Received Sunday, May 27, 2007
I saw a nanny at Hummer Park in Downers Grove on Friday (5/25) morning around 10:00 a.m. with a little girl – 2 years old, but big for her age – I asked the nanny. The nanny had an Eastern European-ish accent. The little girl was black, hair in pigtails, really cute, wearing pants and a short sleeved shirt. I think the pants were jeans. They played for a few minutes together and the first thing I noticed was that the nanny was discouraging the little girl from trying challenging things – not things she couldn’t necessarily do, just things that would have required some supervision. Then a few minutes later, I looked over and the nanny was sitting on a bench reading a book and totally ignoring the little girl. The little girl didn’t have anyone to play with and she was just sitting sort of pathetically on the swing. I felt so bad for her. Then about a ½ hour later, the little girl fell off the jungle gym – a pretty high part of it, and the nanny wasn’t supervising her at the time – still reading her book over on the bench. Of course she got up when the child fell, but she certainly should have been supervising her more closely than she was. At the time I remarked to my friend that I wish I knew the parents, I would tell them. And then I found this site. I just hope they see the posting.
12 comments:
Hummer Park....I love it! Perfect place for the pimps 'n hoes to hang out...lol
Sounds like a lot of parents that I know - they just want to relax and let the child play. It is ok to allow a child to play by themself at times, it teaches them independence. And sometimes kids fall - the ones that don't have helicopter parents/nannies that don't allow them to do anything on their own.
But she's a two year old! They don't have all the coordination they need to climb unsupervised (she did fall after all). But more importantly, there are guidelines for gaugeing the severity of injuries to children, and one of those is the height of the fall. If they fall a distance greater than the child's own height, they should be checked by a doctor, if not the ER. It sounds like this girl fell rather far. I hope the nanny told the parents in detail what happened.
Love your advice, jmt ... right on.
yes, most of the time jmt's comments are on the mark
I agree some places of the park are good for children to learn to play alone (provided you are watching) and other places are not! I hover like a nervous hen when ever small kids in my care climb, swing, or do any thing remotely challenging for them...and I've prevented a lot of falls because of this!
to be so engrossed in a book as to allow a child to get hurt
inattentiveness on the part of the person who is caring for the child contributes to most childhood accidents
so true, 10:27
So you people are telling me she should hover over top of the child and not let her play because she "might" get hurt. Its not like the kid was climbing a tree. I see parents all of the time reading books, talking to other parents or yelling at their husbands on the cellphone at the park. They don't watch their kids and most of them are 2 and younger. If I had a nickel for everytime I saw a parent not watching their kid I would be rich....gee whiz!
8:29 Yes.
I hovered over my charge until he was about 3 and 1/4. Until then, he wasn't confident enough or strong enough, or big enough to handle the jungle gyms. There are also those damned open gaping holes on the sides of the gyms that lead to slide poles, chain ladders, spiral thingies. They are higher than my head and I see little kids just backing up toward them unaware. So yes, I hovered until I saw that he was confidently running around on the equipment. I wasn't going to let him need the ER on my watch.
BTW, I've made my share of catches of other people kids who were too little for the gym, and weren't being watched.
wow im from downers grove and a nanny.. im curious who was this... since there are families i sit for in that area and I dont recall of a black girl guess i'll have to go by there more often
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