Dallas

A Message From Kim

Welcome to our Spring Newsletter!

We have started offering a service that we believe no other household staffing agency in the country has ever offered before—ongoing monitoring of nannies' and sitters’ background checks. This means that background checks will be rerun through the sitters' entire life of service with our agency and moving forward, their entire tenure with your family if placed permanently.On a regular basis, we will be refreshing background checks on all pertinent records and reporting any relevant results back to you. We are incredibly excited to offer our clients this service since it means an added measure of security, ensuring that, no matter what occurs, you can remain ever confident in the safety of your household when you rely on our agency.

And as we move forward, we are committed to continuing to find new ways to add value to our services for you because, as always, we believe our work on your behalf does not end at placement.

On a personal note, some of you may know that my husband and business partner Jim was recently activated from his reserve status as a Lieutenant in the Navy, and has been deployed to work with Special Warfare teams in Iraq. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers while he is away.

Yours,
Kim Winblood, Owner

Face Painting Nanny
Kelly Henson, one of our temporary nannies, has recently launched a Kelly's Designs, a face painting company, perfect for children's birthday parties. Kelly is currently attending The University of North Texas. She is pursuing a degree in both Musical Theatre & Dance and Elementary Education.Kelly is outgoing and extremely creative. Many of her references commented on how creative and imaginative she is with children, and families have raved about how she does face paintings for the children in her care! Kelly has been a nanny, after school/summer camp counselor and an elementary ballet teacher.

Reminders about Agency Fees and Payment
Below is a quick reminder of some of our sitter service policies:

• The date of the charge on your credit/debit card will not coincide with the date of service as we bill after the service is completed.
• A last minute fee of $25 will be charged for jobs with less than 24 hour notice or using the emergency pager.
• When a job has been confirmed and must be cancelled, Mom's Best Friend charges a cancellation fee of $25 (when it is more than 24 hours before the start time) and $40 (when cancelled less than 24 hrs before the start time).

• Monday, March 17th- Friday 21st- McKinney ISD, Frisco ISD, Allen ISD, Lewisville ISD, Plano ISD, Wylie ISD, Coppell ISD, Carrollton Farmers Branch ISD, Highland Park ISD, Richardson ISD, Garland ISD, Rockwall ISD, Sunnyvale ISD, Mesquite ISD, Grand Prairie ISD, Duncanville ISD, Wilmer Hutchins ISD, Lancaster ISD, Birdville ISD, Crowley ISD, Ft. Worth ISD, Cleburne ISD, Lake Dallas ISD, Northwest ISD
• Monday, March 24th- Allen ISD, Lewisville ISD, Wylie ISD, Coppell ISD, Carrollton Farms Branch ISD, Rockwall ISD, Ft. Worth ISD, Northwest ISD
• Friday, April 4th- Crowley ISD
• Monday, April 7th- Friday 11th- Irvine United ISD
• Monday, April 14th- McKinney ISD, Frisco ISD, Coppell ISD, Highland Park ISD, Birdville ISD
• Monday, April 21st- Wylie ISD
• Monday, May 5th- Duncanville ISD, Crowley ISD
• Thursday, May 8th- Friday 9th- Cleburne ISD
• Monday, May 19th- Duncanville ISD
• Friday, May 23rd- Frisco ISD, Sunnyvale ISD, Mesquite ISD, Irvine United ISD
• Monday, May 26th- McKinney ISD, Frisco ISD, Allen ISD, Lewisville ISD, Plano ISD, Wylie ISD, Coppell ISD, Carrollton Farms Branch ISD, Highland Park ISD, Richardson ISD, Garland ISD, Rockwall ISD, Sunnyvale ISD, Mesquite ISD, Dallas ISD, Irvine Unified ISD, Grand Prairie ISD, Duncanville ISD, Wilmer Hutchins ISD, Lancaster ISD, Birdville ISD, Crowley ISD, Ft. Worth ISD, Cleburne ISD, Lake Dallas ISD, Northwest ISD
• Thursday, May 29th- Last day of classes for Birdville ISD
• Friday, May 30th- Last day of classes for Highland Park ISD, Cleburne ISD
• Wednesday, June 4th- Last day of Classes for Plano ISD, Wylie ISD, Richardson ISD, Garland ISD, Dallas ISD, Grand Prairie ISD, Lancaster ISD, Lake Dallas ISD
• Thursday, June 5th- Last day of classes for McKinney ISD, Frisco ISD, Allen ISD, Lewisville ISD, Carrollton Farmers Branch ISD, Carrollton Farms Branch ISD, Rockwall ISD, Sunnyvale ISD, Mesquite ISD, Duncanville ISD, Crowley ISD, Northwest ISD
• Friday, June 6th- Last day of classes for Ft. Worth ISD
• Wednesday, June 18th- Last day of classes for Irvine United ISD

Mom's Best Friend Gives Back
Child-friendly publication Parent: Wise Austin described the details of the Mom's Best Friend Charity Program.
Parent: Wise Austin, February, 2008

How are Austinites Connecting with each other for child care?
The Austin Business Journal solicited several local families regarding their childcare preferences, and several noted Mom's Best Friend as their nanny / sitter agency choice!
Austin Business Journal, January 25, 2008

Q:The nanny I’m about to hire doesn’t have health insurance and would like to have it be a part of her compensation package.  How does that work?

A: Health insurance premiums are a non-taxable form of compensation, meaning neither you nor your nanny would have any taxes on that portion of her compensation.  Therefore, there is a significant financial advantage to both of you if part of your compensation to her goes toward a health insurance premium.

Here’s how the tax math works.  Let’s say you pay your employee $2,000 per month in “straight” (taxable) wages.  Her “take-home pay” after taxes would be roughly $1,700 per month (it may be a few dollars higher or lower depending on her personal tax situation).  If she then buys a health insurance policy and pays $300 per month, her after-tax “disposable” income is $1,400 per month.

Alternatively, if you pay the same $2,000 per month, but it includes the health insurance contribution (i.e. $1,700 in taxable wages plus $300 in health insurance contributions), her after-tax disposable income is $1,475 per month.

So, in this illustration, your nanny sees a real gain of $75 per month (or $900 per year) and your employer taxes are reduced by about $25 per month (or $300 per year) – simply by having healthcare contributions managed through the payroll process. It’s a win-win situation.

If you have any questions about health insurance or how to set it up so you can take advantage of these tax breaks, just give us a call.  As a client of MBF Agency, we’re happy to provide a complimentary phone consultation and guide you through all the financial and legal aspects of being a household employer.

Founded in1992 — by household employers for household employers — Breedlove & Associateshas served more than 10,000 clients and processed more than $1 billion in household payroll.  By focusing on the unique needs of household employers, Breedlove & Associates’ expertise and efficiency has been recognized in The Wall Street Journal, Kiplinger’s, Business Week and SmartMoney.com. For more information or a free phone consultation compliments of MBF Agency, call 1-888-273-3356 or visit www.breedlove-online.com.

A: This a very good question, as I’ve mentioned before in this column as well as in my blog. Since nannies are in your home interacting with your children, it can be very hard to draw lines and set boundaries with them as you might more easily do with another type of employee. This is one key reason why household employment is very different than almost every other type of employment.

I have met household employers who, either because they were new to town or for some other reason, were looking for a new friend as much as they were looking for a new nanny—some of them have even admitted as much.  However, while I think you should try to keep your relationship with your nanny friendly, you will likely run into trouble if you try to actually become her new best friend. This will make things much more difficult if you ever need to confront her for some critical reason—say, for instance, she constantly comes to work late. Interestingly enough, I know of employers who have fired their nannies rather than confront them and try to work out their issues because they had already allowed that important boundary between employer and employee to completely break down. Consequently, they either felt betrayed by someone they had come to see as their friend, or else they could not bear what they saw as an increasingly contentious relationship.

So, with respect to drawing lines, try to start off on a good foot and maintain clear boundaries throughout the course of your relationship. To do this, I suggest, from the very beginning of your nanny’s term of service, you avoid participating in social activities with her outside of work, such as going shopping, sharing clothes, and (especially!) sharing drinks together. Now, I think some activities, such as meals and coffee, can be handled on a case-by-case basis, and I definitely don’t think your time with her must always be confined to the house (I’ll come back to this in a moment), but I do think it’s generally a good rule of thumb to make sure that the time you do spend with your nanny is mostly always, in some way, work-related.

This brings me to the subject of one-on-one meetings. I have written here before that it’s actually a good idea to conduct your monthly one-on-one meetings outside of the house (to avoid everyday distractions and little ears). I think it should also be added that these meetings can really help out with the issue of boundaries by giving both of you a regular opportunity to talk about your issues in an established context in which your respective roles as employer and employee are clearly delineated. Honoring these meetings will help keep boundaries clear in your communication with your nanny and, if you ever find those boundaries eroding, they will give you an opportunity to pull back and reestablish them.

Hope you found this helpful!
Kim Winblood, Owner

Dallas Temporary Nanny Shanae B		Dallas Temporary Nanny Linda B		Dallas/Ft. Worth Permament Nanny Susanna T
Shanae is a former teacher who recently moved to Texas to attend Texas Women's University.  Shanae is extremely creative and has years of experience in creating age appropriate lessons and projects.  Shanae has a friendly demeanor and she can be playful and firm with all her charges.  She specializes in positive reinformcement along with the latest behavior tactics in helping children with learning disabilities and ADHD.		Linda worked with the agency several years ago and recently began working with us again.  She is constantly requested and has several families that will only use her!  She is able to win over children of all ages.  They lovingly refer to her as "granny".  It has been so wonderful to have Linda back with Mom's Best Friend, she definitely enhances the temporary division.		Susanna is a delightful nanny who was placed with an MBF Permanent family 6 months ago. Prior to her placement, Susanna had provided childcare for a number of families, and she has her bachelor's degree in Communication and Family Studies from Samford University. Her current family noted "Susanna has a fantastic attitude and helps us in so many ways. We like the way she interacts with the children and trust her to keep them safe and the house running smoothly!" Susanna also received an excellent evaluation. Keep up the great work!

• "I want to thank you so much for all your help, patience and understanding, and all the great jobs which you considered me for. I am very impressed with the way you run your agency and will not hesitate to recommend anyone to you. Your professionalism is beyond comparison and whenever I need to get back on the job market I will contact you. Again thank you and your staff for all the cooperation you gave me."
  --Zoey Samad, Nanny Candidate

• "The main reason I selected your agency was the thoroughness of your screening process for nannies. We knew we would get a high quality nanny, and it was convenient for us."
  --Nicole Dawkins, Nanny Client

• "Thanks again for all your help and the help of the agency! You gals all rock. The agency has always been so professional and helpful."
  --Jennifer Gundersen, Nanny Candidate

Top Row: Kari Maddox, Jennifer Hoover, Karna Haro, Meredith Sapp, Ruth Sapp, Carolyn Morrison, Kim Winblood

Bottowm Row: Deante Preston, Elisabeth Terry, Krysten Nance, Jennifer Johnson, Courtney Coker, Amber James

Mom's Best Friend Charity Program
Mom's Best Friend continues to donate $25 of every membership fee to local child-related charities. What a wonderful partnership we are making together!