Supporting an unqualified nanny- advice please

[SuiGeneris]

Our nanny of almost two years is lovely with the children, trustworthy etc but she has never looked after two children and never had a toddler of DS1's age. She is also very quiet and we have the impression that a lot of the time she does not speak to DCs as much as we do. DS1 has had some delays with his speech and has improved a lot over the summer, when he has been mostly in the care of myself and other family members. We are keen that he continues to catch up and also want to avoid similar issues with DC2. Obviously we do not know whether/how much having a quiet nanny has contributed to the delay, but want to do our best by the children.

Nanny does not have any childcare qualifications and, although I have bought and left out activity books (some aimed at the child himself, some at adults: e.g. Activities to do with your toddler at home) I do not think they have been used much. I would really be grateful for suggestions on how to get the nanny to be more proactive in this respect.

We have a nanny diary and I have asked for details of what DS does, but a lot of the time it just says "played at home", "park" or "visited xyz for a playdate", while I would like a bit more detail and, for the time at home, more activities like play dough, cooking, painting etc.

Finally, a small thing that bugs me: she seems to be texting a lot while DS plays. I have noticed this both at home and in the park. I have mentioned that DS is very active and must never be out of sight etc and that for his speech to develop he needs more interaction while he plays, but what else could we do?

We like Nanny, she is very flexible and keen to fit in with the family, so I would be grateful for suggestions to help her develop professionally. Would happily send her on a short course, for example, if one exists, but I have checked the websites for Norland, Chiltern and MNT without success.

Does your nanny read books to your children? I'm a quiet nanny, not constantly talking and I find that reading books to children is a nice thing to do and it can encourage children to use language by asking questions about what is happening in the book, asking for it to be read again, identifying animals and colours in the pictures.

What activities does your nanny like doing - use her strengths. If she hates cooking, then doing a cooking activity won't appeal to her. If she loves history, she may love to take your children to local museums, historic buildings.

Is writing things down something she struggles with? She has a phone, she uses it, does it have a camera? Use photos to document what they did during the day.

Using a phone whilst working can be a problem but can also be useful. Getting the balance right is tricky, in The Nanny And The Smart Phone I mention some of the positive things, but using it too much will impact on the care provided to the children. Banning use of the phone wouldn't work in my view but changing it's use might - so for example using it to take photos, look things up on the internet (places to go, activities to do, or the answer to a child's question - "how many lifts does the tallest building in the world have?").

Children don't need adult company 100% of the time, they need some time to use their own imagination. Whilst playing in the playground a child may make friends with another child and the adults can happily supervise from a slight distance giving the children opportunity to play together without adult interference. Adults are there for the safety aspect, so keeping an eye that the children don't wonder off from the park.

Getting the balance right is tricky - does she realise how much she uses the phone? Are the texts really important, or could they be done later? See if you can encourage her to think before she texts - does the text need to be done now (in which case keep it short) or is it just general chit chat with a friend that can be done later?

Does she have friends/other childcarers she can meet up with during the working day? Maybe she is missing adult company and thus uses the phone to feel connected to another adult.

Would going to classes aimed at young children and their parent/carer be a way of introducing play ideas? Gymboree for example, or any classes that are leader led - could be art classes, or physical exercise, or combination of both. It may help solve some of the issues as you would know where they were going, that they would meet other adults and children, and may learn a play idea.

Where are you? Are there any organisations that provide continuing professional development courses for childcare workers near you? There are a couple of places near me that do this - mostly aimed at/subsidised for nursery practitioners and childminders but lots would be suitable for nannies too. It might be worth calling the council or the family information service locally to you and asking.

For example the ones near me do things like food hygiene, child protection and first aid but also one day courses at cost £40-£50 in things like "New Ideas for craft time/music time" or "Cooking with under 5s".