Sitter in St. Petersburg, Florida

Hello, my name is Kristen Hopfer, I am 29 and currently living in St. Petersburg, Florida and looking to be hired as a nanny for some great family! I am originally from NY. My mother is a retired special education teacher and my father a retired police officer. I have one younger brother and he played professional hockey. I am a very experienced employee with positions such as a nanny (live in or live out) , a home assistant/manger, and also an errand/housekeeper. I have worked with many different types of family dynamics. From single parent families, to high profile families who need their privacy all the way to foster homes. The different dynamics of theses families have taught me a lot about children. In that all children are very different yet there is one huge commonality, and that is...kids will always be kids haha. I have worked with all ages, from infancy (literally in the hospital with the mother) to twins, or even young teens. The foster homes ive worked with, I managed up to ten kids all at once within the same house. That includes grocery shopping, scheduling doctors apts, scheduling their activities, and of course school work. I am very organized on the childrens tasks. I try to make the tasks that need to be completed, I like to have the child achieve in a more relaxed way. You get less of a kickback of defiance or anger. Ive found that there are many different ways for a child to complete a task, its just finding the way that works for that child is the challenge. In my head I use the concept of same destination but different paths to arrive. Trial and error will naturally happen when trying to find the right path and get to the destination. I follow the structure of your family, and implement your wanted goals for the children. I don’t consider myself as a clock in clock out nanny. When im a families nanny, I am their nanny. I like to think myself as like an extra hand, arm and leg. If you need me to stay longer or be their earlier, that is completely 100% okay. There are many reasons to choose a nanny but the one of freedom of living your life the way you want to, is a luxury within itself. With daycares, if youre not there at pickup time, they all like stare at you as if its the walk of shame. Life gets in the way. And its frustrating enough to get things done on your own time, let alone someone elses (aka the daycare staff, or a nanny with super strict cut off times) My stance as a nanny, is that I am on your time, and we work together. Example; you may need to run errands or something, therefore I would get dinner started, so you dont have to rush. Many nannies have multiple jobs, or school etc. . I am strictly for your family. Your children are your everything. I believe a nanny should be giving her everything as well. I like to include activities that peek the children’s interests yet learn at the same time. I am a very energetic nanny and can keep up with many little ones. I do monitor social media for those who don’t know how too. I know every trick in the book for social media, so nothing really gets passed me. It is a huge part of life now and can influence children heavily. I am very big on my cognitive and physical knowledge of children for when they are meeting the " proposed" milestones. I keep track in a little notebook, just so I can refresh myself on the child's progress and if there is an area we may need to work on a bit. Again every child is different, so some milestones may come sooner than later or vice versa. The first 5 years of a child's life is where core core values are implemented. I love analogy's and I explain as in, its like planting a seed. The foundation, environment, and care put into that planted seed may determine how the plant may bloom. I love to teach children (while making it fun) and see the progress. I do speak a little Spanish and some sign language. For me, sign language is huge for little ones who aren’t talking yet. A lot of frustration and tantrums are actually eliminated with sign language usage. A child who verbally cant speak yet, but their mobility and dexterity of their arms and hands are awesome, they can sign to tell you what they want. Childrens actions will always derive from some need, and when they cant express their need, they get frustrated. Then caretakers may get frustrated with just a crying child. So sign language at least opens the opportunity for the need to be expressed by the child. ( Im still waiting for some kid to just like me off lol ) Another thing I really really pride myself with is my emotions and mentality as a nanny when working with my family. This job is not for the faint of heart. You have to be able to take instructions from the parents and implement them into an unpredictable growing human beings. Its a hard job. But I will always hold true to your structure and values. Variables such as ; multiple kids crying, or throwing up or running around will never throw off my game. Ive been doing this for so long, that im almost immune to distracting situations lol I always keep my composer. Im sure there is a kid out there just plotting to get me off my game though....haha. But being aware of multiple situations going on and keeping composer I think that is super important thing for children to see. Kids copy what they see. So if they can witness and can realize problems can be solved without a voice that needs raising, or not nice words, etc, hopefully they two will follow suit with that same composer. I project good vibes, with still having kids understand elements of respect. Example, nanny drops a cup of milk. I dont throw a little pity party show and then hold that anger. I will go oops I made a mistake, and then ill fix my mistake in a calm manor. So they too wont get over frustrated when they make mistakes. A huge part of the younger years are where mistakes are made so they can learn. So I like to help show them how to let them know mistakes will happen and how they can easily be handled. Which will limit the tantrums or frustrations hopefully! Well I could go on forever. But hopefully this gives you a little inside look of who I am as a person and nanny. I am available to start as soon as needed. feel free to text or call or email at anytime Cell: 716-783-... email: [email protected]