How To Photograph Your Baby

How To Photograph Your Baby by Melissa Doran

The February featured speaker for the meeting was none other than our own Jen Goin. She gave a presentation on how to take pictures. After a brief speech by Jen in the beginning, we watched a video by Nick Kelsh called “How To Photograph Your Baby”. The video was very informative. It gave a lot of helpful tips for taking great photos. There is also a companion book that goes with the video, “How To Photograph Your Baby”. The book is available at most book stores. The DVD is available at http://www.howtophotographyourbaby.com/dvd.

Use natural light whenever possible and turn off the flash. The flash adds too much harsh light and the natural light adds dimension to your pictures. Save the flash for snapshots. For best results set your ISO to 400 when your flash is off.

Slow down when taking the picture. Take a breath in and when pushing down the shutter button exhale. Only move your index finger when pushing down the shutter button, not your whole hand to keep your pictures from turning out blurry.

Instead of just taking one picture at a time, just keep snapping away. Since most of us now own a digital camera, you can delete the bad ones without wasting film. This is especially helpful when you are shooting a moving target like kids, babies or animals. You might have to take 100 shots, but out of those 100 you might only get 10 good pictures.

Zoom in on your subject. When you are zoomed out you get a lot of unnecessary clutter and background objects. It takes the focus off of what you are really taking a picture of.

If you’re looking to edit your photos, here are some helpful websites: http://www.piknic.com/, http://www.picasa.google.com/, http://www.lunapic.com/, http://www.photoshop.com/, http://www.fotoflexer.com/. If you have an Mac computer, IPhoto (another editing program) comes standard on your computer.

Backup your photos. Make a folder of all your favorites and save them to an external hard drive. If something happens and your computer crashes at least you have saved all your pictures. The other option is saving them to a website. There are some listed on this website. http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6451_7-6245115-1.html

Most importantly have fun!

This article originally appeared in the March/April 2010 issue of ADCAN Happenings.

Does Your Child still need a Rear Facing Car Seat?

courtesy of ADCAN

January / February 2010 newsletter

by Janinne Gardner

The District of Columbia and the States of Maryland (June 30, 2008) & Virginia (July 1, 2007) all require children be in a car seat or booster through age seven. On their eighth birthday they may begin using the car seat belts. Is this good enough, are your children safe? Interesting enough none of them have requirements for rear facing car seats. Traditionally we use an infant-only seat or a convertible in rear position until the baby is twenty pounds and over 1 year. Again, is your child safe?

Kathy Gutierrez a Car Seat Technician, Nanny & Mother, states an unequivocal, NO to both of these questions! At our November business meeting she educated us on car seat safety. She sites Pediatrics, a professional journal, who says a child under the age of two is 75% less likely to be killed or suffer severe injuries if they are riding in the rear facing position. Kathy also states she believes in the “laws of physics” not the State Law when it comes to the safety of her children and the children in her care. It seems the car seat manufacturers are catching on to this since convertible car seats have a rear facing maximum weight of at least 30/35 lbs and a few are 40/45 lbs. In Sweden, in contrast to the US, where children remain rear facing until they are between 3-5 years old they have substantially lower death and injury rates, about 1 to 2 a year. “Keeping the child at a rear facing position takes the force of an accident off the child’s spinal cord and neck. In a forward facing position the body is held back by the straps but the head is not. The head is thrust forward, stretching the neck and the spinal cord. In the rear facing position the head, neck and torso are cradled by the back of the safety seat in a frontal crash (SafetyBeltSafe USA). A human’s neck bones are not mature until between four and six years of age, spinal cord between 3 years and six years.

While legally your children are “allowed” to be in a vehicle seat belt at age eight most children should use a booster until between 10-12 years old so that the shoulder belt and the lap belt are the right fit for the best crash protection. A simple test will determine if your child is ready to be moved from a booster.

Does the child sit all the way back against the auto seat?
Do the child’s knees bend comfortably at the edge of the auto seat?
Does the belt cross the shoulder between the neck and arm?
Is the lap belt as low as possible, touching the thighs?
Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?

If your answer to any of the above questions was no, then you should keep your child in a booster seat (SafetyBeltSafe USA).

Kathy gave us some interesting facts to think about:
1. Car seats expire about every six years. A few have a life expectancy of seven or eight years. All car seats have a date that they were made, and should be retired when the instruction manual states. This is because plastic gets old and fails. Check out youtube.com and watch “car seat expiration”.
2. Your child has outgrown his rear facing car seat when he has reached the maximum weight stated by the manufacturer or his head is less then an inch from the top of the seat.
3. Newborns need to be at a 45 degree incline until they can sit up by themselves generally about 6 months.
4. When a child is strapped in, the straps should be tight enough that you can not pinch a horizontal line at the shoulders.
5. Mirrors in front of a rear facing child are dangerous unless they are soft. In the case of an accident the child could rebound into it and may be injured. The Mirrors could also become unattached (no matter how secure they seem) and injure the child or someone else.
6. Mighty Tight only stretches the seat belt, do not use. Your vehicle’s seat belt may need to be replaced if you have been using one.
7. Children in ill-fitting seat belts tend to ride in an incorrect position, either sliding forward to the edge of the seat or slouching downward. Some children are less likely to buckle up, perhaps because the auto seat and belts are not comfortable for them (SafetyBeltSafe USA).
8. In the case of an accident your car seats should be replaced, Britax car seats have a few exceptions (see your manual). Your insurance company should pay for the replacement because it is required to drive your child.
9. Car seats & vehicles have a 40 or 48 lb weight limit on LATCH system. This means if your child weighs 50lbs you will need to use the car’s seat belt to install his car seat. However if your car seat has the new super latch & the car was manufactured after Sept 2005 then you can use latch up to the usable weight of the car seat manufacturer. So in this case if you have a 50lb child and your car seat and car match the criteria for a super latch you may use the LATCH system until the child weights the maximum for the car seat.

I hope this has given you something to think about. It has certainly made me think. I know you are thinking, “my child is uncomfortable sitting rear facing, his legs will be bunched up, what if he breaks his legs” or “my 9 year old will rebel and I can’t make him use a booster when everyone in his class doesn’t.” or “I have driven children for years and never had a problem.”

If you are hesitant to put your two year old back in rear facing he will figure out a way to be comfortable, she will generally cross her legs or put them up on the back seat. Actually with rear facing she will be able to retrieve fallen object much easier making it a less stressful trip with toys and cup falling on the floor, rear facing it will fall in her lap. Go to http://www.cpsafety.com/ for some pictures of rear facing older children. As for her legs breaking: there is no documented case of a rear facing child damaging their legs, hips or internal organs. However the most common injury for forward facing is broken legs (2), and a chance of so much more. If you still don’t believe go to www.joelsjourney.org and just read.

As for the nine year old, safety issues are non-negotiable. You wouldn’t allow him to ride his bike on the highway! Choices regarding his car seat safety are just as important and should not be up to him. Try using a small backless booster that can not be seen from outside the car. This will help position the car seat belt correctly while being less obvious. We can only change the acceptance of this one child at a time.

As for being lucky and never having a problem, great! Just don’t play Russian Roulette with her life. Okay at some point in writing this it has become less about describing our meeting and more about convincing you. I am not sure at what point I became a firm believer, probably between YouTube and JoelsJourney however, I feel as though I have so little control driving around the DC area. I guess I feel that in the car is one place I do have control and if rear facing until four or boosters until ten just helps for that one second…Great! If you would like more information on car seat installation please contact Kathy Gutierrez at kegutierrez@yahoo.com or read her blog, http://www.carseatnanny.blogspot.com/.


SafetyBeltUSA PO Box 553, Altadena, CA 91003; http://www.careseat.org/ 310-222-6860/ 800-745-SAFE
http://carseatqueen.com/rf.aspx

Parent Gifts for any Season

by MaryAnn X. Meddish

2009 INA Nanny of the Year

reprinted with permission Regarding Nannies

Once again it is that time of year where we all start scratching out heads trying to figure out what to get our employers. I have been asked for ideas so many times over the years that I started keeping a list of ideas, it keeps changing so here are some tried~n~true and some new ideas for you to refer to all through the year as anniversaries, birthdays, Mother’s and Father’s days, Grandparent’s day, and next years holidays start to gang up on you. Craft gifts you can make with your charges: These ideas can also be used to make gifts for extended family members and the household staff (i.e. an apron for the cook, flowerpots for the gardener, a scrapbook for the Au-pair). Remember that the expense of craft supplies is usually covered by the employers or you can ask for a Christmas allowance for the children to make gifts.

Read the entire article at Regarding Nannies

Car Seat Safety - November Guest Speaker

Please join us at our November meeting. We will have a certified Child Passenger Safety Technician present us with the latest information on car seats and much more.

This course will help you learn which stage of car seat is appropriate for your child; when your child should be rear facing, in a forward facing harness, in a booster seat or adult seat belt. You will learn what to look for when shopping for a new car seat, and how to properly use it. You will learn how to tell if the car seat is properly installed, and where to find help if it's not.

You can RSVP to the meeting by:

• Replying to you member evite.
• Email us at events@dcareanannies.com
• Call us at 866.841.9139 Ext. 2176

All are welcome! Bring a friend.

Kathy Gutierrez has been a professional nanny since 2000, and a mother since 2006. In effort to keep her children and charges safe, she became a Child Passenger Safety Technician (CPST) in 2008. After certification, she worked side by side with a CPST Instructor with 25 years experience, and continues to do so.

The Nanny Financial Corner

by Alice Shaffer @ The Financial Nanny

Getting Ready to Start a Budget
As I have mentioned, being a professional live in nanny has wonderful benefits and sometimes a downfall of falling into debt. I have been working with a budget lately and wanted to help others set one up so they can be as financially responsible.

Over the coming weeks, I am going to share with you how to set up a budget along with weekly homework assignments that help you get to the next step in making a budget.

This week we will gather money totals for everything - money coming in and money going out. I suggest getting a one subject notebook for your budget and keeping things together. We will eventually put the budget on a spreadsheet so that it will do the calculating for you.

Here’s what you need to get started:
For all of the following you need the amount due, payment due date, amount of loan/balances of accounts, and interest rates.
*Your last paycheck (preferably two) and a schedule of when you get paid (weekly, bi-weekly, bi-monthly, etc) with dates
*Credit card bills (most recent)- Visa, MasterCard, Sears, Discover, Kohl's - all of them
*Banking information - this includes checking, savings, money market, CDs, Savings Bonds including fees.
*IRA/401K/Brokerage account balances and information
*Insurance paperwork - car, life, health, pet, home/renter's, etc.
*Utilities –phone, cell, internet, cable/satellite, electric, rent, water/sewer, trash, and appliances etc
*Student loans or other personal loans
*Prescription & health care costs
*Subscription/Membership fees - Health club dues/fees, Netflix, union dues, etc
*Doctor/dentist visits

Daily living:
*Groceries, clothing, eating out, dry cleaning, salon/spa services, gas, snacks, bus/metro/subway/cab fares, movie rentals, concerts, purchase of music/DVDs/books/toys/birthday presents, pet supplies, magazine & newspaper subscriptions

Yearly/Semi Yearly expenses:

*car insurance, organization membership fees, conference fees, hotel fees, vacation, tuition, music/language lessons, charitable donations
*anything else that you pay for or collect interest on

This is a large list of items to work on. I promise you that when we get this budget together, you will feel great about yourself.

Homework
In addition, to gathering the above information I would like for you to track ALL of your EXPENSES for this week. You can carry an index card and write down all cash/credit/debit purchases or write them in a notebook. This will help us figure out where you money goes and what kind of budget you need to work with.

If you want a spreadsheet to report them on, here you go Monthly Expenses

To find out other steps in setting up a budget please visit: http://www.thefinancialnanny.com/
Part 2: Setting up a Budget

Part 3: Putting everything into your spreadsheet

The Maid Movie

The Maid won this year’s Sundance Film Festival Award and will be premiering in DC on October 30th at the Landmark’s E Street Cinema.

THE MAID is a Chilean film about a woman named Raquel, who works as a live- in maid for a wealthy family in Santiago. We see Raquel go through an emotional journey as she tries to find her way back to becoming loving and open to others as she has trained herself to be cold and distant.

This film touches on Chilean culture along with the roles women play within a household.

Please feel free to watch the trailer at http://www.themaidmovie.com/ .

You can also become a fan of THE MAID MOVIE on Facebook and follow us on TWITTER.

What, Exactly, is a Nanny?

by Christine Watson Holsen

ADCAN Board at Large

The big question was raised at the most recent monthly meeting of ADCAN members: What exactly is a nanny? What sets her apart from a babysitter, an au pair, a parent/mother's helper, etc.? ADCAN Vice-president Janinne Gardner had been thinking about that question ever since she attended the recent Nannypalooza Conference. A speaker at that conference offered a definition that did not satisfy her. At the meeting, Janinne first asked the members to jot down their own definitions on index cards, then she gave a brief list, from dictionaries, nanny agencies associations, and from Wikipedia. There followed a general discussion of how a babysitter or an au pair differs from a nanny. The members agreed that a babysitter provided "basic supervision," and "follows the parents' instructions." An au pair, they agreed, is "a foreign exchange student who serves as the mother's helper" and becomes "part of the family." Her primary interest is educational opportunity and international travel."

The members then split into three working groups for in-depth discussions, which were at times quite passionate. When they reconvened, a representative summarized the views within each group, and the whole group discussed them. There was consensus on some basic points, and difference of opinion on others. On the question of how much authority and autonomy a nanny should have, for instance: "I'm a great nanny because I can adapt to my family's needs," or "I have no say in consequences/punishment [for a child's negative behavior]," vs. "... and adult who co-parents and assumes responsibility for the children in her care..." In the end it was agreed that this was different in every situation.

The definitions submitted anonymously by each participant before the discussion started showed an even greater range of views, including: "...first of all an educator, not a housekeeper.... a guide, a counselor, a second mother, disciplinarian...", "...takes full care of children (no parent at home)...", "...searches for ... opportunities for professional development and has no other defined agenda besides child care.", "does not use TV as a babysitter", "Mom substitute -- all things related to child(ren) + field-related continuing education."

This "focus group’s” consensus definition of a Professional Nanny :
* Legal
* CPR/First Aid certified
* Makes it her career, not just a job
* Pursues ongoing training through meetings, conferences, etc.
* Has the experience and confidence to advise and direct parents. Has the ability to offer options, resources and recommendations. Teaches parents how to parent.

Your thoughts on this important and complicated subject would be much appreciated by the author, possibly to be used in a follow-up article. Please email Christine at McLeanBabyPro@gmail.com.

This article appeared in the November / December ADCAN Newsletter.