Nannies’ Lessons Are Kid Stuff

--Students at the Sheffield School pay $1,000 to learn how to change a baby’s diaper, calm a toddler’s temper tantrum and teach a child table manners. Those who master the art of child care in the eight-week course are graduated as professional nannies. They command salaries of up to $300 a week, plus room, board and other bonuses, including cars and travel. Nannies are so much in demand among working couples these days that each new graduate from the school in Hopewell Township, N.J., has about 12 families seeking her services, said Ellyn Sheffield, 32, who opened the school after having difficulty finding a trained person to care for her son, David, now 2 1/2. “One woman was so desperate that she couldn’t wait for the course to be completed, so she came to the school and peered in the windows every day until graduation,” Sheffield said. Graded courses include nutrition, etiquette, first aid, child development and “ethics and diplomacy,” which emphasizes “the possibilities and consequences associated with responding to family problems.”

--Ronald Prescott Reagan, the son of President and Mrs. Reagan, is on a private tour of the Soviet Union with his wife and another couple. A U.S. Embassy source in Moscow, who spoke on the condition he not be identified, said the 27-year-old free-lance journalist and the others “are pretty much doing their own thing, and the visit is strictly tourism.”

--All 57-year-old Bob Leasure wanted was a quiet run by himself around the state of West Virginia “to see if it could be done.” But much to the bashful marathon runner’s regret, he followed friends’ advice, adopted a cause and wound up in the limelight. “They said I needed publicity,” the bricklayer said. “The next thing I knew, my gosh! They had three television cameras waiting outside.” A friend arranged for Reynolds Memorial Hospital publicity director Mark Sniegocki in Glen Dale to draw media attention and donations for senior citizens as Leasure averaged 40 miles along the state border each day. Leasure the quiet, solitary runner became “Bob ‘MOUNTAIN MAN’ Leasure! A senior citizen running for senior citizens!” and he’s followed by a banner-plastered van. He started April 8 amid considerable hoopla in Moundsville and is due back sometime in May after covering about 1,100 miles. But during a weekend stopover in Lewisburg, he said he has been able to avoid most of the publicity rather simply--he doesn’t call Sniegocki to tell him where he is. Besides, “I come through these counties so early in the day or late in the evening,” Leasure said. “There’s never anyone there. I usually just leave a note and go on.”