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A Real Life Mary Poppins
Meet the Nanny of the Year
By Megan L. Fowler, MSJ
Growing up, Kent came from a mall town in Oregon where she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life. She couldn't even balance a checkbook. "When I graduated from high school I fumbled around," she says. "I nannied for rodeo families and discovered I could make more money shoveling horse manure than looking after kids." But by then she was hooked. "I answered an ad to nanny in Colorado," says Kent. "I thought it would be fun." She worked for her first family for eight months, and then worked for five other families for no less than a year each.
"The second family [where she spent nearly two and half years] changed my life," she says. "Children have such a profound effect on you whether you realize it or not. When you get down on their level, you're forced to think and learn about patience. And they taught me love for myself."
In addition to her daily nanny tasks, Kent temps occasionally for other families. She co-founded a Colorado nanny newsletter, where she contributes regularly, and she works to dismantle the stereotypes nannies face in today's society. "I'm trying to get on Sesame Street," she says. "I get so excited about what I do for a living, and I want the public to see that nannies are smart people who don't sit around all day eating bon-bons and watching soap operas. We are very much involved in what we do."
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