Wednesday, September 27th, 2006 12:00 P.M.
I saw a young Jamaican nanny with braids pulled into
a side ponytail with a wide black headband, black
top and jeans interacting in a disturbing way with
the child in her care. The child was about 18 mos old, white, towheaded, dressed in unisex clothing. The nanny came in with two other nannies and their charges. The child was reaching out and trying to communicate something to the nanny and the nanny was looking at the child, without smiling or good humor, andsaying "Whooooooooo caaaaaaaaares..." several times in response to the child's attempts to communicate. Also almost no eye contact with the child while handing child food. Sometimes the nanny would also eat the child'sfood and look at the child without responding when the child held out its hand for some. In addition, she talked on the cell phone extensively during a portion of this time, ignoring the child all the while.
14 comments:
Well, that's just child abuse! We should find this nanny, and make sure she goes to jail!
This definitely sounds like a bad nanny, at least from this one account. Such callousness shouldn't be tolerated.
Wow - why all the creepy racialized descriptions? "young jamaican nanny with braids pulled into a side ponytail" and the innocent "toe headed child." I've worked as a nanny for years to put myself through college and my mother was a preschool teacher for three decades. I could report that behavior by every parent either of us worked for. I have a great idea: why don't you quit your high paying job and go take perfect care of your toe headed child by your own self. Oh wait - the "opportunity costs" (ie your paycheck) are just too high to forgo - your time is worth so much more, far more than what it costs to hire a nanny. Do it yourself. Or pay the nanny more.
How will paying the nanny more make her a "better" nanny?? You are totally missing the point here.
uhh...the descriptions are so people might potentially identify the nanny and child as their own?
honestly, people.
I've worked as a nanny too -- also to put myself through college -- and I think the person who pointed out the weirdness of the overethnicized descriptions has a point. It makes fine sense to identify the nanny in question, and so surely to point out some elements of her appearance (e.g. Chinese people do, after all, look Chinese; there'd be no sense in pretending that "straight dark hair" was the best you could do), but the way this nanny and child were described sounded unquestionably racist to me. The whole conceit of this website, in fact -- while its intentions are clearly enough understandable, and not in themselves dishonorable -- misses the point big-time: yes, if you pay your nanny more, you'll have a better nanny. The reason is not that a direct relationship mystically exists between what a nanny's paid and how good a job it's suddenly possible to do, but rather that nannying is work at which a person who's not well-paid simply cannot excell, for the simple reason that other people's children are inherently a burden. If your nanny were a high-power businessperson, there'd be ample time during the day to make occasional private phone calls, and arrange for her own children to be cared for. A poorly-paid nanny, simply said, is not likely to bear higher morale -- and therefore higher standards -- than any other underpaid person. Slips -- because of course it's not really nice to eat a stroller-bound tot's burrito in front of him without offering him any, but it's derangedly haughty to call that "child abuse" -- are easily made: believe me.
Thanks for offering the perspective of a nanny and a rationally balanced take on this website. I've never been nor employed a nanny, but I think you've captured the socioeconomic dynamics of this site pretty well.
whooooooooooooo caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaares
I care.
Intresting wedsite but as we all know there are three sides to every story;your side the other person side and the untold side.To be a nanny, you first must love children;now let us not play dum a nice pay at the end of a work week
gives anyone the insentive to go the extra mile.At the end of the day it all comes down to your salary.I don't condone what the nanny said to the child,but most of thes nannys are stressed due to the long hours they keep,that in itself is not an excuse,the job of being a nanny is unlike any other,they way you relate to your boss in the office would be completly diffrent to your nanny;and with that in mind you have bosses who treat their nannies badly what do you expect the best of care I don't think so.There mentality would be once there are not cut bruses or broken bones when you get home thats all they care about.The extra TLC is not there.Not to mention most of these nannies are undocumented workers and their bosses are aware of this and underpay these women.What you put out is what you going to get back.Ask your self these questions the next time you see a nanny with a child and her conduct is questionable or you find she is not doing what you think she should be doing. What kind of people is she working for? What time did she get off work last night? Was she paid for the over time?Are her bosses nice to her?.These are questions you should also ask yourself about your own nanny.I am a baby nurse and I work Park Ave clients my asking price is between 200 to 300
a day these people pay my price but on the other hand they expect the sbest from me.I my client want me to change the baby diaper ever hour thats what I do,and I go the extar mile for them.It not all about the although I must say it
helps,they treat me with respect and it's as though I am part of the
family.
I pay $250 a day for my nanny but I wouldn't pay $10 a day for you. You don't sound very bright!
You wouldn't pay $10 for the previous blogger, but never mind. Chances are, she would not want to work with you either. Note what she said about respect?
Her typographical errors don't make her a less competent worker.
I work on the upper east side with a wonderful family whom I highly respect, and they respect me as well. I get paid (on the books) $90,000, plus a very good bonus, health insurance, money for lunch and a driver to take us around.
So you will understand that you're not really giving your nanny the world, and neither am I getting the world, but I'm extremely grateful.
Oh! while you're at it, try not to put others down. Makes you look unattractive.
I cannot believe that this nanny mistreating the child ends up seemingly as being the victim of racism by this post? This is for parents to know what some nannies do to their children. Sorry if you don't like. Period.
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