Megan's only been with us for a year, but she's already brought sunshine and (some) order into our lives, and she'll be sorely missed.

When Megan joined our family in 2020, we had scraped our way through lockdown with zero childcare, two full-time jobs, two children under six, one bereavement, and one major illness. The adults were burnt out, the kids were freaked out, everyone was acting up, and nothing in the house was where it should be.

I'm not exaggerating when I say Megan spilled blood, sweat and tears helping to dig us out of a hole:

- Replanted our entire front garden in an hour(!)
- Helped to home-school our older son (he is now one of the top readers in his class)
- Helped our younger son develop his own identity away from his brother
- Taught our younger son the alphabet
- GOT BOTH BOYS TO EAT ALL THEIR VEGETABLES
- Instigated kids' sleepovers when my husband and I "looked too tired"
- Built flatpacks singlehandedly
- Employed and directed talented tradespeople
- Very unjudgementally helped tidy an ADHD bedroom several times over
- Made some very decent Bolognese (source: I'm Italian)
- Sneakily wormed her way into our hearts so that she'll remain a family friend forever.

During a dark time in our lives, Megan breezed in like a breath of fresh air, and reminded us of fun, and sunshine, and a sense of family. When our previous nanny moved on after 6 years I never thought we'd find a replacement, but quite apart from the mushy stuff, Megan is a dynamic and inventive nanny who can switch faultlessly between creative and active play, enrichment activities and establishing order and gentle discipline.

Megan is capable, warm, pragmatic, brave, obliging, and trustworthy. She's a tireless problem-solver with a strong moral centre, and the best part is that Megan models all these qualities so well that your kids can't help but develop them themselves.

Which is no bad thing at all. Everyone probably needs to be more Megan. And everyone NEEDS a Megan. She will be sorely missed and hard to replace. But hopefully not out of our lives forever. x

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