“Ms. Jen is dependable, passionate about her work, and truly loves spending time with children.”

You will never find anyone like Ms. Jen.

Her passion for working with children is unparalleled. Despite having her work around our complicated and unpredictable work schedules, she always shows up energized and excited to see our daughter, Astrid, and of course, she arrives with books and educational materials in tow.

Ms. Jen and Astrid have enjoyed countless adventures together. Typically, they will visit a library, and we will see pictures of Astrid reading, drawing, or playing with other children. Ms. Jen has helped Astrid understand how other children feel – often if another child is crying, Astrid will remark that they look sad, and sometimes even offer an encouraging remark to the other child. We are very proud that Astrid is developing empathy skills at such a young age.

Through her time with Ms. Jen, Astrid has become a linguistic master! She speaks full sentences now, even though she is not yet 2-1⁄2. When we take her on a long car ride, she can entertain herself for hours with books, which is a joy for us because it means less time staring at a phone or iPad screen.

Astrid has had many wonderful caregivers, including family members, during her life. But nobody we have ever met has Ms. Jen’s capacity for dealing with tantrums and fussing. Rather than becoming exhausted or frustrated, we truly believe that Ms. Jen cherishes tantrums and fussing. This may sound silly, but we believe Ms. Jen regards these “challenges” more as “opportunities” to teach Astrid about her emotions and help her regulate them within the limits of the rules that we have set for her. For example, she taught Astrid to take a deep breath to help calm herself down, something we never thought a 2-year-old would be able to do when frustrated, but sure enough, Ms. Jen has imparted this skill on Astrid.

Ms. Jen has helped Astrid recognize feelings in her body that are difficult to explain to a toddler. For instance, she has helped Astrid understand when she is tired, hungry, or needs to use the bathroom. We have seen this translate into Astrid asking for naps and snacks, and an early interest in potty training.

As we both work full-time as ER physicians, we are often exhausted when we arrive home from work and assume care of Astrid. Ms. Jen has done many things to help alleviate some of our stress for us. When Astrid makes a mess, such as dumping an entire box of blocks onto the ground, Ms. Jen will have her clean it up, even if the mess occurred while we were watching her the night before. Ms. Jen helps with our laundry and dishes and with our trash, especially Astrid’s diaper bin. This goes a long way to helping us enjoy our time with Astrid, rather than focusing on additional tasks while we are with her.

Ms. Jen is dependable, passionate about her work, and truly loves spending time with children.

We wholeheartedly recommend her for your child’s care!

Jim and Siobhan