Child Care Provider and Nanny - DANKA KEREKRETYOVA B. (User #443818)

My name is Danka Kerekretyova Bogott and I am originally from Bratislava, Slovakia. I have lived in this country for the last eleven years. I have taught Spanish at both Bethel University as well as the U of MN for 6 years. I went to Graduate school at the U of MN and got my M.A. in Hispanic Literature. A year ago I started a graduate program at Bethel going into Marriage and Family Therapy. I've been married for three years and my husband is from Bloomington.

I love kids - I have done babysitting ever since I was old enough to take care of a younger child - I think when I first babysat, I was 10 and in charge of a 2 year old cousin :-). During the whole time while in the States, I have worked for several families while I was doing my undergrad in Forest City, IA and in Moorhead, MN. I have taken care of infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers, and school-age children. Just in the last 5 years, I have worked with children including newborns, infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers and school-aged children.

I am a responsible, independent and trustworthy individual who likes to be active and outside (whenever the winter here allows for that to happen). I also enjoy reading with the kids, going to the library, community center, Science Museum, children's bookstores, nature centers or other activities that I can find for us to do during the day if necessary and if the parents are comfortable with that. I play the piano and love music. I am a good swimmer and enjoy the water and water related activities in the summer time. I speak several languages so if you have multilingual needs in your family, I just might be the one you are looking for. I am fluent in Slovak, Czech, English, German and Spanish and understand Russian. I love to cook and bake and involve the children when possible. I like to keep the place clean, helping the children understand that they, too, have a role in that and can be involved when old enough. I don't watch TV myself and like to save the movies and art projects for rainy/cold days.

Here is just a little bit about my babysitting job history. I have worked for a family in Maple Grove (JudyA) that has three girls (4, 4, 7) since the twins were born. I started on a full-time basis in the summer 4 years ago, then went to a few days a week. When they found a full-time nanny, I ended up working for them on an occasional basis on the weekends while the parents would go out.

Another family in Maple Grove had me come once a week during the day while their mom went running errands or needed time at home to organize or clean. I would then take the three boys (2.5, 5,5) out to the library or community center to play.

I also spent the summer before last working on a two-days a week basis with 8-month old twin boys in Richfield. During that time, I spent the rest of the week working at another family's house in Plymouth, taking care of two boys, 2 and 4 years old. I worked for that family (KristaM) for a total of 10 months, going to 2.5 days/wk during the school year.

There are also two families who I worked for since last fall (ShariK and AniaH) on an occasional basis on weekend nights. One of the families has two girls (ages 5 and 7) and the other, a Russian-American family, has a little 14-month old boy and a 7-year old girl.

Right now, due to my schedule, I am looking for families that are looking for occasional (yet possibly somewhat regular - i.e. weekly, biweekly etc. ) babysitting jobs when parents need a night out or have events to attend. I am also interested in one-time babysitting jobs. Due to my current schedule, I am available on most nights of the week, (Wednesday through Saturday) and Saturday during the day. I do not work on Sundays as I set that day aside for my personal/our family time. For more specific information, please refer to my Availability Schedule.

Generally, I am looking for jobs that are a minimum of 4-5 hours at a time. This may be negotiable if your family lives really close (within 3 miles) to where I live.

I have families that agreed to be my references but I would like to honor their time and their willingness to do so and only share their information with a family after we have spoken. Please email me and I will get you all the information that you need. Thank you.

NOTE: These are my preferences. If I contacted YOU about a job/position, I am flexible on whatever portions might not quite be a match between your needs and my preferences (e.g., time of day, day of week, etc.)