Received Friday, September 21, 2007
Child: Sofia, brown, wavy hair 15 months old, purple shirt (Cute written on front) with matching purple leggings and dark purple sneakers. Blackberry colored Chicco stroller
Nanny: short blonde hair, glasses, white polo shirt, navy capris, white Nike sneakers pink swoosh and has an accent, Russian maybe.
Date: Tuesday, September 18th 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM
Location: 7th Avenue Playground (bet 81/82 Streets) in Brooklyn, NY
Shortly after arriving at the playground I noticed Sofia wondering around looking for her caregiver. She was beginning to get upset and scared. Her nanny was sitting on the double slide (which faces the back corner of the playground),she was hiding from little Sofia. Sofia wandered around the playground getting more and more upset looking for her caregiver. The nanny was deliberately hiding from Sofia. I said in a quiet voice that what she was doing was cruel, especially since Sofia was now sobbing. The nanny revealed herself and consoled Sofia for about 15 seconds before putting her down to play chase. Sofia continued crying and was not interested in playing anything.
A few minutes later I saw the nanny coming in the 81st Street entrance of the playground. Sofia was outside the fenced area on 81st Street. She turned around and began running towards 7th Avenue. That's when the nanny left the playground to retrieve Sofia. I'm assuming the game of chase left the playground area to be played out on the sidewalk?!
They left the playground and headed down 7th Avenue in the street. The nanny turned in the first hydrant or driveway and got on the sidewalk. They came back to the playground and waited outside for another caregiver and her charge to exit their vehicle. Sofia had a snack and a bottle while she waited in the stroller.
Sofia was in need of a diaper change as you could tell by the large bulge which comes from a lot of fluids and a few hours with no diaper change. The nanny had a diaper in her hand, yet it never made it to Sofia's bum.
Sofia was removed from her stroller to play with the other children while her nanny chatted with the other caregiver. Both were sitting on the bench across from the flagpole while Sofia wandered about the playground. Several minutes later I found Sofia sitting in a corner by the fence separating the swings from the toddler play equipment. She had a stem in her hand, which she had just taken out of her mouth. She was sitting under a tree which produces a berry of some sort. Was there a berry on the stem which she ate? Or was the stem just a stem she found on the ground? Her nanny didn't see any of this as she was too far away.
13 comments:
Wow..good for you making all those assumptions: the game, the diaper, the stick. Let's posit another scenario. They were playing hide and seek, there was no diaper issue, or she changed it when you weren't busy stalking this child and the stick...well just a stick.
I don't know about the diaper, and I think a fifteen-month-old should get rather close supervision,
even if the stick was probably OK, but the hide-and-seek game sounds positively creepy.
Maybe, there was no area to change her diaper?? I wish more public places had changing tables. Even then I don't use them at times, if the place looks dirty. I rather wait till I get home or in the backseat of the car to do a change.
Yes, a 15 month needs to be watched carefully. But I don't see how this is a bad sighting?
sometimes its good to try and play games to get a child out of a "mood". maybe this is something they play on a regular basis, and today the little girl just didnt feel like playing. stop being so judgemental.
what are you all a bunch of nuts?...this nannie sucks....the berries could be poison....and hide and sick with a 15 month old no way okay....you stay very near them at all times....this age they are very fast...
so lets get with it..this nannie SUCKS..mood, not bad sighting,stick is not safe.....wake up girls
So, are the people that are following these nannies this closely, stalkers? Just wondering, because most of you give really detailed descriptions...kinda creepy.
Anyway,I only have two issues. She shouldn't have let her have a stick of any sort in the babies mouth, and yes, it's imperative that a 15 month old be closely shadowed, no exceptions. Oh, and the hiding while baby was upset was a no-go,too.
I think this sounds like an awful nanny. Agreed, you don't hide from a 15 month old, not so much so that they really can't find you, and especially not if they're obviously upset by the game.
I agree with you Cali Mom. Hiding from 15 month old is poor judgement. If I hid from my youngest kid, he'd happily run out of the playground and hide from me. At this age, they are constantly on the move.
Hey, if the kid was 3 and this was a normal game, fine - until he or she started crying, then NOT fine. (And, I'd also worry if the kid were out of visual range at a public playground at any age and for any reason - nanny's primary job is to keep the kids safe and that means being able to see them).
But we are talking about a baby here, folks. 15 months old. You don't HIDE from a 15-mo or leave their side at a playground. Come on! If the age and the scenario are as the OP described, this is a horrifying sighting.
Hide and seek is not a good idea at the playground with a child so young.
If they wanted to play hide and seek the nanny should of been in very very close range of the child..for the nanny to be completely out of the childs view.. the nanny was obviously way too far away and not doing her job by keeping the child safe.
It only takes one second to snatch a kid or for a kid to get really hurt at a playground..or in fact anywhere. My charge is 3 and I follow him around the playground and don't take my eyes off him.
I worry for the children in the care of some of these nannies.
If i pulled a stunt like that I would be fired in a second.
I agree with 417, because posts like this cause me to have great concern for some of these children. What was going on here?
This is strange. The nanny sounds mentally ill.
So. . . we assume that this is the child's nanny because she has an accent? No other corroborating evidence? Okay.
Otherwise, I agree, hide and seek in a public place? Bad. With sobs? Worse.
This could just be bad parenting.
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