Nanny

After Sharon came to Manhattan (NY), she said she decided to continue sitting and tried to find a way to make herself available. While searching, Sharon said she found the Nanny Available Web site listed postings from several families seeking someone to care for children.

Sharon works for a few families in town and said she enjoys the opportunity to be off campus and have children around.

Over the years, Sharon said she has worked with a variety of children, including some with anxiety disorders, ADHD, ADD or disciplinary problems.

"I've become extremely confident with all children," she said. "Using the disciplinary skills I've learned in the last eight years, being the authority figure - it becomes a second-parenting thing."

Caring for children is about adapting, Sharon said.

"It's not just going over and popping in a video," she said.

Although Sharon said she is confident in her abilities, she has had a few difficult experiences that have taught her a lot. When she was a senior in high school, Sharon was left with a 6-week-old baby who was sick.

"I didn't have experience being with a kid that young," she said.

Sharon said she stayed up that night, telling stories, singing and holding the baby.

"I was just holding him, having him cry," she said. "I'd done everything I could think of, which made me flash forward to when I have kids.

"You want so badly for them to lay down and fall to sleep. You just want everything to be within your control. I still remember that night, holding Ryan, so small and so helpless."