Judy P.

We to recommend Judy Parker, who kid-sat for our eight-year-old son for a year-and-a-half from the summer of 2011 through the winter of 2012. We highly recommend Judy and her services. We loved working with Judy to arrange care for our son, and if we were in the position of needing a sitter again, we would most definitely hire her again in a heartbeat. Among the attributes that made Judy’s care so excellent, we list: • Reliability: Early mornings, afternoons, evenings, at school or at the bus, weekends—Judy was always on time or early, and eager to jump right in to help guide our son through the transition. • Flexibility: Because of the nature of one of our jobs, we occasionally had periods when our schedule would shift by days and sometimes times. Judy was open to adjustments to our schedule, and communicated her scheduling needs clearly to us so that we could try to plan as far ahead as possible. • Follow-up: Any time Judy had questions about schedule or activities, she was quick and thorough in following up with us to confirm/clarify. • Responsiveness: If we had concerns about our son’s behavior, attitude, or activities, we knew we could have an open conversation with Judy about those topics. It was enormously helpful to get additional perspective on our child’s development and progress, as well as help in guiding him in the direction we wanted to see him grow. We knew we could count on Judy to reinforce messages that we were repeating at home and hold our son accountable to the standards we set. • Feedback: Similarly, but perhaps more importantly, Judy felt comfortable raising any concerns she had about our son’s behavior, attitude, or activities with us. As busy working parents, it was critical to the health and well-being of our child that she noticed and raised issues if and when she had them. • Fun: Children need correction and guidance, and they need to play, be silly, and celebrate their accomplishments! Judy not only provided structure and accountability, but she also created a warm, accepting environment for our son to operate in, whether at our own home or in hers. Repeatedly she demonstrated what it meant to be a curious and caring person, and opened up our son to new adventures and perspectives that we valued and he enjoyed. She coached him well on homework, and encouraged him to try new projects that built on his schoolwork. She had a good instinct for praise and privileges, and focused on positive reinforcement to lead our son toward personal growth. • Caring: Above all, Judy was a model sitter given her caring attitude toward all creatures, great and small. Her empathy and understanding toward our son, but also toward us as parents formed the core of her every decision and action. In addition to the outstanding attention she gave to our son, Judy’s nurturing extended to our young cat, which adored her presence and flourished under her care. We especially appreciated her comfort with, knowledge of, and care for our and others’ animals, as our son benefitted from the example and learning that came along with exposure to and curiosity about the animal kingdom. Finally, we all also enjoyed getting to know Judy’s daughter, and to a lesser extent, her other family members. Our son admired, looked up to, and enjoyed playing and being silly with her daughter, and gleaned much from her experiences as a singleton. We were grateful that he was able to learn from her example. All in all, our time with Judy was an enriching and positive experience, and one we would love to repeat and extend should the opportunity arise. We highly recommend her for any position of caring for children or animals (and can imagine her being great with an elder or person with special needs, as well).