Thursday, September 14, 2006
Janice the Nanny continues to inundate this site with her concerns that nannies are being bashed. She seems to think we should seek out submissions from people who observe "good nannies". We believe that a good nanny is simply doing the job she was hired to do, but would be curious to hear what our readers think of Janice's idea.
Click here to read Janice's latest (and lengthy) letter on behalf of nannies. Please leave your comments!
"Janice" needs to get a grip. And no, not looking to read some Hallmark cheese about wonder nannies. No thanks.
ReplyDeleteOh Janice, honey. Get a grip. The nannies will be outed for doing things we might not approve of. Not necessarily a smear campaign, but wouldn't that be lovely?
ReplyDeleteBan Janice
ReplyDeleteI agree with Janice. And no, I'm not a nanny. I'm a mother who spends much too much time on urbanbaby.com (which is how I found this site) and I make it a point of posting good nanny sightings there, as well as bad ones. I think mothers who hire nannies always want to think their nannies are not just adequete, but excellent. However, like mothers who hire sub-par nannies, mothers with truly wonderful nannies can't always trust their own judgement. I think it's useful to have the chance to confirm it for them.
ReplyDeleteJust my 2 cents.
Janice is trying to turn this in to a nanny site, which it was not. I recall this idea was hatched after discussions about witnessing something and not knowing what to do- wishing we had seen the mother. We are talking about less than acceptable things more so than abusive. Perhaps little Miss Janice should start her own blog and call it "pledge allegiance to my nanny". Whatever!
ReplyDeleteOh Janice.
ReplyDeleteI am a nanny with a summa cum laude, triple major degree, including psychology, with over five years of nanny experience and three additional years of preschool teaching experience. I'm all for calling out those who are doing sub-par, and sometimes downright dangerous, jobs of caring for children. However, I can tell you that my continued experience is that there are just as many (if not more) PARENTS out there who are seriously lacking in early child development knowledge and parenting skills. I can't tell you the number of times I've ended up with a group of five or six other kids surrounding me and my charge at the park while their mothers compare their latest plastic surgeries and manicures and gab on their cell phones. Nor can I count the number of times mothers have seen me in action while nannying and tried to "swoop and woo" me away from my current job and into a nanny position with them (usually while their child eats sand or wanders toward traffic completely unobserved by the parent). There are a lot of people taking care of children who shouldn't be. They're not all nannies. Reporting positive behavior as well as negative on this site might present a more balanced--and realistic--picture for us all.
ReplyDeleteI'm another mom who would like the site to include positive sightings as well as negative ones. As grateful as I am for people to have an online place where they can alert mothers to nannies who are neglectful or problematic, I'd also like to read stories of good nannies -- and I'd love to know if my nanny seemed particularly great to a stranger. I'm also sympathetic with Janice's fear that the board will become just a nanny-bashing outlet with little balance.
ReplyDeleteThe above mom sounds like Janice. Get real with your agenda. When I wanted to buy new windows for my home, I went to a window shop. I looked for an hour at all of the windows. I was not looking for doors. Sometimes you just need windows. Who are you to assign the responsibility of helping nannies look good to this website? Trot along. The web site was to post observations of bad nanny sightings. You all make me sick with your bleeding hearts for a bunch of crappy nannies!
ReplyDeleteI'm the mom from above, and I'm not Janice (or a nanny.) However, I hireda nanny, and it would be very helpful to find out that a stranger thought she was especially good, since I can't see her with my kid when I'm at work. I'm not against the bad nanny sightings, I'm just interested in reading good ones as well. There's nothing bleeding heart about that, it's just practical.
ReplyDeleteThis is a site for good people to report bad nannies. That's the point of the web site. It's not supposed to be about ALL nannies, good and bad. If that's what you're looking for, then go visit another site. This site is for PARENTS, not nannies, to read about unbiased first-hand accounts of what the person they pay to take care for their child(ren)is doing while they're not around. If you're a good nanny, then you shouldn't feel threatened by this site.
ReplyDeleteThis is a site for good people to report bad nannies. That's the point of the web site. It's not supposed to be about ALL nannies, good and bad. If that's what you're looking for, then go visit another site. This site is for PARENTS, not nannies, to read about unbiased first-hand accounts of what the person they pay to take care for their child(ren)is doing while they're not around. If you're a good nanny, then you shouldn't feel threatened by this site.
ReplyDeleteIf it were truly an unbiased site, it wouldn't be possible to hide behind an anonymous label. If all you're doing is reporting unbiased, factual observations, you ought to be willing to post with your real name and/or your real e-mail address. Yes, there are crappy nannies out there. There are also crappy parents. And there are people who see something happen out of context, which they believe that is representative of everything that nanny does or doesn't do. Or they, for all the reasons listed by Janice and more, will erroneously report someone as being a bad nanny for their own personal biased reasons. I don't see anything wrong with offering balanced sightings. And I'm a former nanny, and currently a stay-at-home mom to a toddler.
ReplyDeleteThere are "Bad Parent" resources for Nannies. (Non payment, abuse, etc) and as a Nanny I use them when I meet new parents. I see no problem with THIS website for the flipside.
ReplyDeleteUnbelievable. Making nannies feel good is not the purpose of this blog. Go get your own blog Janice. Sheesh.
ReplyDeleteBoy I am glad I don't work for some of you. What's wrong with thanking someone for doing a good job? "simply doing the job they were hired to do" says more about the authors of this site than you realize. I wouldn't want to work for someone who didn't think it necessary to thank me for a job well done. No wonder you guys have such horrible nannies.
ReplyDeleteI'm with the anonymous above. Exceptionally talented and loving nannies are hard to come by, and why shouldn't they be recognized?
ReplyDeleteThe reality is, being excellent in this manner is not in the job description. It's wonderful if the nanny is amazing, but even if they're nothing to write home about, they're still doing their job. Also, the majority of the posts here are negative, and there's no danger of a nanny-takeover.
I've had one not-so-good nanny, whom I fired, and one exceptional nanny, and to her, I give praise where it's due. There is such a thing as going above and beyond, and to the mothers who don't believe this, I hope you don't take all the good ones, because you obviously don't deserve (or respect) them.
I agree with Janice and a few of these comments and for all the Janice bashers, you probably can't find good nannies because you've earned yourselves reputations as a-holes, or you don't even have kids so you have no legitimate reason for reading or posting here. Sorry folks but eating ice cream while fat does not constitute a legitimate item of concern about the quality of a stranger's caregiver. Just an idle, voyeuristic need to gossip with no accountability.
ReplyDeleteThere would be more credibility to these posted "sightings" if registration and valid, verifiable email contact info were required to post. As it is, Janice is pretty close to the truth though maybe in her area people are more snotty to nannies than in mine. And I see no reason why this shouldn't also be utilized as a site for recommendations of good nannies to be posted for people looking to hire.
I'm a SAHM of a 2 1/2 year old, and we interact every day with other kids and caregivers. More nannies than parents (what does that tell you?) and honestly, I've seen more neglectful and deplorable behavior from parents than nannies. I think there should be some criteria fulfilled before people would be given a license to breed. Why can any idiot who can manage to have sex be allowed to bring a child into the world but practice, study and tests are required before you can drive a car? Parenting while irresponsible and ignorant should be illegal but unfortunately, bad parents can't be fired.
One suggestions: these comments would be easier to follow if anon postings could at least be named so there aren't just 20 postings by "anonymous".
Yeah, this is long. No one made you read it all.
Hello windy one,
ReplyDeleteGood idea about having people choose a name instead of being randomly anonymous. PS You might want to take your own advice.
I have seen good nanny sightings on here. Why aren't there more?
Spread the word.
LOL, I tried to put a name on my post but must have done it wrong. I made a comment yesterday that just disappeared. I'll try to get it right this time.
ReplyDeleteI agree that any good nanny should not be threatened by this site...just as I agree that we should have a site called "I saw your mommy". As a matter of fact, a couple of us are looking into this!
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, I have been a nanny (an exemplary one at that) and know other nannies. I can tell you we see just as many terrible mothers through out jobs as you moms see "bad" nannies.