Nanny Transitions INA Scholarship Information

Here are the guidelines for the Nanny Transitions INA Conference Scholarship.

In order to qualify for the Nanny Transitions INA Conference Scholarship, you must meet the following qualifications.

You must be working as a nanny a minimum of 24 hours a week.                    

(If you are a nanny in transition, looking for a new position, please let us know)

*You must be a member of INA as of February 10, 2015.

You must go to the Nanny Transitions page on Facebook and like the page.
*If we choose your essay and you have not liked the page you will be eliminated.

 * By submitting this essay you are committing to attend the 2015 INA Annual Conference.

INA Board of Directors, conference speakers and workshop presenters, conference sponsors who receive complimentary registration, the 2014 and 2015 INA Nanny of the Year award recipients are not eligible for this prize.

Previous scholarship winners are not eligible.

To Apply:   Submit an essay on one of the following topics:

 1. What would you say to someone if they said "Oh, you babysit for a living?"

2.  What was the most valuable advice anyone ever gave you and how has it impacted you personally and professionally?

 3.  What do you expect to take away from conference this year?

4.  If your present Nanny job ended suddenly and without warning, would you handle it on your own or seek advice and/or help from someone else, and why?

            Your essay must be at minimum 500-1,000 words.    (No more than 1,000 and, no less than 500)

 Do not include information in your essay that would identify you, such as the name of your city. We would like to keep the submissions as anonymous as possible.

       Essay must be submitted between January 26 and February 7, 2015 and will be announced on February 10, 2015.

    Use spell check and count your words.
    Recipient will be chosen by content and presentation of essay.

 There will be 1 Scholarship awarded.
 This scholarship can be used by a new conference attendee
or a previous conference attendee.
 It can NOT be gifted to someone.

 Scholarship recipients will be announced on the Nanny Transitions blog and  Facebook page and notified via phone and/or email on Monday, February 10,  2015.
 You will have 24 hours to respond and if you do not respond, we will choose another recipient.

Essay submissions should be sent to: Nannytransitions@gmail.com

If you have any questions, feel free to email us your questions
before you submit your essay.

nannytransitions@gmail.com

Please note: Nannytransitions email is not monitored by Glenda or Susan during the time of the essay scholarship. Glenda’s trusted and long time friend and colleague, Gael Ann Dow (professional nanny over 25 year) changes the password and graciously monitors the email, removes identifying information from the essays and sends them to our personal email. This keeps the submissions completely anonymous.

               By submitting this essay you are committing to attending the 2015 INA Conference.

INA 30th Annual Conference

April 23-26, 2015
Cancun, Mexico

- See more at

http://www.nanny.org/annual-conference/2015-ina-annual-conference

      You understand that you are responsible for your transportation to and from the conference, your hotel room and any other expenses incurred at the 2014 INA Conference.

     You have the necessary travel documents to travel outside of the USA.

    You have discussed this with your employers and they have agreed to give you the time off to attend the conference.

This scholarships is sponsored by Nanny Transitions and partially funded by a donation from Susan Fordham*
Susan Fordham is one of last years’ scholarship recipients who wanted to pay it forward and Nanny Transitions is so very grateful.

Paying it Forward for 2015 INA Conference

Paying it Forward with an INA Conference Scholarship

By Susan Fordham

MOVING FORWARD

When I made the choice to become a Nanny many years ago, I was very fortunate to find appreciative families who desperately needed my help.  I worked for a Scientist Mom and a Post Graduate Dad for many years, and stayed friends with them long after my Nanny days were over.  Then, as the economy began to worsen, I worked for households where both parents were professionals and were able to leave for work each morning with peace of mind that their prized possessions were being taken care of and loved.

 I moved to the West Coast and found lifestyles to be very different than the East Coast, where I was born and raised.  That meant I had to change my approach and find new ways to “sell” myself.  I advertised in a local paper and a family contacted me from only 4 miles from my home.  Mom was still pregnant and was looking for a “Mother’s Helper”, a few days/week for only a few hours.  I began working for this family when the little boy was 2 weeks old.  I worked 20-25 hours/week and I felt ‘invaluable’ to this Mom. I worked for them for 5 months.  One day, the bottom fell out from under me – she no longer felt she needed me, paid me 6 weeks severance pay and I was gone.  Needless to say, I was devastated.  That’s when I was pointed in the direction of Nanny Transitions, owned by Glenda Propst, and my outlook on life changed!

Nanny Transitions offered me more answers than I had questions for.  Glenda seemed to know the right thing to say to me, at precisely the right time.  She opened up an entirely new venue into the Nanny world, ones that I never knew existed.  One of these new venues was International Nanny Association (INA) and their annual conference.  My finances still suffering from the loss of my job, Glenda informed me that Nanny Transitions sponsored a scholarship contest for new members, which could be won by writing an essay.  I won the contest and my registration was paid for by Marni Kent.  I still remember the day I received the phone call from Glenda – it was like I had won the lottery! 

And at that very moment, my life took a turn and I have not looked back since!

That’s why I decided to “Pay it Forward”

Who does this?  Why do some people feel compelled to do that?  Why am I doing this?  These are some of the questions that people have asked me since I decided to ‘pay it forward’ for the scholarship fund for INA conference.

Marni Kent (THE NANNY MENTOR) chose to pay it forward and that gave me the opportunity to enter the Nanny Transitions Essay contest for an opportunity to attend my first INA conference in Los Angeles in March 2014.
My essay was about what it meant to me to be a Nanny.  Much to my amazement and surprise, I won!  My registration was paid for and I was on my way – on an incredible journey that made such an impact on my life, it’s hard to imagine my life without the people I met and the education I received in one weekend. That conference and that experience has had such an impact on my life that when I realized that I could not attend the INA conference in Cancun in 2015, I decided that I wanted to help make it possible for someone else to go in my place. 

My heart and spirit will be in Cancun, but someone else will take my place physically.  To that person, I want to say…The people you will meet will open their hearts to you and will become your forever friends.  The education you will receive will be immeasurable.  And you will have memories that will last you a lifetime.  Be prepared to take lots of pictures, take lots of notes and be prepared to laugh…A LOT!!  In other words, ENJOY YOURSELF!

It is an honor and a privilege for me to join forces with Nanny Transitions to  provide this scholarship opportunity for someone else.

Details regarding the scholarship will be announced by Nanny Transitions on January 26^th but in the meantime, you can complete 2 scholarship requirements by being sure that you have liked the
Nanny Transitions “Facebook page”And that  your INA membership is current.
Then when the details are announced you will be ready to write your essay and one lucky person will be one step closer to attending INA in Cancun April 23-26, 2015

Motivation...What Motivates You?

The next few days we will be publishing the scholarship recipients and runners up.  They will be published in random order.

Thank you again to Marni Kent who made this scholarships possible.

MOTIVATION by Susan Fordham

          According to Psychology Today:  “motivation is literally the desire to do things.  It’s the difference between waking up before dawn to pound the pavement and lazing around the house all day.  It’s the crucial element in setting and attaining goals – and research shows you can influence your own levels of motivation and self-control.  So figure out what you want, power through the pain period and start being who you want to be”.

          In the real estate market, you hear every day “the sellers are highly motivated” and in the professional and amateur sports fields, you hear analysts say “what motivates him or her?”  And in my chosen profession, I hear “when will you get motivated to find a REAL job?”

          Where does my motivation come from?  For one, when people say something like that to me!  My motivation comes from the smiles and hugs I get on a daily basis, the boo-boos I am allowed to kiss away each and every day, getting down on the floor to roll a ball across the floor – now that’s motivation for me.  I chose my path in life a very long time ago, but I do believe it chose me a long time before I was aware of it.  I believe I was put on this earth to do what it is I do.  I have a long history of caregiving, some of it was very, very hard and some of it had such rich rewards, it made my heart

sing.  I chose to focus on the rich rewards and not the bad stuff, I chose to get up each and every morning and look out the window for something to make me smile, I chose to set aside special time for me and me alone, in other words, I CHOSE MOTIVATION!

          Motivation comes to me in many different shapes and sizes.  Sometime it shows itself in a hummingbird coming to my feeder or in a peculiar or intriguing cloud formation.  I look for these things in my life, I seek them out – it keeps me going.  My mind is open at all times to find the good in things, even when they can be so dark and scary.  Motivation can be very tricky – you may have to scrape away a few ugly layers to find whatever you need to keep on going.  But keep scraping, you will find it.  There may be times when the motivation is there, but you can’t see it or you don’t WANT to see it.  Maybe sometimes, it’s as easy and as simple as getting up and washing your face, clearing away the cobwebs and see what is right in front of you – MOTIVATION was there all the time!

          Children are my biggest motivator.  All children deserve love, respect and the right to be heard.  It makes no difference what is going in my life, what matters most is what should be happening in their lives.  They should be receiving the best of everything and it is up to US to provide that for them.  Children motivate me to be a better person, they motivate me to be more creative, they motivate me to take more time to smell the roses.  I have the BEST job in the world and I would not give it up for anything or anyone.  So for those people in my life who are waiting for me to find a “real job”, don’t hold your breath – THIS IS MY REAL JOB, THIS IS MY PASSION…THIS IS MY MOTIVATION!!