Nanny Net News October 2004 ==================================================================== In This Issue: - A Note from the Editor - Win a Free Baby Gift Set from LittleAnimals.com - October Activity and Reading Suggestions - Is Your Nanny Legal? - Ask the Experts Q & A - Please Support our Sponsors A Note from the Editor Hello Everyone, I hope the fall is treating you well. It truly is one of my favorite seasons. Living in New Jersey, we get beautiful foliage, nice crisp weather, and it just puts you in the mood for football and big pots of soup. I live in a very small town on a very kid-friendly street. We have something like 80 kids on just our street alone. It is heaven for my children, somewhat overwhelming for me at times. In any event, Halloween on this street is a little like Mardi Gras. Families start decorating and getting ready for the big event before October. People come from all over to Trick or Treat on our street and have been doing so for generations, so I'm told. So, in honor of this coming craziness, I have included some wonderful activities and book suggestions from The Best Nanny Newsletter put out by Stephanie Felzenberg. Sorry we're a little late with this, but there's still time. We are also holding a fun sweepstakes this month sponsored by LittleAnimals.com. They have adorable baby T's that come in Twin, Triplet and Gift Packs. Too cute. There is a link to our sweepstakes page below so don't forget to enter today. Enough with the fun stuff, since we are also fast approaching the end of 2004, I have included some helpful tax suggestions from NannyPay.com. I know, but you do need to know this stuff. And lastly, as always we have some interesting advice from our resident Experts. Have a great rest of October and look for a special announcement from us in the coming weeks. We have exciting things happening these days, so keep checking back at 4EverythingNanny.com for great new improvements to the site. See you next month, Deborah Smith Nanny Net News Editor Win a Free Baby Gift Set from LittleAnimals.com Enter to win one of three adorable infant gift sets for your favorite little animal. Deadline for entries is November 15th, so hurry and register today. Click here to enter now. October Activity and Reading Suggestions SOME HALLOWEEN GAMES Pass the Pumpkin This game is best for 3 or more people. The more children that play, the better. Have the children stand in a circle. Using a pumpkin gourd or an orange have one child put the orange or pumpkin gourd under her chin and try to pass the pumpkin from her chin to someone else's. When a player drops the gourd, they are out. Ghost Tag Have children sit in a circle with their eyes covered. Have an adult tap one child on the shoulder. Give that child a noisy object that a ghost might use, like a rattle, or blackboard to scratch. When the child starts to walk around the room making noises with the instrument, the adult taps another child on the shoulder. This child has to guess who the noisemaker is. If s/he guesses correctly, s/he wins a favor. SOME HALLOWEEN CRAFTS Napkin Ghosts Have children make ghosts from unfolded white paper napkins. Place cotton balls in the center of the napkin. Pull down the corners of the napkin over the cotton ball. Tie a piece of white yarn below the cotton ball head. Use markers to draw a face. Tape a thin piece of string from the top of the head and hang from the ceiling. Paper Plate Spider Paint paper plates black using finger paints. Let the paint dry. Use white paint or white paper stickers used to reinforce the holes in a 3 ring binder to make the spider's eyes. Glue black pipe cleaners to the bottom of the plate. Once dry, bend the pipe cleaners to look like legs. SOME HALLOWEEN RECIPES Witches Brew Use a tall large glass or ice cream soda glass. Add 3 tablespoons of chocolate syrup to cold seltzer and 3 scoops of orange sherbert. Use strawberry licorice as a straw. Pumpkin Pop Pour orange juice in to an ice cube tray. When half frozen pull plastic wrap tightly over the tray and poke a wooden ice cream stick through the plastic to stand in the center of each cube. Cut Out Sandwiches and Pancakes After making small pancakes use Halloween shaped cookie cutters to cut out great holiday shaped pancakes. Make the sandwiches using ingredients that will stick together so that the sandwiches won't fall apart. Use a large metal cookie cutter in a Halloween shape to cut out the sandwiches. We recommend using a pumpkin shape cookie cutter on peanut better and jelly sandwiches or any cold cut with cheese sandwich using mayonnaise to hold the sandwich together. HALLOWEEN LIBRARY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS from Be the Best Nanny Monthly Guide Here are a few of our favorite Halloween library books but you can also ask your local librarian to help you find other Halloween books if these are already loaned out. 1. Jerry Seinfeld Halloween with CD By Jerry Seinfeld 2. Too Many Pumpkins By Linda White 3. Six Creepy Sheep By Judith Ross Enderle and Stephanie Gordon Tessler 4. Aliens Don't Carve Jack-O-Laterns by Debbie Dadey Stephanie Felzenberg, Executive Editor Be the Best Nanny Monthly Guide PO Box 43477 Upper Montclair NJ 07043 USA Phone: 973-259-1101 Web site: BestNannyNewsletter.com Email: bethebestnanny@aol.com International Nanny Association Newsletter Editor Is Your Nanny Legal? Finding the right nanny for your child is a tough job, but once you do, you must determine whether your new employee is "legal", that is, eligible to work in the United States. Simply put: it is against the law to employ an alien who isn’t legally allowed to work in the United States. When you hire someone to work for you in your household, you become an "employer" and, therefore, subject to Immigration and Naturalization Service employment requirements. Therefore, you and your nanny are required to complete INS Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification on his or her first day of work. Form I-9 requests identification information from your new employee and a statement that he or she is eligible to work in the U.S. Typically, your employee will show you a copy of his or her Social Security card as proof of employment eligibility. Make a note of that number because you will need it when you prepare your nanny's Form W-2 at the end of this year. Also, remember to fill out your part of Form I-9. You do not file or send Form I-9 to the government. Instead, you must keep it with your records in the event that you are required to prove that your nanny is not an illegal alien. Download and read the instructions to Form I-9 for more information. Article by Essentia Software Corporation makers of NannyPay Payroll Software. NannyPay.com Ask the Experts Q & A Q: I am currently trying to find information on how to do my taxes as self-employed nanny and what expenses that I can claim. Any information would be very helpful. A: The nanny profession, by definition of job responsibilities and control of work is not classified in the self-employed/independent contractor category. All nannies are classified as employees. It is not legal for you to consider yourself self-employed, take deductions/write-offs as self-employed, or pay both employer and employee taxes as self-employed. Your employer has a legal responsibility to pay you as their employee, withholding federal and state taxes and paying employment taxes over and above your salary that contribute to your social security and medicare, and unemployment and disability benefits. This can be a very detailed and confusing subject. For additional information, please feel free to contact us @ 888-BREEDLOVE. Stephanie Breedlove Breedlove & Associates, LP www.breedlove-online.com Q: What is the best way/tips to transition from one nanny to another nanny? I have a 15 month old boy and a 5 year old boy who are very attached to my current nanny. Her end date is Nov 12th and I have a new Nanny starting on the 15th. The kids have met the new Nanny. My 5 year old will miss my current nanny, but likes the new Nanny a lot and will be fine (I think) with the transition. I'm concerned about my 15 month old. Today when the current Nanny put her coat on to leave, he even cried and clung to her leg...it made me so sad!! This is such a bad age for him to go thru such a change in care giver, but I had no option. My current nanny gave me notice on Oct 11th.... Any advise will be greatly appreciated. Hearbroken in Boston for my little guy... A: Dear Heartbroken, Some of the nannies on our Parents With Nannies discussion group were talking about this very issue the other day. Their suggestion, and I think its a good one, is to have both nannies work together for a day or two. Can you get your new nanny to come in and work with the departing nanny before she goes? The nannies on the board seem to think that this sends a message to the children that says "look nanny likes this new person and trusts her." It's also a great way to train your new nanny. You could also ask that new nanny come and babysit on a few Saturday nights before old nanny leaves. Best of Luck, Deborah L. Smith President Parents With Nannies, Inc. Please Support our Sponsors NANNYPAY HOME PAYROLL SOFTWARE Use NannyPay to calculate all federal and state withholding taxes for your nanny and other domestic employees. Print paystubs, W2's and liability reports right from home. Download a FREE 30 Day Demo, NOW! Please feel free to pass this e-zine along to your friends. However, we ask that you keep it intact and forward it in its entirety. Copyright - 1999-2004 Parents With Nannies,Inc. |
