Get my Free Cards
For moms, and the nannies who help them show up

One less thing to plan.
One more skill they build.

Each Playbook Card is one short activity that grows a real skill, like calming down after a big feeling or believing "I can figure this out." Read it in a minute, play it anywhere, and build what they'll reach for when it counts.

Get my Free Cards See a card first →
  • All 3 cards sent to your inbox
  • For ages 2 and up
  • Unsubscribe anytime
One playbook, two caregivers.Built so you and your nanny are running the same plan, even on the days you're not the one home.
The research has spoken. Sources cited below ↓
71%
of household mental load falls on moms1
44%
of parents hand over a device just to get through the afternoon2
"Rx"
Pediatricians are told to prescribe play, literally3
0.27
effect size on behavior & academics from structured social-emotional play4
Read one before you sign up for three

Here's a whole Playbook Card

This is the entire card, on the page, no email needed. Every card follows the same structure.

Playbook Card · Free, in full
Look Again
Ages 5+ 5 to 10 min No supplies

1The Why

What you focus on is what you feel. The same moment can feel different depending on which part of it you're looking at. That's something you get to choose.

2The Play

Think of a time something felt frustrating. Talk through what happened, then find a different way to look at that same moment, one that makes it feel funny or calm instead. Then try it the other way: think of a happy memory, and see if you can find a different angle on it too.

3The Conversation

  • How did it feel to look at it a new way?
  • Did the moment feel different once you focused on something else in it?
  • How many times do you think you've been focusing on the hard part instead of another part?

4The Notice

Which moment they picked and what new angle they found. Worth remembering next time something feels frustrating.

Why it works The part of a moment you pay attention to shapes how it feels. Practicing this with easy memories first builds a skill a kid can reach for later, when a moment feels hard.
Get my Free Cards →
You already know play matters

You just don't have three spare hours to plan it.

Between work, the house, and everyone's schedule but your own, you already carry most of the invisible workload. That includes the part almost nobody says out loud: having to invent what your kid is going to do, every single day.

So on the hard afternoons, the easiest thing wins. You only have so many good ideas left in you by 4pm.

"Did today build anything, or did we just get through it?"

Here's what's at stake

Play is the work.

Here's what the research on early childhood development says.

01
American Academy of Pediatrics

Official clinical guidance calls play "brain-building" and says pediatricians should be writing kids "a prescription for play."

Reaffirmed Jan. 2025 · publications.aap.org
02
Harvard Center on the Developing Child

Playful, back-and-forth interaction with a caring adult is what physically builds a child's brain architecture.

developingchild.harvard.edu
03
CASEL / SEL Research

Structured social-emotional learning measurably improves kids' behavior and grades, most when it starts young.

casel.org

Which means the fifteen minutes you or your nanny spends on this today is the quiet work of making your kid steadier, more confident, and more capable, years before anyone's grading them on it.

So I built the thing you don't have time to build

The Nanny Playbook

A growing set of play plans that are already written. Each card is one complete activity you or your nanny can start in about a minute of reading. No saving fifteen tabs at 11pm. No defaulting to a show because it's 4pm and you're out of ideas. Open a card and go.

01

The Why

What it's for.

02

The Play

The activity, screen free.

03

The Conversation

Questions to ask after.

04

The Notice

What came up, for whoever's home next.

What your tiny human is working on while they play

Emotional Intelligence

They learn to notice what they're feeling and put words to it, instead of only being swept up in it.

Self-Acceptance

A kid who gets to just be themselves, without needing to perform or get it right, starts to believe that who they already are is enough.

Fewer Meltdowns

A kid who has practiced slow breaths on an ordinary Tuesday has something to reach for on the hard days.

Self-Efficacy

Kids who get to lead and solve things in play carry "I can figure this out" into the classroom, the friendship, the hard thing at sixteen.

None of this gets built in one big conversation. It gets built at the kitchen table, in small pieces, on ordinary afternoons.

Coming soon · Start free with the mini

The Mindfulness Playbook: everyday superpowers for tiny humans.

33 five minute Playbook Cards across 10 topics, from breathing to kindness to noticing thoughts, with a 10 week plan that tells you and your nanny which card to play each week. Each week you both know which card is being played, what words to use and what to say when it gets hard. The full Playbook is almost here. Start today with the free mini, three cards straight from the book.

  • 33 Playbook Cards
  • 10 topics
  • Ages 2 to 12
  • A 10 week plan
  • Nanny's start here page
Get the free mini → See what's coming →
Paulette, former nanny and creator of The Nanny Playbook P
PauletteFormer nanny
Who's behind this

I used to be the nanny showing up with no plan.

Hi, I'm Paulette. I was the nanny for a family whose girls I loved like my own, and most afternoons I was improvising. The small things stuck the most: a few slow breaths before a hard moment, noticing a sound outside. I never called them lessons, and they picked them up anyway. Coaching youth leadership on three continents taught me how to turn that into a plan, so these cards are my notes from both, written so a nanny and a family can work from the same playbook. I hope you love them as much as I have loved making them!

Paulette

Questions

Before you go

I already have a nanny. Why do I need this?
This is really built for you both. A great nanny with no plan is still improvising on the spot every afternoon, the way I did for years. A card gives them something to open instead, and it gives you something to read afterward, so the hours don't reset every time the person changes. Send them a card and you're both running the same thing this week.
My kid won't sit still for anything "structured."
Neither did the girls I nannied. Structured here just means somebody already wrote the plan for you. Most cards run 5 to 15 minutes. Giggling counts as doing it right.
Is this another guilt trip about screen time?
No. The problem is being out of ideas at 4pm. This is here so there's something equally easy to reach for that happens to build something. Some days you'll still put the show on. So do I.
What ages is this built for?
Ages 2 and up. Belly Breathing starts at 2, and Small Goal Big Win and Look Again start at 5. Each card lists its starting age at the top. The maximum age? We consider that to be 110!
What's the difference between the free cards and The Mindfulness Playbook?
The three free cards (Small Goal Big Win, Belly Breathing, Look Again) stand on their own, so you can run them anytime. The Mindfulness Playbook, coming soon, is the full plan: 33 cards across 10 topics for ages 2 to 12, with a 10 week plan for you and your nanny. Want a head start? The free mini has three cards straight from it.