Received Friday, February 2, 2007
Clark & Hicks Streets, Brooklyn Heights, NY. Saw a middle-aged tall, dark haired white woman pushing a boy of Asian descent, about 1 year old, in a black stroller (maybe a Bugaboo) and smoking. She hid her cigarette behind her back as she passed me; if I were that baby's mama, I would want to know...
this could just be another example of a mother hiring a discount nanny. Discount nannies smoke. And don't whine and yap about how wonderful she is because she held the ciggarette behind her back. I am a mother of 2. I smoke. But I would never hire a nanny who smoked. (Nor do I let my children even see me smoke).
ReplyDeletePS Smokers RAISE smokers. That is how this vile habbit is kept alive.
That "vile habit" is also kept alive by people who don't have the willpower to quit. ^^^
ReplyDelete7:11:
ReplyDeleteYou sound like one smart cookie. NOT!
711 am..not true!! I came from a family whos parents smoked 2 packs a aday and am not a smoker!! All of you bored communists need to find a hobby!!!!!!!!! The OP included!
ReplyDeleteDid you ever stop to think that maybe this woman was mommy and she was moving the cigarette so that when she passed by you smoke would not come your way??? Courteous smoker do this all the time. the child in the stroller was not affected what so ever as the smoke was up high and most likley blowing behind the women as she puffed away!
ReplyDeleteSmokers do raise smokers.
ReplyDeleteJust like racists raise racists.
It doesn't matter if you tell children 'you shouldn't do this". They learn from you.
In the future there will be a vaccine preventing parents from smoking without getting disgustingly sick.
When will you people stop defending tobacco. And the tobacco business? Old white guys getting rich. The reason for most of the slaves.
Laughing over your tombstone.
1106: I appreciate you passion, but you thoughts are ill formed.
ReplyDeleteAfrican slaves arrived in the English colonies of North America only seven years after the first tobacco crop was planted. Generations of Africans and their descendents labored to raise and process tobacco in the nearly 200 years that followed. Until the invention of the cotton gin, the majority of African Americans on the Atlantic seaboard were enslaved as workers for tobacco fields, not in cotton fields. Tobacco cultivation had a devastating effect on millions of peoples' lives.
Original Poster:
ReplyDeleteDo you REALLY think that people who make good money don't smoke?
Seems you're blaming this incident on the parents because of how much money YOU THINK they pay.
That's just ridiculous.
Lastly, you say that YOU smoke. Does that make you a "discount" mother?
You also say that "smokers RAISE smokers. That is how this vile habbit is kept alive."
Yet you smoke. Hm. That wouldn't make you a discount mother, that would make you an a**.
I don't think you're a mom at all. I think you're another disgruntled nanny who is trying to justify her bad habits because you feel you're not paid enough.
So transparent.
Here in NYC there are many Caucasian parents with adopted Asian children, so it is quite probable that this was the mother. It makes no difference however, parent or nanny, people who care for children and smoke are self centered, and irresponsible. Flame away smokers, I can say this because I smoked a pack a day, and quit. You can do it!
ReplyDeleteI am curious: to the poster who said she is a smoker but wouldn't hire a nanny who was a smoker, that doesn't make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteI myself do not smoke, and I know people who do at my work (I am a preschool teacher) and I can smell it on them all the time.
I also have a five month old daughter and we don't hire babysitters who smoke. But if we did, would it really matter if we were doing it ourselves? It seems contradictory to me.
new poster here-
ReplyDeleteI have a work friend that smokes. Sometimes. But only during work hours. She drives to and from the city and doesn't even travel with ciggs. They are all at the office. I am not applauding her, I think smoking is a bad habbit- but she is obviously taking every attempt not to smoke in her "home life" so I can understand why smokers don't hire smokers. Probably the same reason sloppy people hire neat housekeepers.
NYC is filled with caucasian people who adopt Asian babies, especially older parents who can't have a biological child-this very well could have been the mother.
ReplyDeletewell guess what?
ReplyDeleteRules of engagement have changed.
You can no longer be a fatty and adopt a baby from China. That's right- new rules.
Next up-
NO SMOKERS.
source-::#(*(#
Most chinese adopted babies are the unwanted "extra" girls, I doubt this boy was from there. But why can't his father just be asian?
ReplyDeleteAnd both my parents smoked and none of the four kids smoke. My dad is the only smoker left since my mother quit ages ago (yay mom!). However, my cousins who grew up in St. Louis all smoke, as did their parents. Maybe it has to do with growing up in Marlboro country as opposed to the urban NYC area.
Ah, finally someone who thinks! Welcome, 12:42.
ReplyDeleteMy friend is asked all the time when she adopted her Chinese daughter. It gets old quickly. Her husband in Chinese.
People are just so quick to make assumptons.
This whole website is based on assumptions. Is the OP ever really sure if it is the nanny, mother, grandmother, etc.?
ReplyDeleteShe said the boy was Asian, not Chinese. He could be adopted from one of the other Asian countries, American born or of course his dad could be Asian.
ReplyDeleteasian people have literal tolerance for such foolishness as ciggarette smoking. That is why they have healthier children and live longer.
ReplyDeletei meant little
ReplyDeleteThis whole website is based on assumptions. We are never really sure if it is a nanny, mother, grandmother, etc. How many times do we read about an African-American nanny with a caucasian child. For all we know the child could have a white father and have come out light skinned. If someone suspects abuse, they shouldn't not post because it could have been the mother!
ReplyDelete9:00 are you kidding me? Tobacco companies have been targeting the gigantic asian market for decades now in anticipation of the American market dropping off as it has. They are going to catch up to us in cancer mortalities any day now. I never see a travelogue show like Globe Trekker about asia without seeing every face with a cigarette stuck in it.
ReplyDeletePhillip Morris has a backdoor deal with the government of China. They buy a ton of ciggarettes up and resell them at a loss to their own people. Why? To help with population control. You know you can always count on good ole tobaccer' to help with killin'.
ReplyDeleteA funny thing about smokers. I only have one sister. We are non-smokers. My mother is a smoker. We hated it! We still hate it!
ReplyDeleteMy mother could be called a RACIST.
We aren't!
A smoker can raise a non-smoker just like a christian can raise a serial killer.
I think this was either the nanny or the adoptive mother. I doubt the father is Asian because white and Asian mixed babies almost always look white, not asian.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, as long as she does not smoke literally in front of the baby, she's not doing much harm. The stroller is in front and the woman is walking forward so the smoke she exhales will trail behind her (unless the wind is blowing backwards pretty hard). It's the people who walk behind her that really suffer.
I disagree with responders to this siting and another one involving smoking that as long as you don't blow smoke on a child, there is no problem. The most recent surgeon general's report on secondhand smoke thoroughly debunked that dangerous myth. You can access the report, executive summary, and multiple "fact sheets" here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/
Of particular relevance here are the following conclusions, each meriting its own individual fact sheet:
--Secondhand Smoke Is Toxic and Poisonous
--There is No Risk-Free Level of Exposure
--Children are Hurt by Secondhand Smoke
Please don't make the mistake of thinking that just because you're not actively blowing smoke in a child's face, the child is not exposed to secondhand smoke. Passive cigarette smoke travels far, and can be inhaled and ingested regardless of wind, regardless of being outside, and regardless of attempts at ventilating or cleaning the air. The toxic chemicals (there are over 3,000 in one cigarette) stink up the air far & wide. Not only that, but smokers then reek because the chemicals stick to them.
Even a smoker's kiss has been linked to tooth decay in children because the bacteria that resides in a smoker's mouth is transferred to the child, causing damage. (You can read about that here: http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2003/toothpr.htm.)
And one last thought. To those who have proclaimed their good health despite that their parents smoked, the jury is not out yet. Secondhand smoke does worlds of damage that you can't see and that is not outwardly manifested or that you might not connect with the exposure (maybe you had tooth decay that no one realized was because of the smoky kisses!). So you probably do indeed suffer the ramifications of secondhand smoke in ways you may never know, but which can reduce your lifespan.
There's just no excuse for smoking anymore. Anyone who says differently is an unfortunate victim of the multi-billion dollar tobacco industry's propoganda.
9:01 Eurasians almost always look more Asian than Caucasian. Review your dominate and recessive genes.
ReplyDeleteWhat about a stepmom? When women turn forty something, sometimes they have bad work done and end up looking Asian. Eyes pulled back, down and up. And stepmoms-so often seem offput by the company of the children. The spawn of the First Wife/first love. Wait-who looked Asian? The mom or the child? Is this even okay to discuss? We shouldn't be talking race.
ReplyDeleteIf a mother smokes, can she still insist on a non-smoking nanny?
ReplyDeleteif a mother doesn't "do toilets" can she insist that her housekeeper "do them up".
ReplyDeleteI think so!
I don't think you get the question. If a mother doesn't want a smoking nanny around her child, yet she herself smokes, isn't that hypocriticle?
ReplyDelete9:09: How many Eurasians have you actually met? I have several Eurasian friends and they do not look Asian at all. Sure, Eurasians will never have blond hair and blue eyes but their facial features are more likely to be white than Asian.
ReplyDelete941...no!! It is not."do as I say,not as I do"
ReplyDeleteYou people need to realize that smoking is not ilegal or wrong and just because you don't like it does not make people who do it bad parents! I do not smoke..can't stand it..both my parents smoke 2 packs a day! They are not bad people. They urged us not to and it worked..3 children all non-smokers! This nanny did nothing wrong! The child was not in the line of fire and the nanny politley moved the cigarette so as not to allow it to blow in the passer-by's face!..If people choose to smoke that is their RIGHT!!weather you like it or not!
6:44 I think it is a smokers *decision* to smoke. I don't know about their *right*. Any lawyers out there that can elucidate us?
ReplyDeleteWhether smoking is a "right" depends on whether you live in one of the enlightened cities or states that have banned it indoors. If you do, then smoking is no longer a "right" in those places. If you are not fortunate enough to live in a forward-thinking location (as I, unfortunately, am not), then a smoker's "right" to contaminate the air with their nasty, government sanctioned chemicals trumps my "right" to be free from the deletrious effects.
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me that while drinking is a legal activity, it's not okay to drink and drive because you can harm someone. Thus, you can drink, but you can't then drive. But it doesn't matter if you harm someone with your stinky, toxic cigarette smoke. You can smoke, and you can smoke wherever you want (for the most part).
I hope the measures to bar people from smoking in cars with children is wildly successful. They don't have a choice to get out of the car.
I don't understand why people are so judgmental about smoking...yes, it's unhealthy, but if people smoke and are not bothering others (ie smoking around other people), then why do people have the right to judge them so harshly? Many people have unhealthy vices, no one is perfect. Working on improving yourself is admirable, trying to tell strangers what they should be doing...not so nice...
ReplyDelete