When I was twelve years old, my friend Britney and I were obsessed with "The Babysitters Club". It was the kind of obsession where you had a row and a half of your bookcase dedicated to the series but would never, ever bring a single copy to school or breathe one breath of this in the hallways. We were forever following this impossible dream of achieving popularity and somehow, discussing what Kristy and Mary Anne were up to didn't seem like the way to do it.
Yet we still sought to create our own babysitters club. We printed fliers and passed them around town, with all the enthusiasm of the five year olds on the corner with their very own lemonade stand. Like the five year olds, our only customers were our parents and our parent's friends. Yet I still kept a torch burning that one day, I would work with a flawless agency, caring for children and being really good at it.
Fifteen years, two theater degrees and a recession later, I find myself doing just that. My life has taken me to some extraordinary places: Scuba diving with sharks in Hawaii, befriending French tourists in hooka bars in New York, and now I am a professional On-Call Nanny for the greater Puget Sound area. I shall explain what exactly that means in the upcoming chapters, but for now know that for the last three months I have worked with well over a hundred families. I know how to get babies to sleep, how to negotiate with two year olds, and especially how to nanny parents. I evolve from a perfect stranger to family member in an eight hour shift. I've sat for different cultures, creeds and classes, from the rich to the very rich, and everything in between. I've been to Bothell, Kirkland, Snoqualmie, Seattle, and that was just my first week. I'll take you through it all, tips and tricks, secrets and more, and hope that you enjoy the ride as much as I do. Welcome to my world. Hit it!
