John Claire

Skilled and caring nanny

Chelsea has been our nanny for 1.5 years, caring for our daughter, now 6, and our son, now 2. Managing two kids of such different ages isn't easy, but Chelsea did it well, keeping them both happy and occupied. She has the confidence and experience to handle tricky situations, including when the kids were sick or upset. She was responsible for preparing meals, taking them on outings (parks, soft play etc.), and keeping play areas tidy. Chelsea has a good way with kids; she bonded well with both of them, making her more than just a caretaker. Our 2-year-old has been with her since he was 9 months old, and they have a special connection. She is very safety-conscious, and we've always felt comfortable with our children in her care. We're parting ways as our youngest is starting pre-school and our required hours have reduced, but we're thankful for Chelsea's time with us. Highly recommend.

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by John Claire about Chelsea (Babysitter) on 05/10/2023

Warning to parents!

I don't normally post reviews but I feel in this case I have a duty to warn other parents. We hired Saffra in June-22 after she impressed in an interview. She was only able to produce a reference from 2015, but we let it go, figured maybe people just weren't getting back to her. Her first day it was clear she didn't want to make too much of an effort. She was happy to park herself on a chair for naptime, and only did basic tidying when we prompted her. Our 10 month old didn't warm to her, and she seemed incapable or unwilling to make the effort to change this. End of day one no bottles made up. Tuesday morning she called in sick. Tuesday evening she texted to say she was feeling better, would be in Wednesday. This caused us to not book temp help. Wednesday morning she called in sick again. Thursday morning she said she was going to A&E to be hooked up to a drip. We ended up getting someone for Friday, so told her to rest up and see her Monday.

Saffra came in and worked Monday and Tuesday. Similar approach as before, and again not able to calm the baby down. Worth noting that other temp nannies we've brought in for a single day have managed to get our son happy / comfortable with them, after being apprehensive initially, so it's not him. Wednesday morning she texted in sick again, but on Wednesday evening she texted to again say she was feeling much better and would be in Thursday. Again we fell for it and cancelled the temp help we had manged to line up. Didn't show on Thursday, and we ended things there.

Another odd thing - she seemed to not have phone credit. She wasn't able to contact us unless she was connected to wifi. Not something she had mentioned. After we ended things she started sending nasty texts telling us our house was a dump and calling us "penny pinchers" because we had deducted 30 minutes from her final payment (she turned up 30 mins late one of the days she actually worked).

Do I believe she was sick at any point? No. Do I know what she was hoping to achieve? No idea. It doesn't stack up. What I would say is that based on what we observed, even if she didn't have the reliability issues, it would have gone the same way eventually. She doesn't have anything like a natural, warm way with babies, and a complete lack of proactivity. It's clear now why she couldn't produce a reference from the last few years, so I think that's the key takeaway - always insist on a recent reference.

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by John Claire about Saffra (Nanny) on 11/07/2022

Amazing nanny

Chloe was nanny to our daughter from the age of 18 months to 3 years old. From day one, Chloe formed a great bond with our daughter who loved spending time with Chloe. Chloe kept our daughter busy with all sorts of outings and activities. She also did a lot of early years educational activities and work sheets with our daughter which has greatly helped her development and fostered in her a genuine liking for school work.

Chloe cooked great meals for Emily and always made plenty so that we could have lovely meals after a long day at work. She also helped us out greatly when we had builders in our house and went above and beyond to support us during a challenging time.

Chloe is a real natural with children and is very kind, caring and careful. She is also very capable and can support children very effectively in their educational development. She still helps us out with babysitting and our daughter is always excited to see her. We recommend her highly and any family would be lucky to have her.

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by John Claire about Chloe (Nanny) on 23/11/2020

Excellent nanny

Isabel worked for my wife and I looking after our 3 year old daughter. She collected her from school and looked after her into the evening. Isabel was quickly able to form a connection with my daughter and got her to play happily while my wife and I worked from home (due to covid).

Isabel is very safety conscious from what we saw, was very good at preparing meals for Emily, and especially excelled in getting Emily doing arts and crafts.

Worth mentioning as well that Isabel was extremely reliable. No surprise missed days, we were always able to count on her.

Overall we were very happy with Isabel and would highly recommend her. She left our employment only because she moved cities for personal reasons.

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by John Claire about Isabel (Nanny) on 20/11/2020

Great connection with our daughter

Judith worked as a nanny to my daughter Emily from the age of 14 months to 18 months. We were very happy with Judith and the employment only ended because we sold our house and moved out of the area. Judith had a great way with our daughter, who clearly enjoyed her company, and we always felt comfortable leaving her with Judith.

She was proactive about taking Emily to playgroups, softplay, parks, etc. and kept my wife and I up to date with photos and videos. I would highly recommend Judith and would be happy to answer any questions.

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by John Claire about Judith (Nanny) on 21/07/2018