As a solo parent with a first-time baby and no parents alive to support, I was very nervous to go back to work and be away from my daughter. But Sao gave me such confidence from the moment I met her. Not only did she show me all of her qualifications and expertise in child psychology, first aid and more when we met, her experience shone through simply in her warm, friendly and positive approach with my daughter (then 8 months old).

Sao was always exemplary with her communications to arrange dates and times, and was always on time, open to adjusting her arrival as I figured out the best times to travel for arriving to work in good time. Sao was very flexible with my ad-hoc schedule of returning to work over 5 months (some working from home, some going into work on site) and agreeing to a last minute additional date when I was asked to cover someone on sick leave at work. On days Sao was in her care, my daughter was always so happy, well-fed and tired out (in a good way!) when I came home, from a day of activities making use of the local facilities around us (indoors and outdoors).

With my permission and always with advance notice, Sao also brought her grand-daughter along to a few days of looking after my daughter (9 months apart in age), and this helped my daughter's social interactions no end! Sao had all the equipment (ie. double buggy) to manage them both and this was only an added bonus to the level of care my daughter received - her first friend!

Whilst I am excited for my daughter to start nursery, I am going to miss Sao's updates of what she and my daughter would get up to together, and I hope we'll keep in touch so that my daughter and I remain friends with you. A huge thank you Sao, for all your support and care - we will miss you!

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