Received Monday, November 20, 2006
In central park on Saturday; I saw you nanny with your daughter "Molly" or "Holly" (?). She had blonde hair, medium skin, light eyes, pants that were striped in about 6 colors and a shirt with little handbags on it. She was between 12-24 months. The nanny was white, light skin, dark hair, short, thin legs, heavy upper body, between 40-50 and wore what looked like prescription sunglasses. When the nanny lifted the little girl out of the swing and placed her on the ground, the little girl fell into the metal pole that supports the swings. The little girl grabbed her head and started crying. I was 30 feet away and heard the noise made by her head hitting the pole. The nanny "shushed" the child. Repeated telling her "shhhh, shhhh. shhhh, you are fine". I am not writing this necessarily to report abusive behaviors but to warn parents to encourage honest communication between themselves and the nanny. Several years ago my sister employed a nanny who was too afraid to tell her that her then 3 year old had fallen on the concrete and struck her head. The nanny went home at her scheduled time and later that evening my sister and brother-in-law were awoken by their daughter having seizures. The child ended up spending several days in the hospital. The child's fall on the concrete was not the result of the nanny at all. In fact, the nanny was watching the child when it happened, but she apparently didn't feel my sister would have believed that story. So do stress to anyone taking care of your children to report any head injuries that occur while they are watching your children. I think I saw something similar on this or another page previously and just wanted to stress the importance on reporting head injuries to children.
You don't know if the nanny told the parents about the fall: why do you assmume she didn't? When I am babysitting and the child hurts themselves I often say "shhh, you're fine" simply because it is comforting to make a shhhh sound and of course you will tell the child that she is fine. What would you say? That you just hurt yourself and you're not fine?
ReplyDeleteMost good nannies tell the parents about any head injury, mark or not.
Kids hurt themselves all the time: this injury doesn't sound out of the ordinary to me, nor does the nanny's response to it...
i think the person said she was telling this story as a cautionary tale and citing her own story. lighten up.
ReplyDeleteI think you are the one who wrote it, so lighten up yourself...
ReplyDeleteWhat did this person do wrong in posting this story? Are you the one person who goes to every post and screams about something? Jeeesh. Adjust your meds.
ReplyDeleteJust like a liberal: so open-minded until someone dares to disagree with you...
ReplyDeleteShe's not implying that the nanny did not tell the parents about the head injury. This incident made her remember her sister and brother-in-law's experience with a nanny who did not fess up and the consequences it had so she is only hoping that parents out there would encourage open communications with their nannies. What is your problem? It seems like everything written here is an outright attack on you. Defensive much?
ReplyDeleteWho's the liberal?
ReplyDeletehere we go again with the political crap! i'm sure there are plenty of other websites to voice your political concerns!
ReplyDeleteSomewhat related: I don't think anyone should be told to "shhhhh". Do you like it when someone says it to you? Do you think it's soothing? I think it's just a disrespectful way of not having to listen to someone.
ReplyDeleteI haven't even read the other comments yet, but I hope they are all positive because I think this was a very good post. All caregivers, parents and nannies, teachers and babysitters, should all be aware of the dangers of head collisions, as well as the importance of honesty when it comes to the child and the parent. I believe there is something wrong with the picture if the nanny really believes that the parent would automatically think neglegence or abuse if the nanny told them of an accident that happened that day. I am always sure to let parents know of any kind of accident that may have happened that day. It's not always something we can prevent, and parents know that they can't prevent the falls either, epecially in toddlers who are new walkers, they fall all the time! As nannies, we have a responsibility to let parents know what accidents occurred that day because they should be aware of it in case of any late reactions, as well as the fact that it looks bad if you continually hide accidents. Innocent or guilty in wrongdoing, hiding things makes a person look guilty. For example,I'm honest to the point that I will let a parent know if I stepped on a toe by accident just because I want them to know how bad I felt about it but didn't want to make it a bigger deal then it was and make the child cry when they would have been fine otherwise. So anyway, I encourage these informative posts because you never know what someone might not be aware of. We all learn something new everyday!
ReplyDeleteTo the last post about saying "shh", I just want to comment on that. I don't find it disrespectful at all, depending on how it's being said. If it's a soothing, "shhh, it's okay," I find it to be very calming if I am upset. If it's a "shhh" that's close to a shush or shut up, that I would consider disrespectful. But hopefully that's not how this nanny was treating the child.
ReplyDeleteIf a kid falls on their head, the parent needs to be told. I'm glad this web site exists. Too many kids are knocked around and the parent never knows it.
ReplyDeleteIf your doing a good job, you won't be written about. If you dont' like it, get another job.
One doesn't need to be a Dem or Repub to know that much.
Actually, the original poster saying that "shhh" is soothing is correct. I think you are misinterpreting it. As a nanny myself, whenever my charge will slightly hit his head, or maybe fall down if it is not anything that appears to be serious it's always best to show them that it's okay by saying, "Aww, you are fine. Shhh, it's okay....you're okay." Saying "shh" isn't being used as a way of saying "shut up" it's a way of calming them down. It is is used in a way to show that you understand but that they are okay.
ReplyDeletedo you really think that if the nanny said "sh... sh...." in a soothing way that it would appear on here as a negative thing? I get that shhh can be soothing. But i don't think if it were it would be lost on the person observing it in the first person.
ReplyDelete