Bintou A.

Bintou has been taking care of my daughter (in a nanny sharer situation with one other child) for the last two years. We will be really sad to say goodbye to her when we leave NYC at the end of June. Bintou is a warm, capable, confident caregiver and a mom herself -- we have not only felt completely safe entrusting our daughter to her care, but often benefited ourselves from her wisdom and parenting experience! She is trained in infant CPR and safety, is bilingual in English and French, and is a US citizen. (Should you choose to interview her, she will provide a resume listing her experience, skills, and references.) She knows Harlem well and is constantly out and about with the kids, visiting different playgrounds, libraries, free classes/events for kids, etc. She is adept at befriending other nannies and arranging playdates for the children, which has been a really great benefit for my gregarious daughter! When they are home, she reads and sings to the children and maintains a constant stream of conversation with them. She also tidies up as they go along (so the house is usually tidier at the end of the day than the beginning), and if she spots anything else that needs doing -- trimming the kids' fingernails or taking out the trash -- she does that too. I have found her to be completely reliable and timely with communication, etc. I recommend her with absolute confidence.

Bintou has taken care of our baby since she was 1-month old. Now, a year later, the baby is about be starting daycare (this was always our plan-- to start her around 12-15 months). Bintou has been really great with the baby-- and our baby was not one of those "easy" ones! Bintou is very energetic, patient intelligent, cheerful, and perceptive about what the baby needs. She sings alot to the baby, which the baby loves, takes her to the libraries for story-time each day, and she knows all the tricks to get baby to eat, sleep, et cetera. Since our baby is a really terrible sleeper, we are especially grateful to Bintou for letting the baby nap on her lap when necessary. She is also very punctual and responsible. Bintou is a native French speaker, but she also speaks English fluently (we always communicated in English).