Meet the Näppsitter Katharina

Time to meet the Näppsitter Katharina! It’s been a while since we interviewed a Näppsitter, but finally we’re back. Enjoy reading about Katharina’s babysitting experience with Näpp!

Introduce Yourself!

My name is Katharina Loddenkemper, I am a 22-year-old Creative Business Student from a small town in Germany. I’m in my forth and final year of my study now and whenever I find some time off, I enjoy doing sports or spending my time at one of the lovely coffee places in Utrecht.

How did you find out about Näpp?

As I am doing the same study as Loviisa and Eline, I found out about Näpp through them and thought it was such a cool idea from the start on. As I have already lived in Brazil and Australia for some time, I really feel that international connectedness and loved the idea of it.

What is your connection with Näpp?

Even though I found out about Näpp very early on, it took me some time to realise that it’s not only a brilliant idea but also something for me. I never really thought of the fact that I had been babysitting my neighbour’s kids during high school and also have quite some contact to younger children through my cousins and my boyfriend’s nieces and nephews. So, once I actually made that connection I obviously looked deeper into it and it only took a few days until the first family had contacted me.

What do you think is the most difficult part for families living abroad and how do you help them with this?

When living abroad I have also experienced myself that it can sometimes be hard to explain cultural things, traditions or events to people who don’t know about it and that sometimes due to this missing awareness, understanding for this can be missing too. So, if I put myself into the shoes of a family permanently living abroad I can totally see that keeping culture, tradition and also the own language alive can be quite challenging. So, as an international and multilingual babysitter, I want to help families by continuing to speak their mother tongue to their kids and support them in keeping traditions alive and passing them on to the younger generation.

Do you think Näpp provides a helpful service when it comes to helping international families through their journey? If so, how?

For sure! By making sure traditions and language are passed on, so many problems can be solved and life can be made so much easier. For me this doesn’t mean that just because you want to keep your own traditions alive, you can’t adapt new ones from your new home but who know to what amazing things the mixture of both might lead. Therefore I think that Näpp takes a big part of the work for the families away in helping them find someone that shares the same or a similar cultural heritage as them. Or even if it is getting to know a new and different culture which can be fun and exciting too!

What do you think is the importance of cultural identity when raising kids abroad?

I feel like cultural identity and self-love go hand-in-hand in the best case. If parents raise their kids in a way that they love themselves they will also learn to love and respect their origins and the culture that comes along with it. And as a self-loving person, one will also not struggle in between two cultural identities but see it as a perfect and unique mix.

Find Katharina here!