Tuesday

Hippo Playground at 91st Street and Riverside in NYC

Received Tuesday, May 1, 2007
This occurred on Thurs. 4/28 at Hippo Playground at 91st Street and Riverside. Little girl with long brown hair around 4, Blue shirt, jeans and jacket. Little boy with brown hair around 3, navy and orange jacket (windbreaker). Nanny was Caucasian, with glasses. Light brown hair. Wearing Peach shirt and jeans. Brown Adidas sneakers. Little Girl was in the baby swing area, inside the gate, pushing a ball on the swing. The swing hit her in the face and started crying. Nanny wasn't even in the swing area. She was outside near the jungle gym watching the little boy. The other moms had to ask the girl who she was with. One of the moms got her attention. Instead of going into the swing area, she pulled the girl over the fence.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

when you are watching 2 kids, unless they are standing next to each other you have to look away from one to watch the other. as a mom of 2, i can see this easily happening to me at the park. if i know my 4 yo is happily engaged in pushing his ball on the swing in the enclosed baby swing area, i feel safe turning my attention to my younger son for a few minutes.

the swing hitting the kid in the face was an accident, not a result of neglect. and if it had happened to my son, i would have lifted him over the fence too -- rather than make him wait for me to run around to the entrance at one end of the fence or the other.

seriously, if this site is going to become a series of priggish posts about nothing meaningful, it's going to become something nobody bothers to read anymore -- and then it will lose its ability to possibly help a kid in ACTUAL danger from an ACTUAL bad nanny.

Anonymous said...

I ditto everything 8:27 says. This sounds more to me like a person who is looking for a bad nanny to report here, IMO.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, that's bullshit. I don't care if you have three kids at the park. You should be in their sight. Especially at a park in NYC. If mothers had to look around and ask who the child belongs to- that was plenty of time for a predator to swoop in. And what is with lazy nanny dragging the child over the fence!! If you knew the set up of this park, perhaps you could better grasp how inappropriate this sounds!

Anonymous said...

Yes, the first two commentors are obviously very casual about child care. Being casual about child care often results in injured or even missing children.

Anonymous said...

jen-
are you the jen from way back who posted all kinds of weird things. then apologized? than disappeared? are you back? priggish? isn't that London like?

Anonymous said...

The post above this one has someone is screaming because the poster didn't do enough at the time. Now you (Jen) say, this is not enough to warrant a report. Isn't this blog for reporting things that you didn't take action about when you had the chance? Isn't whether or not this child was adequately supervised up to this child's parent and not up to you? There is a company in New York that makes a ton of money every year and their sole purpose is staking out playgrounds to photograph and fully chronicle what the nanny does to and with the child.

I think you over reacted. This post does not sound dangerous, but this is not my child. I have seen other things on here that other people may not have had a problem with but I had a huge problem with.
And some people do check this blog to look for good nanny sightings.
It's not all about saving children, is it?

I don't know this park but I would never have my young children seperated by a gate! Even if they had very different ideas about what they wanted to do, as an adult I set the limitations. 20 minutes here. 20 minutes there.

Anonymous said...

1154, nope. I am the jen from "back then" who now posts as anonymous like the rest of you. I don't feel that I posted weird stuff, maybe rude opinions. And yes, I did apologize. I had a rough Nov. and Dec.(we lost a family member to cancer.) Saddly, I posted rude comments. I appologized. Then I became anonymous and utilized this blog.

When I saw someone post as jen, I just waited, wondering, when would someone ask, "Is it you." Hehe. But no, not I.

I do have to disagree with Jen from 827. I would never leave my son unsupervised on the playground. I did once, for only a few minutes while I talked to another mom, and he had snuck off. It took a few minutes to find him. Lesson learned. I don't have two children yet, but I do know that I would never seperate from either unless the other was with a mom I know. Just not happening. Children are too fast to be seperated from their caretaker by a fence.

Anonymous said...

jen from 133
I am so happy you are still around. I too, prefer being anonymous.

Anonymous said...

Aww, thanks 137!! I thought I burned all my bridges here as jen... But, I'll still just be anonymous.

Anonymous said...

Don't you woman have jobs or children to watch or is a nanny caring for your kids while you bitterly type away?

Anonymous said...

swings are very dangerous..never leave a child with a ball or anything near a swing set......
they can crack there head open very easy....
thats parenting 101....

Anonymous said...

737,
No jobs. And my social secretary does the typing.

Anonymous said...

aml... what are you doing here typing away? no job? no kids? then go away, you don't belong! but you do seem quick to judge someone who is doing the same thing as you!

Anonymous said...

well, ain't this just like a family reunion going on here? And just like at a family get-2-gether the jabs are a flyin'!!!

Anonymous said...

I am the original poster. This was my first time posting, but I check this site from time to time.

I am very surprised about the negative comments I received for posting this. I know this isn't the worst thing out there, but as a parent, I think its important to know what is going on. Since we can't be everywhere, its great that we can rely on one another to report things that we see that are concerning.

And yes, I find it concerning that the nanny didn't keep an eye on this other child. That the older girl was able to go into a gated area, separate from where her nanny was. The nanny didn't seem to know where she was to look out for her.

When she was hurt, a bunch of moms gathered around to see if she was OK and who she was with. Imagine if one of us was a predator? They could have just swooped in and taken the child away. No one would have known that she wasn't with that person.

Now of course these things happen. And of course its not the worst thing that could have happened, but if it were my child and my nanny, I would want to know. That is why I posted on here.

Anonymous said...

and you did the right thing by posting it on here. Hopefully, those who employ nannies will check in here often just to see if their nanny makes an appearance. And thanks to you and those like you, something bad may be prevented from happening to an innocent child.

Anonymous said...

aml, isn't you being here like that phrase..about the pot calling the kettle black? Just wondering why you are special. Did your mommy tell you that you're special?

Anonymous said...

I agree with Jen (8:27) BE REAL PEOPLE. Accidents happen. Children are clumsy, incredibly active, and cry at the slightest bump or fall. Haven't any of you worked with kids before? You cannot keep two kids standing next to each other at the park. You cannot keep kids from having minor accidents. They're how we learn and they're inevitable. I believe the nanny did the best she could at the moment. And I bet the girl lived.

Anonymous said...

Rediculous, I agree with you.

I have worked with many kids of varying ages and I know that a 4 year old child knows better than to stand in the way of a swing in motion. Unfortunately, kids sometimes learn about their playgrund environment by experiencing minor bumps and bruises.