Before I get into my Marian Poppins mode I think it's important that you know where I'm coming from and why creating this blog is so important to me. So here's more of my her-story =)
After living in the bay area for 17 years (7 spent in San Francisco for college) I could see where my life was headed. I had been an after school teacher for 2 elementary schools, working as a full time asst supervisor for the Kids Club at a gym and babysitting for a number of families. My future seemed to be solid. I had the good job, the good pay and the good benefits. Then towards the end of 2009, I made a decision to move away from everything I knew.
I had decided to move to southern california.
It was a shock to everyone who knew me. I started getting asked questions...
Why?
Is everything okay?
Where are you going?
For school/work?
What do you hope to get from moving?
Do you know anyone there?
Who'll help you if anything goes wrong?
Those and many more came my way. And I'm sure a lot of friends and family didn't understand why I was moving. Honestly, I had heard many stories from older family members about how they had done exciting things when they were younger. Some amazing and some crazy! But I wanted those stories. I wanted to share with others what it was like to live outside of the box. So I moved. And I had no idea what I was doing.
For me, I knew for sure two things. I would do anything for my family and family friends AND my passion in life was split between kids and music. Working with kids and wanting to be a part of creating a healthy space mentally and emotionally for them was a new and very inspiring feeling. Yet my passion for music had been all I'd known ever since I could remember.
Enter Los Angeles:
I moved into a room shared with a friend and started from ground zero. We looked for jobs everywhere! Retail, restaurants, theaters...etc. I finally went back to what I knew and went into my account on www.sittercity.com. It was the only thing I was confident about. So I started my search for a regular babysitting job/ a part time nanny job. I heard back from only a few until I landed an interview for a new family. Veronica and Alex had a precious boy I called mister B. I had a good feeling about this family and although they had many more interviews to go through, I thought, 'this is the family I'll be working for.'
Unfortunately it did not turn out as I'd hoped as they were heading to China the following 2 weeks and I was in dire need of a job. So I took one as a caregiver for an older lady, Claudine, in Malibu. Working for Claudine brought forth a strong passion of cooking and baking. Up until the day she passed away (rest in peace), she was an amazing teacher, friend and mentor. I cherish my time with her and her family. I worked for Claudine for a couple of months and within that time I had also been babysitting one day a week for mister B. Things seemed to work themselves out to where it turned out that Veronica's regular nanny for mister B couldn't do it anymore. So I began working for them officially as mister B's part time nanny.
Now that I had the job I could do what I wanted to do right? But I still had no idea! So I checked out some singing auditions online and actually got the nerves to try it out. Well some may say I didn't try hard enough since I didn't end up making it, but doing so gave me some huge insights as far as what people are willing to do to make it. Now it's not all bad, but I knew that the fire wasn't in me to pursue a career in music. Instead I found it being a nanny.
And after almost a year and a half of being mister B's nanny, I knew without a doubt that while music will always be in and a part of my life, kids and their healthy development were my future.
So I made the decision to move back to the bay area. To go back to school and finish so that I can get a master's in child development. And I wanted to move back to my roots and continue to grow exactly where I left off, but with a surefire way of becoming more solid than ever.
I have to thank mister B and his family, for his lovely neighbors and friends who became part of my story. I also have to thank a friend and my sister for pushing me towards working for what I want, where I want.
And so I leave you with this...I, Marian Poppins, will be sharing with you my observations of kids development and my advice (based on experience) to parents on certain issues that come up during development. As I begin and continue my education - I hope to provide different sources that will hopefully help us all raise and rear kids in a happy and healthy environment.
So thanks for reading and I will be up again soon with how a day at the park started me thinking about creating this blog. =) See ya soon!
**All names used when referring to families, have been changed to protect their privacy.
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