We are an active, laid back and playful family with Mum and Dad, a boy of 7 (Remy) and girl of four (Delphine). Our home is very colourful and cosy, and we spend a lot of time dancing to K-pop, making jokes and playing with our pet cat and rat, which we appreciate is an odd combination.

Our life took a major turn in January when Delphine was diagnosed with leukemia. She began her treatment journey immediately, which has so far gone very well. The leukemia Delphine was diagnosed with has extremely good treatment outcomes, her progress thus far with treatment has been excellent, and so her prognosis is very good. The full treatment program is however long at 2+ years and given regular hospital trips or nurse visits, and the fact she is immunocompromised most of the time, our day-to-day life has changed a lot.

While we would not require a nanny to have anything to do as it relates to Delphine’s cancer care (medication, hospital visits etc.) it is of course essential for our nanny to be comfortable with the reality that one of the children they would be caring for is undergoing treatment for cancer.

The biggest impact of Delphine’s diagnosis on family life up to this point has been that life is a lot more home based. Delphine is not at school for the time being so is at home during the week. Now the weather is better she loves going to the park and playground, which she does a good amount during the week. On the weekend we try and be out and about as much as possible, but largely need to avoid indoor activities in public places.

People who fit well in our family tend to be laid back, on it, have lots of energy, are highly empathetic and can be creative themselves.

Kids personalities
Remy is extremely playful, chatty, active and interested in the world. He requires a lot of engagement from adults, either through conversation or through active play. When he is feeling dysregulated and anxious he can be challenging so he requires calm and patient holding at these times (shouting and punishments only make it worse because he is really feeling anxious but it comes out as anger, so the key thing is to bring his nervous system down). He is highly entertaining and considered by his teacher at school to be one of the kindest and most engaging kids in the class. It is just the times when he feels overwhelmed, tired or hungry he acts out. These times occur daily but they tend to be brief.

Delphine, is 4 years old. She is playful, funny, considerate, enjoys imaginary play and arts and crafts. Even before her diagnosis she could be quite self-contained, enjoying going home rather than to an after-school club when school is finished. Since she’s not been going to school there have been periods of only really wanting to watch TV but that has eased up and she has loved doing crafting and a lot of role play with Mum and her current nanny. She was popular in her class and has begun to have some play dates with kids from school, which she likes. She also really enjoys calm adult company to paint with, or bake with.

Duties: before and after school childcare, babysitting, taking the kids to clubs and activities, cooking for the family, clearing meals, laundry, basic housework (we have a cleaner), coming up with ideas for Delphine’s activities, organising the kids’ toys/clothes, occasional grocery shopping, help with our pet cat and rat
Accommodation:

A bedroom with a chest of drawers, small desk and large mirror. The bed is queen-sized (4 feet). On weekends when we are away (which is less common at the moment but we’d expect to be away for more weekends after September), we would allow the nanny, if they check it with us first, to have a friend to stay and they could use the guest bed in the office room.

The nanny has a shower and bathroom opposite their room on a separate floor to our bedrooms. We do occasionally use the shower in the morning as our bathroom only as a bath in it.