Friday

Clemyjontri Park in McLean, Virginia

Received Friday, November 3, 2006

I was helping my daughter onto the carousel shortly after 4 pm on
Wednesday, November 1, when I saw a nanny behave in a way that was
shameful. There was a group of 5 girls with two parents trying to
get all 5 girls (about age 5) onto the horses. One little girl was
waiting next to the horse she had chosen for one of the mommies to
help (her own mother was there with two younger children in a
stroller). There was also a nanny there with two other little
girls. The nanny was Filipino and wore dark clothes. She was short,
appeared to be in her 50s, and wore wire-rimmed glasses. Her hair
was short, cut into a bit of a shag, and was brown with lighter brown
highlights. The two girls in her charge looked as if they were 3 and
perhaps 18 months. The older had shoulder length, dark brown hair
with bangs.

The nanny and her two charges approached near the end, when horses
were getting scarce. She clearly saw the little 5 year old waiting
patiently next to a horse, but the nanny went ahead and put the 18
month old on that one, then put her sister on the one next to it.
The little girl burst into tears - there were no other horses
available on the whole ride. Both of the moms spoke to your nanny -
one of them said, "you realize you just took this horse from this
little girl?" The nanny said, "Oh, but she couldn't decide between
the two." No one in earshot thought that was an appropriate - or
valid - response. The mom replied, "So you then took BOTH? That's
not nice." The other mom said something, too, but I couldn't hear
it. The little girl was crying hysterically, and the first mom
picked her up. One of the other little girls from the group
voluntarily dismounted and left with her friend. They were the first
people on the next ride.

If this is your nanny, what kind of person is she? What qualities
and values is she demonstrating to your daughters? What kind of
person takes things from a little girl? Maybe you want your
daughters to grow up to think that their wants are paramount, that
they do not have to wait their turns. If so, I feel even sorrier for
them than I did for that little girl.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

How do you know that she was Phillipino? If you are right... well, then-
that explains it all.

Anonymous said...

So the nanny cut in line? That's a lot of words to tell your story.

Anonymous said...

not cut in line, was intentionally cruel to a 5 yo and it didn't bother her a bit

Anonymous said...

I feel sorry for the two little girls she was in charge of. Did the mother confront this nanny in front of them?

Anonymous said...

"Confront"? She merely said what I overheard. I hardly considered it a confrontation. There was no yelling, no raised voice, no threatening tone or words. Nobody screamed or got upset - other than the poor 5 year old.

Anonymous said...

jesus christ, another typical McLean, VA "touchy feely" nanny/parent with your playground stories. Tell it to the marines and forgodsakes, get a life!

Anonymous said...

For the pp - your comment is unintelligible. Typical McLean? Marines? Get a life? Are you skipping some kind of medication? Or was this your nanny, and you condone making little girls cry?

Anonymous said...

i havn't read your post, but i thought this S --t only happened in manhattan - Im so sad to see it goes on elsewhere

Anonymous said...

A good portion of your post describes the nanny, as if her description supports your claim of her outrageous action. Clearly you are focused on the wrong things.

hello???????
get a life, and stop shoving $20 bills up your butt... most normal kids have been cut in line by babies who have been put in front of them by the babies parents. I'm not saying that it was the right thing for the nanny to do, but you're totally overreacting.

It's normal to get screwed over... whining about it on some online blog doesn't help any.

Anonymous said...

my goodness, some of you really need to think about what you are saying.... geez talk about missing the point of the post entirely

Anonymous said...

"How do you know that she was Phillipino? If you are right... well, then-
that explains it all."
What the hell of a racist pig-like comment is that? And let me take a guess, the poster of this blog is a wealthy white (possibly prejudiced) blond mom, who in all likelyhood has not faced too many hardships in life?

Anonymous said...

I found this site by accident while looking up park info ... but clearly, I would be much better off if I never saw the racist crap that this person just posted. What kind of values are you teaching your child? Clearly, your "wrong" does far more damage than a child not having things go exactly her way. That's a great lesson to learn, patience with other people who may not share the same opinions ... you should try it sometime you racist piece of crap.

Anonymous said...

big deal! get over it! You sound like a 5 year old yourself whining about something stupid!

Anonymous said...

Uh huh.

Peace.

Anonymous said...

I think that some people post on her just to be hateful to others.
They can spew their venom without anyone knowing who they are. The Bully club.
99 percent of people who post on here are caring people who are truly concerned about children.
It doesn't matter where we live or how much money you have,if you are a STAM or a working MOm.
This site is about our Nannies,the care they give our children,and sometimes to share things we normally do not discuss but feel free to do so here. To share our experiences in life and as children.
Instead of answering back to hags that have to be mean and hateful we should just go on to the next post and ignore them and maybe the trolls will go to another site.
After all they are not really contributing to the topic they are just here to blast someone, anyone.
Did you know there are people in prison that were not guilty because some juror "had this gut feeling" or a crystal ball? LOL
So much for gut feelings.

Anonymous said...

I agree wholeheartedly. But unfortunately this sighting went to the dogs in the very 1st post.

Whether it was a valid sighting or not, I wish more posters would give the OP the benefit of the doubt and stop harassing them about racial undertones, unless of course it is completely blatant.

Anonymous said...

This is an interesting lesson in how different people read the same words and interpret them differently.

What if the original post was detailed in the description of the nanny only to help the parents identify the nanny and their children? Wouldn't it make sense to use this blog if your goal was to warn the parents of what goes on when they are at work?

First comment was, of course, a wonderful example of sarcasm, accusing the poster of resorting to a racial profile when a simple description of coloring and facial features would have sufficed. Sarcasm is much more interesting than direct accusation and name calling, don't you think?

My mother used to use carousel experiences like these as learning opportunities, to remind us that bad behavior on the part of others doesn't excuse it in ourselves.