Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Helping Senior Citizens Stay Active and Engaged


Activities for Seniors

Written By : SeniorsList


We wanted to share this with our many wonderful elder care companions that provide loving care and help enrich their client's lives.


There are many misconceptions about what senior citizens can and can’t do. For some reason, it is believed that once a person reaches the age that allows them to be referred to as senior citizens they can no longer live an active life. This however is not the case. As long as they are in good physical health, there should be no reason for them not to live an active and fulfilling lifestyle. In fact, they will undoubtedly be excited about being involved in any activity that arouses them. No matter their age, daily activities should be a top priority.

Research shows that being socially active has positive effects on the general health and well-being of individuals throughout their lives. People with a variety of social ties have a lower death rate and decline in memory. Social activities are in fact, just as significant for seniors as exercise. Maintaining speed, muscle strength and dexterity through young adulthood into older age is a result of being socially active. Doing volunteer work, going to social gatherings and sports events or maybe visiting friends are all factors in maintaining good physical health...Continue article here


Posted by Wee Care Companions

Friday, February 17, 2012

Online Babysitting Sites-Caveat Emptor

More Negative Press for SitterCity

This article comes to us from the Association of Premier Nanny Agencies (APNA). Wee Care Nanny is a long-time member and currently serves on its board.

In the past 4 weeks, there have been two additional news stories involving the online matching service, SitterCity. In one case, a Massachusetts woman was accused of stealing $40,000 in jewelry from two families she found on the website. This individual had cleared a SitterCity "background check", which we know does little more than provide a false sense of security to vulnerable parents. Another more tragic case involves a second grade teacher who has been indicted on child pornography and abuse charges. He has also been accused of participating in a child exploitation ring. While we cannot stop these terrible events from occurring, we would like to encourage all APNA agencies to continue to educate parents about the value of proper screening, reference evaluation, and background checks; all services that are included in the APNA agency process.

We at Wee Care Nanny Agency find these two cases extremely disturbing and heartbreaking. We believe the public needs to be better educated about online listing services.

Tragically, in our opinion, the proliferation of online bulletin boards like SitterCity, Care .com, Craigslist, etc. has led to increased crimes against children by inexperienced, unstable or even criminal minded individuals masquerading as professional caregivers. These sites have no barriers to entry. Anyone can post their profile on these sites and hold himself or herself out as an experienced and qualified caregiver. No one is bothering to verify the job seeker’s information before it is posted, or in some cases at all.

In light of this, we thought this was a good time to re post the article we wrote in June 2009 titled "Greenwich Nanny's Arrest Prompts Hiring Advice". We hope this provides insight on how to properly vet and hire a professional nanny, babysitter or other type of caregiver.

Posted by Wee Care Nanny Agency