Friday

Whatever happened to a mother's instinct?

Received February 02, 2007
...............In my circle, we all have nannies. Some of us have nannies that clearly stand out and are demonstrative of excellence. While some are definitely imperfect, I don't know one that I wouldn't trust with my child in an emergency. I don't know a single nanny I am ever hesitant to leave my child in the company of for a play date . I am not a fan of nanny cameras. I think you should be able to trust the person caring for your baby as much as you trust your spouse. If not, you have the wrong nanny. I don't think we need to read an anonymous post about our nanny to 'realize' she needs to go. We need to rely on that gut feeling, that maternal instinct and never apologize for erring on the side of caution. These are your children, these are the parents of your grandchildren. There is a tremendous responsibility in your hands; stop and comprehend just how tremendous. -EG, New York
P.S. This quote from an article on a sitter arrested for abuse is what sent me over the edge:
"The mother's fiance said that he sometimes felt uncomfortable when he dropped the child off at Danes' home. Occasionally, he would find Danes in a bathrobe and the boys in his care without shirts on, he said."

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

i am in full agreement with you...

Anonymous said...

..."he was not a licensed child care provider..." and the parents left thir child with this man, without proper checks etc? I am now lookig for childcare for my 4 month old baby, and although I will follow the proper procedures in doing so, I still intend to trust my "mothers instinct" - and if for whatever reason I do not feel 100% happy that I have found the right person, that means I haven't.

Anonymous said...

I see it too. I see mothers who cant really afford to go back to work-chosing to do so just so they can have a life outside of their children-and leaving their children with tricked out sitters and I see people with tons of money hire nannies to leave their children with-even though they themselves would shudder at the thought of spending 4 minutes in the same room as these nannies. This is a national crisis. The childcare field needs to be overhauled.

Anonymous said...

I agree.
Sometimes even well intentioned parents contact nanny agencies and think that the nanny agency is going to help them towards the best decision. Don't be pressured by anyone. Just don't.

Your children deserve the best. If you are working or not around, make sure they have the best!

Anonymous said...

A mother's instinct is wonderful and often guides a mother into making sound choices and decisions. However, in saying that you and your group of mothers don't need to read an anonymous post to know if your nanny needs to go, you could just be deceiving yourself. I think many of the inferior nannies are manipulative and can put on one Hell of a "Dog and Pony" show if need be. Don't forget some women are more intuitive than others. My guess is that the mothers whose nannies are depicted in these sightings have no idea that their nannies are capable of these behaviors, and if and when they find out what's really going on, they are totally shocked. If all mothers had your gift, these poor excuses of nannies wouldn't be out and about doing the things they are doing. They'd be out of a job, wouldn't they?

Anonymous said...

Sorry to say and I hope this doesn't come off wrong but I had two nannies from the Islands. Both well paid, smart. etc. They were also cooly stoic and reserved. I never knew what they were thinking and/or plotting. I can't go in to how badly they fooled me but I nearly lost my reputation by trusting them in my home. My drawers were rifled through, cell phones were used to capture pictures. Although I saw them as icy and silent, to others they were a stream of free flowing information. The third nanny I hired was British. From an actual nanny school. I trust her. After I replaced island nanny 1 with island nanny 2-only then did I realize how hard these people can be to read. I really thought she liked me, personally. Four months in to her employment, I was forwarded a picture phone message that had made it's way around. She had been taking pictures of intimate areas of my home, notably certain drawers and cabinets in my bedroom. By the time I found out what was going on, I realized that these people- other mothers in the neighborhood- had seens such things as my medicine cabinet.

Anonymous said...

Do you know how many,
"Dog and Pony" shows are going on right now?
Once you have children, you give up your right to be gullible. Question everything!

Anonymous said...

Exactly, 10:01. Dectectives go on "tuition and instinct" too, but there's nothing like cold, hard evidence. Anyone (like the OP who is way too sure of herself), can be fooled. Some of the most able at fooling people as to their true natures are child molesters/pedophiles and who do they need to deceive the most? Parents.

Anonymous said...

I read this article in the local newspaper-disgusting! The man was not a licensed daycare provider, he was supposedly a trusted member of the deaf community where this all took place. He truly was a vile looking man that at first glace gave off glaring red flags...how any mother trusted him is beyond me

Anonymous said...

... so you see, you just can't always trust "mother's intuition". Facts, just the fact's ma'am.