Jenna S. Care Companion in Joliet, IL 60433

Jenna has been with our family for the last 8 months, watching our now 11 month old and 4 year old boys. We don't know what we would do without her! Jenna is energetic, engaging, creative and is constantly thinking of new ways to teach and engage with our boys. From the moment that she comes in in the morning, she immediately focuses her attention on them, and they are always so excited to see her. Whether it is making arts and crafts, singing songs, or playing the many imaginary games my four year old loves to play, she is always on the ground with the boys and completely engaged. She handles caring for multiple children with ease, and is naturally so patient with them both, all while also keeping the house just as clean if not cleaner than how we left it in the morning (and taught our boys to also clean up after themselves!).

Within the first month or two of her being with us she had taught our son to recognize all of his letters by sight, and all of his numbers up to 20. She had also taught him the days of the week, how to write his name, and months of the year. He is now way ahead of kids his age at pre-school and we credit all of it to Jenna.

Both of our children absolutely adore her, and we consider her part of our family. She treats and cares for our boys like they are one of her own kids and always has safety as a top priority. Anyone else would be lucky to have her help out on the weekend and other occasional babysitting.

Jenna was our full-time nanny from 10/15 to 6/17 for our three kids now 8, 6 and 2 years old. That included long days during the school year as well as the summer. In that time she became very close with our family of five.

We hired Jenna because of her education background and she did not disappoint. She helped our older children with homework and reading; our youngest with colors and counting. She always made learning fun and a regular part of their day. I swear my youngest son knew the alphabet at 1.5 years old :)

She's very active and able to keep kids of all ages entertained. She'd often take them to the library, museum, arboretum and park. She'd lead them in sports outside in nice weather or encourage them to use imagination for play indoors during rain or cold.

Jenna also helped around the house with laundry, dishes, cleaning and other downtime chores while the kids were at school or my youngest was napping. If I gave her a to-do list to help with party prep, errands or special tasks, she'd knock off items quickly. You just have to be specific.

She also helped in circumstances where one or both of us were traveling, the kids were sick, my youngest was potty training, my daughter had asthma, my son needed to get to soccer practice, family was in town, or multiple neighbor kids were over for playdates. She can juggle like a pro.

With our three energetic and independent kids, Jenna managed the chaos with grace and a sense of humor. The children always looked forward to her singing, dancing, creating artwork, going on walks, drinking tea with dolls, building legos, playing video games, making forts of out sofa cushions or just giving hugs.

I highly recommend Jenna to any young family. Our only concern was dependability on a few occasions, which ultimately led to her choosing to leave (personal reasons). We'll miss her.