Sitter in New York, New York

Elinore has been working with our 6 year old twin daughters for two years. She took over from our previous caretaker who was with the girls since they were six months old. Elinore stepped into the difficult situation of replacing someone whom the girls loved dearly. She did a great job transitioning the girls to a new relationship and routine and forming her own strong bond with them. She did it with kindness, love, and patience. The interactions were not always easy, as the girls were growing older, busier, and more opinionated. At times they were defiant. No matter how difficult a day may have been, Elinore’s friendly, calm, and pleasant demeanor helped the girls overcome their frustrations. I always returned to a peaceful, organized, and happy home. Elinore is a very engaged and thoughtful caregiver. She has spent many hours thinking and sharing her thoughts about the girls’ individual personalities (they are quite different!) and adjusting her interactions with them to best suit their needs. Her hard work as well as peaceful and honest communication has set an excellent example for the girls’ on which to base their own actions and interactions. No matter the challenge, Elinore approaches it with attention, inspiration, and selflessness. She has been very protective of the girls and our family has always been her priority. Elinore is also very hands on and creative. She often engaged the girls with various arts and crafts projects, bringing her own ideas and materials. She loved reading and playing with the girls and shared her love of yoga and healthy living. On her own initiative she organized private yoga lessons for the girls and their friends with a professional yoga teacher for kids. The girls and their friends really enjoyed the class. She also offered to teach the girls about graphic design with Photoshop, but unfortunately the time did not permit much progress in this direction. Elinore managed and organized playdates, and I always received positive feedback from other parents and caregivers about the girls’ behavior and Elinore’s commitment. With Elinore’s help and instruction, the girls became more independent in their daily routine and started to complete chores without too many complaints. In addition to childcare, Elinore was also in charge of preparing meals for the entire family and was eager to learn to cook new things. She would always teach the girls about healthy food and would make eating fruits and vegetables fun by arranging them on the plate in the shape of a face, flower, etc… She has been very helpful with many other household duties such as day to day cleaning, laundry, errands, grocery shopping and anything else that we needed her to do. Elinore had been fantastic with our children and very helpful around the household. I recommend her without hesitation and would welcome the opportunity to provide more detail if needed.