Received Friday, October 6, 2006
Today (Thurs)I saw the most bizarre thing at Van Saun Park in Paramus, NJ.
A nanny had a little girl at the playground with her. The little girl was playing fine. The nanny was sitting there watching her. She was connecting to her. Not ignoring her. Then the nanny asked another mom if she could watch her kid. I am a nanny too and was at the park at the same time. The nanny said she had to go use the restroom. The nanny was gone for like 15 minutes. During which time the mother (who had her own two kids was struggling to keep them together) wanted to go. She finally looked at me. We had exchanged eye contact before. She said, "can you keep an eye on her until she gets back, I can't wait any longer". So, of course I say yes. The nanny comes back in about 5 minutes later. She didn't even realize that the mom wasn't there anymore. Her eyes did not register anything at all. Thank goodness the kid was oblivious. I have no idea why the nanny had to take over 20 minutes to use the bathroom. Since the little girl looked to be about 2 or 3, I would have said to the little girl, "let's go to the bathroom". Parents, talk to your sitters and nannies about leaving them in a stranger's care. Sitters who do this are instilling a bad message in the child. That is that someone who "looks nice" should be trusted. And that is not the real world. It isn't only monsters that are out to get us. That should not have felt "okay" for the child to be handed off twice like that at the park. The little girl's name was Brooke. She had blue eyes, straight brown hair and bangs across her forehead. The nanny seemed nice and normal until she showed such bad judgement. She was a white woman, about 25, with glasses and a short, possibly permed hairdo.
Why do you say "BUT she was a white woman?"
ReplyDeleteGood God, I know who you are above. You are the woman that runs around bisecting every entry for "racism". Don't you have a group of red tailed squirels to save.
ReplyDeleteThe nanny seemed nice and normal until she showed such bad judgement but she was a white woman, about 25, with glasses and a short, possibly permed hairdo.
ReplyDeleteI emailed the above situation to you. The last line originally read The nanny seemed nice and normal until she showed such bad judgement but her lack of judgment could have been determental to your child. She was a white woman, about 25, with glasses and a short, possibly permed hairdo.
I decided to remove the part that could have been considered fearmongering, however, I left the "but" in position. Obviously it did not go in that sentence. I would appreciate if Jane Doe would edit the above to remove the lingering "but".
I know the park. It is a safe park. But very big. Such a situation would have been very scary for my child. Please parents, take your children with you to the restrooms if you cannot leave the child with someone known to both of you. And make sure your sitters, nannies and hired hands do the same.
ReplyDeleteperhaps she felt ill? upset stomach? extremely bad period?
ReplyDeleteI don't care if her left arm fell off in the sand. She should read out for the child's hand with her right hand and take the child with her if she doesn't know someone with whom she can trust the child with!
ReplyDeleteSounds like this nanny is on drugs. Otherwise, why not take the child with her to the restroom? She didn't want the child to know what was going on in there.
ReplyDeleteNot relevant to the park issue, but to the person referencing the "red tailed squirrels," I'm neither a woman, nor white. I'm glad the original poster noted the typo, because it did read as a racial flame, and clearly that's not what the poster intended. My post above was actually my first ever on this blog, although I have noticed an undercurrent of racism (along with superiority and intolerance) among some posters. Overall, though, I think this blog is incredibly useful for parents, guardians, children and child-care workers. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteNEWSFLASH. The great percentage of people who employ nannies are white and are upper middle class or rich. Many wonderful nannies are from the Caribbean Islands and South America. The majority of nannies are Hispanic or Black.
ReplyDeleteEND OF NEWSFLASH
OK. Let's be the Devil's advocate.
ReplyDeleteThe other day I was in the park with my daughter who was 1 1/2. She was playing with another kid, sitting calmly.
I really had to go to the bathroom. She has been going through the early terrible twos and I know that moving her would have caused a temper-tantrum, with her possibly slamming her head against the cement.
I THOUGHT about asking another mommy watch my baby. The reason is because of the temper tantrum, but also because the general filth of the bathroom. I don't want my daughter grabbing and touching everything, which she would do.
Have you ever seen the inside of a public park bathroom.
It pained me, but I did take her in the bathroom with me. And she threw herself down on the floor of the yucky bathroom. It was not thrilling at all.
Dearest Devil's Advocate,
ReplyDeleteA nanny is not a mother. A mother has greater licence to make the decision. A nanny is paid to watch the child. It is a job. If you're the UPS dude on your way to deliver a box of cold packed keilbasa, you don't ask Joe Schmo on the steet to guard your wangs.
okay, I think some of you got a little distracted about the topic here...
ReplyDeleteWe are talking about a Nanny who left a child with a stranger. for all the nanny knew, this women could have been a child molester and taken her to a diffrent bathroom in the time she was gone.
I understand that the way the discription was written it came off as racial, but honestly, lets say the mother of the little girl happened to click on this story and there was no discription for the nanny...what if a mother of a little girl who has a black or hispanic nanny(matching all other noted discriptions) went home from work and fired her nanny for behaviour she did do....I dont think the comment," she was a white women" is irelevent.(sorry for the spelling I have the flu and dont feel like thinking to much lol)