Where: Chapin Playground in Brooklyn HeightsWho: One nanny and about 4 children. The nanny was about 5'6", 200 lbs, short black hair, levi jeans, Adidas tennis shoes, dark brown curly hair to the ears.
What: This is a toddler playground. This nanny arrives supervising and I use the word loosely 4 children, none of whom are toddlers. This was at 6Pm yesterday, (4/2). The children were three boys and a girl, all about 8-12 years old. Two of the boys had sandy blonde hair, one of the boys was black wearing a long sleeved dark blue shirt and khaki pants. The girl was wearing pin striped pants meant to be fashionable with buttons high on the waist and black boots. The children were all aggressive on the playground, utilizing the equipment in a way it was not meant to be used. The girl attempted to stand one foot in one bucket swing and another foot in the other, with one of the boys helping her. Another boy ran and leaped up on to the bench I was sitting on. True, it was 6Pm ish, but it is a toddler playground. They had no right to be there and this nanny let them run wild while she sat and slurped some icee drink with a dazed look on her face. I attempted to make eye contact with her but to no avail, she was vegging out. The children were so loud and worst of all foul mouthed. The boys used phrased like, "N word, please" I don't appreciate it in the least. I would have said something but I had two small children with me and the aggression of these children just made me think of the children down south who were younger than this who brought knives and tape to school to kill their teacher. In other words, I did not want to confront them. I left the park with my children. There are plenty of places to let your misbehaved, angry tyrants play and a toddler park is not one of them. Shame on this very bad nanny.
Umm seriously?
ReplyDeleteYou're the one who sounds like an "angry tyrant."
I've never heard of parks for specific age groups, but I do live in a small town. I would assume in any case a park is a park and everyone has a right to be there if it is public property. It's unfortunate that these children were wild and loud, but you must expect these things when you're outside in public.
ReplyDeleteMy two cents:
ReplyDeleteOP sounds like she has problems. sounds as if she lives under a rock and doesn't watch TV, read the news or see movies. She has absolutely no idea of the background of these kids: where they come from, why they act the way they do, etc.
Why is OP so shocked by this behavior? And more importantly, why does she think the nanny, if indeed it was the nanny, should be responsible for changing the mapwork of a child's upbringing?
I'm sorry but I am disturbed by the OP of this post. Something about it does not sit right with me...hm.
My 5cents (My opinion is worth more)
ReplyDeleteYeah so the nanny sounds like a fat slob and in my opinion if you are not a part of the solution, you are a part of the problem. And also in my opinion, a nanny is getting paid to do a job which includes supervising the children and making sure they conduct themselves in a decent manner. Parents should do that but we can't hold them to that. I know lots and lots of bad parents who let their foul mouthed kids run wild on the internet, chatting 20 year old men, dating at 12, blowing F words on their ims and text messages but all the nannies that I know will have none of it. They keep them kids in line. Best be sure if you meet a decent rich kid, you could thank it's nanny. I live on the uEs and what I see is a bunch of parents raising up socipaths and psychopaths. Be it for the good grace and love for Jesus instilled by their nannies, these nannies are saving lives.
I think OP has a perfectly valid complaint. Most parks are not specifically labeled for an age group, but it's pretty obvious from the equipment for whom the park was intended. And just as I would consider it rude for anyone to bring a crying infant to a movie or a Barnes & Noble book-reading (even though they are "public places"), I think this was rude of the nanny.
ReplyDeleteOf course this is something she CAN do legally, but if we all did what we can do without worrying about being considerate of others, the world would be a much less pleasant place.
I agree with 8:09. Nanny should supervise her charges...that is what she is paid for, and that includes supervising their vulgarity. Maybe they don't curse in front of their own parents, because parents don't tolerate it. Since Nanny doesn't care, they get away with it. A lot of people filter their words based on their surroundings. My local park has a designated toddler area, and older kids are expected to stay off or at least to be appropriate if they are there with younger toddler siblings. I would not want any nanny/babysitter/mother of my kid's friend allowing that type of behavior.
ReplyDeleteI took my charge to the park today and she met up with some of her friends. They were SO loud that when standing near them (taking a picture) their screams of laughter hurt my ears and I quickly moved back over to the bench to sit next to a mom and chat while I supervised. They all three did silly things on the baby swings and the 3 tried to all get onto one of those animal on spring things- they had a blast. I WATCHED her play-(she is 6) and stepped in when needed. Someone else with a nasty negative perspective might have seen things in another way? Playgrounds are for kids to have fun, if you don't like loud noise and can't handle the way kids act (with the exception of the foul language) then I suggest you build your own in your yard or move where you can.
ReplyDeleteD,
ReplyDeleteare you mental?
Since when do we have a live and let live attitude when obnoxious tweens are using the N word around us or other children?
It's easy, breezy beautiful to be a lazy caregiver without a whatever attitude. It takes a certain amount of gumption to actually do something.
Ta da.
You're just lazy.
I'm lazy? YOU'RE the one who was too lazy to read the exception I wrote in my comment. I am FAR FAR FAR from lazy and as an educated PROFESSIONAL in HIGH demand I KNOW that I know exactly what I'm doing. Screaming children having fun at a playground? Oh no! Call the police! I'm talking about MY charge and her friends NOT the OP- as I was NOT THERE and did not SEE exactly what was going on.
ReplyDeleteSome of what the OP said was valid SOME. Other parts:
ReplyDelete"were so loud"
"leapt onto a bench"
"foot in one swing"
give me a freakin break.
ALlowing them to be foul mouthed and rude is another thing- and I do not condone.
But honestly, your entire tone in this post is paraniod and to say that children do not have the "Right" to be at a
playground is just plain crazy.
Sounds like you need a xanax.
This is a toddler playground. There is no equipment there for older children. So, I agree with the poster, the children had no right to be there. Do you think the girl with one foot in the bucket swing was confused as to the purpose of the equipment? It is so clearly a toddler playground. I would shove a red hot poker up that nanny's ass and maybe the next time, she'd take her cummy kids to an appropriate playground. Or to an alley.
ReplyDeletecrummy kids. crummy!
ReplyDeleteHmmm... I sense some racist overtones to that post... she was scared of 8 - 12 year olds? Grow a back bone.
ReplyDelete10:30 PM, I kind of sense that as well.
ReplyDeleteHellcat again proves she is a complete ass. Where are the racist overtones? Who is the OP? Do you know the color of her skin? One of the four children was black. The OP remarked of the children's behavior and the nanny's lack of doing anything. I hate when people make bullshit racism out of stuff that doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any idea how stupid you sound?
Do you really think racism still exists? Don't believe the liberal media.
Classism exists. Do you think Barack Obama with his millions and his education at all identifies or relates to the poor black man? or the single black mother? No he identifies with upper crust black men and women and white men and women. People with educations.
Racism is so 1980.
Catch up, fool.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/040108/geo_263715960.shtml
ReplyDeleteI didn't see racism in the op post.
ReplyDeleteWhat I saw was the way these kids were acting at a toddlers park was wrong and they had no supervison and they could have hurt a toddler. we have a park by the house that is for toddler only. Infant swings small seesaws, very very low bars for them to play on. It says it ia a toddler park. If I saw older children runing amok with no one watching them and cursing and saying the N word I would be worried too.
Hellcat just likes to stir up fires
pay no attention.
I have to admit, I sensed a bit of racism in the posting as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd parks here in Jersey have signs all over suggesting the age and no one sticks to it!
And when kids get to the park, some are quite foul-mouthed and rude. Usually because their parents aren't around. The N word is also very popular among all teens and tweens these days, thanks to the double-standard that exists in the entertainment industry. I don't agree that a black person has any more right to use the N word than I, as an Italian, have a right to us the word ginny or wop. And you better believe, if I am at the park with my charges, and kids are using inappropriate language excessively, I will say something and I don't care how many of them there are. And guess what? Most times, after I say something, I get an apology and don't hear it anymore.
I think the nanny is wrong but also, the parents are to blame as well. After all, no one wakes up one sunny day to find a sweet, loving respectful child replaced by a foul-mouth, aggressive brat. (And yes I know and get the whole teen-age rebellion thing, I have one of my own)
Look, I don't see racist overtones. And I would be able to see racist overtones if said racist overtones did exist.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to catch Steve on CBS 2 News Morning Show.
I must be blind, too. I didn't see any racial overtones, or undertones for that matter.
ReplyDeleteOP said the kids were throwing around the 'N' word, and it bothered her. How is that racist?
OP describes the kids, mentioning that one of them just happened to be black? ... is that a racist remark?
I don't think so.
I believe OP had a valid complaint, and I have also seen playgrounds that were earmarked for different age groups.
Yes, it's a public place, but we're talking about children that were acting like baboons on them and I'm sure that if there were any moms around with younger toddlers, they would've run for the hills.
Why would they want to expose their little kids to foul-mouthed 'tweeners running amok?
OP didn't need a Xanax -
the kids did.
The kids were probably on xanax. A few students at our middle school were suspended for dealing "drugs" from their parents medicine cabinets. They would bring in and exchange and try everything. Some of them so unschooled that they were taking prenatal vitamins and arthritis medications, as well as xanas, pure ephedrine, tramadol, hydrocodone, keflex (and antibiotic), lexapro and sinus medications. Parents keep your medications under lock and key. Children are being pressured by others to invade your medicine cabinets. The nicer your children, the more likely they are to be pressured to deliver. This is an epidemic. Scratch that, a pandemic. Perhaps I should write an entire post.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the "N" word... if I had kids around other kids using that word I would say "I am afraid if you use that word my child will think it is ok and then say it and we know that it wouldn't be ok for her to say it. Lets not say it around her then because she wont understand the difference."
ReplyDelete10 am, but in a society where thugs have gotten rich rapping about killing people, slapping 'bitches', stealing and drug abuse? Where rhyming the word n*g*er seems to be their only skill? Please. Just look at the profit these low lives from Compton and Atlanta have made off selling out their own people, proselytizing their own women.
ReplyDeleteThanks to the billion dollar rap industry, all of society has been set back. Remember Bill Cosby and how he worked to present real black american families? Educated, professional socially responsible, intact family units? Thanks to these thugz that image has been replaced by a bunch of big booty ho's, baby mamas and drug dealing, gun toting talentless thugs.
Shame. Shame. Shame.
id, good post ... and yes, maybe you could elaborate and educate.
ReplyDeletebs, also great post. But sadly, to use Bill Cosby as an example? I know he held black people to a higher ethical degree, and I congratulate him for that, but he's an adulterer with an out-of-wedlock child.
I like bs's post. Although I don't condone adultery...just because somebody has erred (as we all have in some way) doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention when they have something great to say. He has tried very hard to both improve the stereotypical image of black people in our society and to encourage them to think better of themselves and expect more from themselves than the stereotypes that so many still seem to be bound by. I have great respect for him.
ReplyDeleteAs for the post. I have seen toddler parks with signs posted that they are for children of a certain age or younger. I always thought it was nice to have a place for my kids to play when they were very small where they didn't have to worry about being knocked down by bigger kids who were playing in the normal way we know bigger kids play. It's fine if bigger kids want to come into the toddler park and play sweetly with the "babies" as they sometimes enjoy...but the kids OP describes were being obnoxious and rude. If nanny were a decent nanny she would have stopped that immediately...for the good of her charges as well as the safety of the toddlers. Part of her job is to be sure the children she watches use good manners.
Next time, approach the caretaker and inform her that there is an age limit on the playground and suggest a different one to take her kids to. And by the way, all the descriptions you gave of how the children were acting is for the most part age appropriate, minus the cursing. You are going to have a wake up call when your kids get to that age. Also, is it really that big of a deal if there were older kids running around and playing near your little darlings? I do believe that you have completely overreacted.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you hate fat people, OP?
ReplyDeletewhere did op say that she hated fat people? come on.
ReplyDeletebs: you clearly don't know the meaning of the word *proselytizing* ~ rofl!
ReplyDeleteand fng, *all teens and tweens* don't use the N word. are you freakin' insane? no one with any class uses that word.
Actually lindalou, you bring up a good question.
ReplyDeletebs
Please tell us in what context you meant to use "proselytizing"?
bs
ReplyDeleteNow that I've thought about it:
"Just look at the profit these low lives from Compton and Atlanta have made off selling out their own people, proselytizing their own women."
Did you mean:
"recruiting" their own women?
I would have had words with that so called nanny. I don't care what race the kids were who were using the N word. I heard this word used down South my whole life,it made me cringe then and it still does now.
ReplyDeleteI don't know one educated Black person that would use that word.
Kids that are getting older 9/10 get rowdy at parks and they do not belong where babies and toddlers are if the are acting up.
whiel your telling that so called nanny to correct her kids tell her to look at the sign while you are at it.
By the way :Proselytize is formed from proselyte, "a new convert, especially a convert to some religion or religious sect, or to some particular opinion, system, or party," from Greek proselutos, "a proselyte, a newcomer," from pros, "toward" + elutos, from eluthon, "I came."
10:35, i'm sure he meant *prostituting*, rather than *converting them to another religion.*
ReplyDeleteheh.