About Iris

Reviewed on 4/23/2024

I am very honored to write this review on behalf of Iris. Iris is deeply intelligent, loving, mature, professional, and highly competent. She is a wonderful role model for our boys who look up to her and consider her a member of our family. The boys get really annoyed when I refer to her as our "nanny", but it is challenging to find the right word to describe how Iris has supported our family since she began working for us. To my kids she is a big sister. She has supported all of us in so many ways over the past 5 years, the best I can come up with is family helper. This still doesn't fully describe all that Iris has done for us! Iris has worked for us consistently since our boys were 6 and 8, now 12 and 13. She has helped guide them through a critical phase of their growth. Iris picks the boys up from school each day and manages all their afternoon activities and their time at home (homework, screen time, exercise, chores) until my partner and I finish work. In addition, Iris arrives a bit early each day to perform personal assistant duties like errands, shopping and light housework which gives us more time to spend with the kids when our work days are done. She also does food shopping and cooking with the kids to help with meal prep for the family! Here are some other things I really appreciate about Iris: -She communicates directly and asks for clarification if things are not clear. -She is super good about remaining calm and not losing her cool even when our kids are acting out or misbehaving. -She is funny and fun and the kids genuinely love spending time with her. -She is flexible and supportive and has helped us out so many times when we needed help. -She drives carefully and we trust her completely with the safety of our kids and our vehicles. -She is not on her phone all the time and is present with the kids even if it is just sitting with them working on a craft while they are doing screen time. -She is good with technology and can resolve most tech issues the kids have. And they have a lot of tech issues! -She pays attention to the little details that help the household run smoothly. -She may be our dog's favorite person and dogs are typically excellent judges of character :) So, what do the kids think? Every time I talk about Iris finding a new family to help I see them get a little teary. In our older son's words she is "kind, caring and empathetic." In our younger son's words she is "a really nice person who takes on a lot of responsibility in our family." And if what they say and what I wrote above isn't enough, I will relate a story that I think perfectly encapsulates how Iris shows up for our boys. Not long ago, I was reviewing my older son's iPad to check in on his activity. I stumbled across a long video he accidentally recorded of a conversation that he and Iris had after school one day. The camera is pointed up at the ceiling so you can't see their faces, but you can clearly hear the whole conversation. For over 5 minutes, Iris sat with Rowan calmly and talked him through a situation where he was working through some big feels about a mistake he had made and the consequences (no screen time!) of that mistake. She listened to him, she supported him and coached him through it so patiently. That is just how Iris shows up. Not just in the moments where we are around watching and listening, but in all those moments where she is alone caring for our kids. We feel so blessed to have found Iris to care for our family. If you are lucky enough to have Iris choose you as her next care family, please promise to take care of her and treat her right. She is ONE MILLION% worth it!