Nursery World - Balancing act (2)

It can take all of your juggling skills to keep children of different ages happily occupied at once, says nanny Lorna Clark - and the secret is to offer them choices Around 75 per cent of nannies care for more than one child, and as the children are usually siblings, they are rarely all the same age.

Around 75 per cent of nannies care for more than one child, and as the children are usually siblings, they are rarely all the same age.

Nannysharing likewise often involves dividing attention between children of different ages from two families. The variety and challenge this presents to a nanny can be very rewarding - with a range of ages and interests, something new is always just around the corner. The difficulty, however, can be in meeting the very different needs of each age group at the same time.

How can one person listen to a child read, help another with long division and keep a toddler happily occupied? How can one outing satisfy a ten-year-old and his two-year-old sister? And then there are the caring requirements - what do you do with a lively five-year-old when the baby needs a nap?

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