Thursday

Starbucks at Broadway & 42nd Street in New York City

Received Thursday, December 14, 2006
Bad nanny sighting today! (Wednesday, December 13, 2006) Leaving Starbucks and I know it was crowded. This little, brown haired girl in a pretty pink, puffy jacket who was about 6 was walking out ahead of her nanny who wore a long sleeve striped shirt, very short straight black hair and African American. The nanny was carrying her frozen drink and a bottle of water (one in each hand). The little girl was I guess supposed to hold the door open and didn't. This did shut on the nanny's shoe, but only barely. I was coming in so I caught the door. The nanny transferred the bottle of water to the same hand she had the frozen drink in and using the back of her right hand she wacked the little girl in the upper arm and said something like "thanksalot". Because the girl was wearing a vinyl puffy jacket, I heard the thwack but I don't think she really hurt the kid. It just demonstrated a lack of patience to me. And if you were the mother of that girl, I don't think you would like to have seen that.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where do these nannies get off thinking that it's okay to whack the children they are minding???? If this were my nanny and my child, I would be LIVID.
Call me PC all you want, hitting kids out of frustration and anger is not okay. The woman could have just said "Hey, I needed you to hold that door open for me" not whack the kid and be rude to her. It doesn't matter if she actually harmed the child or not, the act of using your body to hurt another human being is NOT OKAY. Keep your damn hands to yourself people

Anonymous said...

Wait- What? thwacked the kid? Hit?Where are all the nannies that are pissing and moaning over the sunshine post. Kind of hypocritical they swarm on any post they think is without meritt yet are nowhere to be seen when one of their own is wacking a six year old.

Anonymous said...

I am a nanny and I do not think a nanny or parent should wack a child!!! Also some 6 year old girls are not strong enough to open store doors. You should not depent on the child the child should depent on you

Anonymous said...

^^^Very well said!

Anonymous said...

what the hell is with all of these nannies that can't spell...geesh

Anonymous said...

2:40: since when is spelling an indication of kindness or having a good heart? why would you criticize something so petty in this context? hope you made yourself feel big.

Anonymous said...

i agree with the comment that it is never ok to hit, and it's also not ok to use sarcasm with kids. they don't understand it and it is not developmentally appropriate to use it.
that being said, i think the reason that alot of nannies are not defending the nanny in this post is for the simple reason that there doesn't seem to be any way to do that. did you ever think that all the nannies "pissing and moaning" or however you put it were just sticking up for people because other posts are unfairly written? there are always two sides to every story. and so, your comment doesn't even make sense. "one of their own"? you make us sound like animals. i know many fellow nannies and they nor I would ever stick up for someone just because they are a nanny. that's crazy and an unfair assumption.
and just for the record, I don't know how many times I have witnessed parents "thwacking" their kids. If I saw the parents that I nanny for thwacking their kid, I would be "livid".

Anonymous said...

People on this site who leave comments about how someone must be stupid because they make a few spelling mistakes REALLY need to get a life. Grow up and find something better to do.

Anonymous said...

In defense of nannies, we don't all think or act alike. In addition, there are actually a large number of parents on here who believe in corporal punishment. Look at the responses to the Mckinley Park, in Sacramento, CA post. I wrote the following, after a respondent claimed children who weren't spanked were headed to jail. There follows a veritable barrage of attacks by parents defending hitting!

Anonymous said...
Some of you seem to think the only alterative to spanking is total permissiveness. Think about it, to be effective a spanking has to be painful, or create fear. It is possible to raise kind, well behaved children who respect authority without resorting to hitting them. It requires a little effort, knowledge of child development, and yes, intelligence.
Non of the families I've worked for as a nanny spanked, and my charges are all headed to top colleges, not jail!

Anonymous said...

I swear, little children have more composure and consideration than grown ups half the time. No matter how grumpy we get and loaded with stress, we still need to exhibit basic good manners. Caretakers: remember to model the behaviors you want your charges to adopt. That includes how to react when someone isn't as considerate as they could be. Too bad, that nanny had the perfect opportunity to teach a good lesson.

Anonymous said...

Now see, I might have whacked the back of her jacket (not hit the child) which would probably make a loud noice (I think he said it was a puffy coat, right?) in a "hey, you forgot to hold the door" kind of a way.
Probably an unpopular resonse, BTW I am against anyone hitting, but I am not convinced that is what happened in this case.
I would definately expect a 6 year old child to start remembering to hold the door for anyone (esp in NYC, where I am from, and there is almost always coming behind you).