"Jani is Mary Poppins meets Mrs Doubtfire meets Nanny McPhee"

Nanny / Housekeeper / Eldercare

I'm a Mum

I have always described myself as mother who works, rather than being a working mother.
​Raising my 2 sons was the deepest privilege in my many and varied life experiences.
My boys are 16 months apart,
​and I do know something about handling rowdy energy!
My boys are now 35 and 34 - busy adulting.
They are very kind and generous humans who are compassionate and caring
and work hard to help make a better world.

Canadian Citizen / UK Leave to Remain

Clean Driver's License

Criminal Background Check

First Aid + Infant CPR

My Childcare Ethos

I believe my broad range of experience will benefit any children in my care, and I can safely say that kids love to hang out with me - we have fun. My focus is learning through creativity, through development of imagination and curiosity.
I believe in play as a conduit to development, and I love to help guide children to learn their capabilities and limits through the challenges of stretching themselves, physically, mentally and emotionally.​
"Creativity is 
inventing,
experimenting.
growing,
taking risks,
breaking rules,
making mistakes,
and
​having fun."
Mary Lou Cook
I believe in making time and space for children to be creative,
​giving them the tools and props to let their imaginations find expression.
I am a firm advocate of outside play, imagination play, of learning through storytelling. I also believe in helping children to learn their responsibility to be part of a household through helping with chores, done with a sense of fun whilst giving them a strong sense of value and accomplishment.
My way with children is steeped in a willingness to guide them to expressing their thoughts and feelings,
​and to find their way through conflicts in a way that builds their confidence and self esteem.
I'm a very good disciplinarian,
​gentle but firm,
steady and fair,
and I have high expectations of polite and responsive behaviour.

The essential component to being a good nanny
is the capacity to entirely flow with
the parent's choices and decisions.

It is an ingrained aspect of my work ethic
​to always be guided by how the parents wish their child to be cared for,
​and to in all ways meet those expectations.

I love to Play!

I believe that children need play like they need oxygen.
(and I don't mean video games)
Being outside is a vital part of helping to grow healthy children.
It is my great joy to bundle everyone up for an outing into nature, regardless of weather, for
​"There is no such thing a bad weather, only unsuitable clothing".
Learning to be in our bodies, and learning to challenge ourselves, is a significant part of developing our confidence.
I am a huge advocate of letting kids learn to push their limits by playing in an outdoor environment.
I am also a huge fan of the importance of feeling the daily shifts and changes in nature
as the seasons roll one into the other throughout the year.
And I love building forts!
I grew up on a mountain with 2 brothers, so playing in the forest
is one of my favourite places to be.
Our 'Fairy Forest' fort - Autumn 2020

Bowen Children's Centre

I have had the very great privilege of spending 2 years working with this remarkable ECE (Early Childhood Education) centre in Beautiful BC Canada, situated on the lovely Bowen Island.
This school adheres to the Reggio Emilia school of learning
which, to my delight, completely aligns to all the principles that outline my own educational ethos (as above).
In my 2 years with the school I have variously:
* subbed for the
​Cedar class (age 3-4)
​and Maple Class (age 4-5)
* filled in as interim acting director for Family Place
* primary staff at the After School Club

After School Club

Set within the grounds and buildings of the Bowen Island Community School, every day we would manage up to 40 children across 2 dedicated classrooms, the gym, the playground, 2 playing fields and the 'back woods'
(not unusual to see deer hanging out there).
We created an environment that fully welcomed imagination and creativity
Needless to say that we, the staff, ever had our walkie-talkies to hand as we managed the play, the crafting, the dress ups and the sport activities of all these kids across a very large site.
* let it be noted that the education inspectors determined us the very best ASC
in the whole of the Lower Mainland (Southern BC)
I will never underestimate the extraordinary range of skills that I learned and developed in being part of this extraordinary team who made this wonderful space for children to thrive.

Tweens & Teens

I love working with teenagers.
Really!
My own children's teenage years were my favourite part of parenting,
plus I had a 'Teen Clinic' as part of my Chinese medicine practice.
My clinical speciality is hormones,
and frankly there is nothing that can surprise me that any teenager might want to throw my way.
I enjoy giving the right balance of support and guidance coupled with margin to explore,
to begin to learn about who they are
​and how they want to be in this world.
Gen Z have the worst inheritance of any generation in history.
I wish to provide a stable force in helping them navigate the huge challenges that face them,
​and to help them cope with the complex emotional quagmire that this generation is facing.

Screen Time 

Lucky me, that I got to raise my children BEFORE the advent of smart phones and apps;
all we had to contend with was Nintendo and Playstation 1.
I am more than willing to be guided by a family's own parameters in respect of screen time.
In my own preferences, screen time is allocated and other things like conversation, playing in-person games, reading, imagination games, as well as helping with chores and being part of the dynamic that runs a household is the sort of old-school attitude that I ascribe to.

My Pandemic Position

Senior Caregiver and Home-School Tutor
Living in a 4 generation home has been an absolute privilege during the time of covid restrictions.
Myself included, we were a bubble of 9 people,
​from 87 to 5 years old,
​living on a farm in Langley Township.

Home-School Tutor

My principle role was home-schooling the 5 year old, who has ASD & ADHD,
helping him to meet his Kindergarten curriculum.
We worked within the Self Design system, and I feel very well equipped to take on any level of home-schooling, and well able to adapt to any education platform that is being used.
In addition,
I also worked with his sisters, age 9 (also ASD) and age 13 (severe social anxiety),
covering their PE curriculum for 6 hours each week;
clambering through the local Regional parks, climbing and running and being in nature.

I am an Educator

I am a life-long learner.
Studying and teaching come naturally to me.
I'm a curious cat, ever in search of new knowledge, and always delighted to learn new skills.
​I have been both an undergraduate and post graduate university lecturer,
and have a long career as an international seminar presenter and conference speaker.
​I am also qualified as an ESL teacher.
As it was known then: Cambridge Royal Society of Arts Prep Cert - with distinction.
​Now called the CELTA.

Paediatric Qualifications

I have always loved working with children.
I have specialist paediatric training as part of my 25 year career as a Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner.

​Paediatric physiology and childhood psychological development
was an extensive part of
​this year-long post-graduate diploma course.

I trained with the western world's leading authority
​on treating children with TCM,
​Julian Scott.

Horses & Dogs!

Any and all animals...
I would love to find a place with an equestrian family,
​that would be the most ideal job imaginable.
I competed from age 15 to 23, in Canada, riding first Arabian, then fully into Dressage.
My initial training was with Zoltan Sztehlo, then I worked with the protege of Dr Otto Bode (Vienna School) Rosemary Reed,
moving on to train with Pat Deptford and Leslie Reid.
Bode, Sztehlo and Reid were all Olympic dressage team members.
I had to stop competing age 23 for health reasons, which is what led me down the path to studying Chinese medicine.
It would be my very great joy to find a job that involves horses.
I can drive a rig, and would be an asset as a show groom.

My first stable job was on a stud farm (and I had my own broodmares),
so I am familiar with breeding and birthing.