rather than monthly BANSG meetings and large-group events.
However, nannies are welcome to use these meeting guidelines for meetings and events they may organize in their own neighborhoods.***
OUR MEETINGS:
When we do hold a meeting or event, it is generally on the third Saturday of each month from noon-2pm. Lunch is potluck (make or buy, or just bring your own lunch if you don’t like potluck). There are no dues and no official member registration process. (We do encourage you to sign up for an email or phone list for info and updates, but it’s not mandatory.) Although RSVP’s are appreciated, nannies can just show up. For meeting site, dates, and directions, see Events page.
MEETING FORMAT: As each new person arrives and is greeted, there are general introductions We chat for about 15-20 minutes as everyone arrives. During this time, we all organize lunch and there is time to chat and look over the resource material. . Then announcements (if any) are made, we eat and begin the scheduled discussion or event.
Part or all of the meeting is often set aside for a special event, such as a documentary and discussion, a guest speaker, or for a workshop of interest to people who work with children. The scheduled event lasts about 1-1 1/2 hours, and is followed by social time. We officially end at 2pm, but people may move to area coffee shops after the library closes, and chat.
Nannies are encouraged to use these meetings to set up nanny social activities (with or without children), form playgroups, and welcome and orient nannies new to the area. We hope to provide regular organized social events as the group (and leadership! Hint Hint!) expands. Perhaps there will even be spin-off groups of nannies pursuing common interests together.
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RESOURCE MATERIAL
We provide resource notebooks with information on laws pertinent to nannies (live-in salaries, etc), and on local child-related resources. Nannies are asked to add other information of interest for these notebooks or for the table of handouts. By all means bring flyers and announce your nanny-related event!
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MEETING GUIDELINES:
There are 2 ways to use this meeting for support: either talk about issues during the meeting, or use the discussion time to pick out people you’d feel comfortable talking to privately later.
BANSG has 2 guidelines:
1) Confidentiality: We ask that everyone keep confidential any personal experiences that may be discussed here. We want everyone here and their employers to feel safe from repercussions of any breach of confidentiality.
One way to make sure this happens, when you raise an issue in a group like this is to put it in general rather than specific terms. Such as, ask “What would you do with an employer who does such and such,” or “How would you handle a child age 10 who starts doing such and such”…so no one will know if you are referring to a current or past situation, or even one that a friend might be in.
2) Respect: Everyone will be respected here. (OK, don’t be frightened off…we have a very warm and respectful group. This is just our stated policy, should we find a need to call on it:)
If individuals present have personal issues with each other, they must keep their conflict outside this room. Also, raging controversies can be a lot of fun, and we intend to keep them positive. If individuals strongly disagree on issues, they must do so without personal attacks and stick to the topic. Anyone can leave the room and take a breather at any time.
OTHER GROUPS: We feel that a lot of nanny groups working together in cooperation can meet a lot more of nannies’ needs than any one group or approach can do. Therefore this group freely provides information on other nanny support groups in the Boston Area, such as the internet-based Massachusetts Nannies, MA Nannies Den and NENannyNet, the new North of Boston Nanny Group (see below) and the Agency-based Worcester support group. Nannies are encouraged to sample each group and join as many or as few as they like. With permission, this website will provide announcements about other groups’ events which are open to all nannies. If anyone else is organizing a nanny group or event and would like information posted here, please contact me at JanStClair@aol.com
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NORTH OF BOSTON NANNY SUPPORT GROUP