The New Playground in Chappaqua, NY

Monday, October 9, 2006 3:30 PM
SAME DAY, SAME TIME, SAME PLAYGROUND, TWO VERY DIFFERENT NANNIES
Playing with my two children at the new playground in Chappaqua, was rather disturbed to watch as a young European nanny/au pair/caregiver spoke continuously on her cellphone while her charge (little girl wearing pink shorts and shirt - around 4 with curly blonde hair) pulled at her leg and asked for help on some of the climbing equipment. {BTW this playground is not ideal for younger children unless they are well supervised or very athletic - equipment is mostly climbing high off ground with no platforms} The caregiver repeatedly told the child to stop bothering her and that they could go home and watch cartoons as soon as she was done on the phone. All this child wanted was to be able to play on the equipment at the park that the nanny had driven to (a more appropriate one is across the road) Child's name Elli/Ella, caregiver had long mousy brown hair and was wearing a grey shirt and jeans. While this child is being neglected, two lucky boys about 4 and 8 with a nanny/au pair/caregiver were having a great time exploring the equipment. She was wearing a black shirt with jeans and named Carol or Carolyn or Caroline. Older boy was David. All three made up rules to a game and then proceeded to play with the caregiver helping out the younger child on the equipment. Seemed to intuitively know when either needed help or reassurance but was not crowding them and was letting them both push their limits with a bit of encouragement. When it was time to go heard the younger one say "that was fun" and the older one answer "yip" - simple words but heartwarming. Both boys grabbed their caregiver's hands on the way back to the car and I could hear them laughing even when they were out of sight. No guessing which person I'd rather have caring for my children - in fact she even picked up and dusted off my daughter when she slipped off the mon­key bars (and I had MY back turned)