Life Moves Fast, Look Pretty?

In this blog, I tend to share a slice of our life, whatever interesting thing has happened with K, is dad, Dear A and me. I don’t often think to follow up on the aftermath, but I’m sure you get that. Life moves fast, especially with kids. (I wish my statement sounded as cool as Ferris Bueller's. So not.)

Anyway, today, I thought I'd update you:

PS – Toilet Training Derailed
K loves the potty. He loves to play with it, wear it on his head… fancy new Diego potty as enticement = Fail.

Friday FAQ - What if I need more?

Today’s question comes from a reader who's juggling work demands, home stuff and childcare. Sounds familiar right?

Q: A couple of my friends with nanny's and I have been asking the same thing. If we need our nanny to work more then the 44 hours a week consistently - what is the best way to do it? I'm not talking the odd Friday night babysitting gig - but a consistent 50 hour a week or something like that? Many of us who work downtown have to leave by 6:30am to get home by 5pm.

A: I think you have to consider a couple of things in this situation. There’s the legal/employment laws aspect of course, but also your relationship with your nanny.

Friday FAQ - Nanny applying for Permanent Residency?

Today's FAQ is mine - Dear A is in the process of applying for Permanent Residency and asked me for help. This, as usual, led me to a bunch of research... and an emotional crack up.

Q: What happens when my nanny applies for Permanent Residency? Does it affect her contract with me? What do I have to provide?

A: Your nanny's application for Permanent Residency does not affect your employment contract with you. Conditions for termination of employment would still be the same as before. What Permanent Residency does do

iPhone Apps and Friday FAQ - Visas for Vacationing Nannies?

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, work got the best of me. To make up for it, today's post is two in one - Hump Day Distraction and Friday FAQ. And, stay tuned tomorrow for my Easter update.

My online distraction right now is iPhone Apps. A few I can recommend for distracting 2 year olds:

• Pre School Music, $0.99 - Four games in one, your toddler can tap on fish and change them to other animals, tap to make sheep sing, play a piano, or tap birds to sing in a round.
• Adams's Art Coloring, $1.99 - White and black canvasses, plus "coloring book" images, and the option to 'save' your kid's arts on a refrigerator.

I'm sure there are tons more. If you have a favorite, share it in the comments please! Now on to the FAQ:

Friday FAQuestion from a reader:
I know your nanny went home recently and I have a question - did 
she need to
 apply for a reentry visa or anything ahead of time? (Our nanny) is going home in June so I want to make sure all our ducks are in a row so she can come back here easily. She has a valid Visa and passport.

My Answer, verified by Dear A:
She didn't need a re-entry visa. We provide a letter of support that she takes with her along with her work permit, passport and this year she also took her H1N1 vaccination paperwork because another nanny mentioned they asked her about it in Hong Kong in transit.

The Letter of Support I used:

Friday FAQ - Employment Contracts Follow Up

Just a quick follow up today, to the whole live-in caregiver policy change situation.

Along with the changes that I mentioned in my previous blog posts, Citizenship and Immigration Canada has now posted a template for the new suggested employment contract.

Again, if you already have a live-in caregiver with a valid work permit, who was brought in on a previous LMO, you don't need to use this contract. But it couldn't hurt to follow their standards right?


Please note today’s FAQ content is offered as information only, and relates only to Canadian regulations. Please conduct your own research or consult a professional for advice on your personal situation.

Friday FAQ - Recapping Trips and Fines

This Friday, I'm going back to my questions - the polls. I'm still getting the hang of blogging, and blog gadgets in particular. I haven't figured out how to archive polls. Until I do, I thought I'd recap and share the results in a post.

In the first poll I asked "Who should pay library fines?""Me, The Nanny, or Both Share," after learning that Dear A and Kiran had racked up quite a bill. In the end we had 11 responses:

• 8 for Me paying
• 3 for Sharing the fines and,
• 1 "Other" who suggested I set up a 'swear jar' for Potty-mouth K and garnish future allowance to pay the fines!

I have to admit, I wasn't really surprised by the results (other than the ingenious swear jar idea.) They pretty much reinforced my gut feelings. I'm going with it (you) and paying any fines incurred. I'm also keeping a closer eye on the book bag after Friday Story Time at the library. Especially last weeks, since K went with Daddy.

Friday FAQ –If I already have a nanny, what happens with changes to the LCP?

My post about the recent changes to the Live-in Caregiver Program had quite a few of you asking me the same question:

"Does this affect me if I have a nanny already?"

More importantly, you’re wondering if we now have to pay health insurance and workplace safety insurance?

Well, I was wondering the same thing, so I went to the source to get some answers. After looking through the Human Resources and Skills Development Canada website and the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website to no avail, I called 1-800-O-CANADA and was referred to the Live-in Caregiver Program General Inquiries phone line (1-877-227-4577). Here are the answers I got:

Friday FAQ - Changes to Live-in Caregiver Program

I was getting ready to write a Friday FAQ about food, but while doing tax stuff came across some information about changes to the Canadian Live–in Caregiver Program:

As of April 1 2010, new applications to the program require the employment contract between you and your caregiver (nanny) to describe:

• employer paid benefits (health care insurance, workplace safety insurance, travel costs and recruitment fees)
• job duties 
• hours of work 
• wages
• accommodation arrangements (including room and board) 
• holiday and sick leave entitlements
• termination and resignation terms

So, beyond the usual contract, employers are now required to pay any recruting fees, travel costs, health insurance and workers compensation benefit insurance. Further details are here and here.

Anyway, I thought this was slightly more relevant than my pasta recipe. I’ll leave you to absorb this info and will get back to you once I’ve got more information on how this affects those of us who already have workers in the home.

Friday FAQ - Is it Overtime or Over the Table?

Full disclosure - I hate math. Calculations scare me. Submitting calculations to others, whether for budgets, taxes, even splitting tip, makes my stomach churn. Despite this, and my best efforts to avoid everything number-related, I am in charge of all things nanny, including payroll. So, with tax time looming, and T4s due in a week, I'm a ball of anxiety. Submitting tax paperwork always feels like writing an exam - except instead of getting a mark, you just have to wait forever with the uncertainty of an audit looming. Its not that I pay my taxes in the 'grey scale' of permissible deductions or anything. I'm just always worried that I missed something, or made mistakes in the math. If you share my pain, this week's question is one for you:

Q: If my nanny is babysitting for me, outside of her regular work hours, does that count as overtime on her paycheque or should I pay it out as a bonus/other income like tips for servers?

Friday FAQ - Where are you?

No, that's not the question I'm going to answer. Its a call to you, dear readers (and I know its mostly family and friends right now, but still.) Please send me your questions. Otherwise Fridays are going to be really, really boring! I've got a panel of experts lined up and waiting:

• the owner of a full-service nanny agency
• a payroll specialist
• a family doctor
• a financial planner

Post your questions in the comments below or email me at shortysho{at}hotmail.com

Since I don't have a question to answer, and I didn't blog yesterday, I thought I'd add a post-script to a topic I mentioned this week. I've been worried, ever since our Dear A won 20,000 Air Miles, about having to deal with additional vacation requests. (Click here for the background) Well, a request came, but not from Dear A.

Ground Rules

If you’re reading this, I’ve likely finally sent out a note about my adventure into blogging. I thought I’d better set some ground rules so you (and I) know what we’re getting into.

I WANT MY NANNY!! is a cry for community. I’ve brought out my stories in a hope to find other like-minded, nanny-enabled parent’s out there. I want us to come together to share our stories and find solace in the fact that even with a nanny, life’s not perfect.

The plan is to attempt a post every other day. Note the use of the word ‘attempt’. If you’re reading this you probably get that life happens. Right? Good. I’m also going to share a few feature posts a week:

• Hump Day Distractions – where I’ll share online shopping and “can’t live without it” tidbits.

• Friday FAQ – where I’ll beg the experts I know to answer the questions we have. Guest bloggers will regularly include our Dear A, the nanny, Ms M, our nanny agency owner, plus, if I can convince them, my favorite family doctor, lawyer, financial planner and more.

Ok, that’s it. Feel free to request, criticize, comment and above all praise!