Location: Piedmont Park Playground Atlanta, GA
Time: 10:30-11:30 AM, (today 6/6)
Two Sightings, One PostWhen I arrived at Piedmont park this morning, I noticed four small buses (large vans?) full of children from "Word of Faith". I wasn't sure if they were arriving or departing, but a group of approximately 20 preteens were milling around the parking lot with absolutely no regard to the cars. They blocked the driveway and refused to move in order to let the cars pass, stumbled out in front cars while roughhousing with each other, etc. I saw a handful of group leaders/camp counselors (identifiable by their matching shirts) standing by, but they did nothing to correct or protect these children.
I made my way to the playground with my charge, who is 18 months old. The playground area is relatively small, but it's perfect for the 10-15 or so toddlers and preschoolers who visit on any given morning. When I arrived, there were a dozen or so children playing nicely, all closely supervised by their moms and nannies. During this time, two middle aged AA nannies caught my eye because they seemed to have quite a few children between them and they all seemed to be having a great time.
After 20 minutes, the children from the Word of Faith group descended on the playground. There were roughly 50-70 of them, ages 5-preteen. They were absolutely wild and basically unsupervised. Again, the counselors were there, but did nothing to stop their wild, dangerous behavior. They stood and jumped in the baby swings, shoved much younger children out of the way to climb on equipment that was far too small for them, etc. It was appalling. All of the mothers and nannies (including myself) left the playground almost immediately because it was no longer a safe place for toddlers/preschoolers.
A few minutes later, I ran into the same nannies I had observed earlier. They had taken the children in their care to the gazebo and provided them with bread to feed the ducks. We were doing the same, and at this point, I had the opportunity to observe more and interact with them a little. It appeared that the the children were from two separate families and were playing together on a playdate. The nannies interacted with all the children equally, so it was impossible to tell which children belonged with which nanny. There were six children: a boy of about 8-9 with light brown hair, a boy and a girl of 5-7 with blond hair, a little boy of about 3-4 with light brown hair, and two little girls of about two with pale blond hair, both wearing sundresses. There was also an AA pre-teen girl who was probably the daughter of one of the nannies. All of the children were having a wonderful time. The pre-teen girl was sweet and helpful with the little ones, and the nannies not only closely supervised all of the children, but they were actively engaged in the activities. They excitedly pointed out the fish and turtles who swam to the surface looking for food, and encouraged the children to look for other wildlife, such as the baby ducklings who were hiding in the underbrush. The kids obviously loved their nannies and were quick to grab their arms and point out various animals. The nannies seemed to be friendly, but it was clear that their focus was on the children, not on chitchatting with each other. I didn't catch the names of any of the children, but the oldest boy (who was incredibly sweet and polite) chatted with me a little bit and told me that he often goes fishing in Michigan and that in the past he has caught sunfish and bluegill. He called one of the nannies "Miss Cassandra".
I see good nannies all the time and rarely write in, but these nannies really stood out to me, probably due in part to the marked contrast with the neglectful care given by the church group leaders. -"ATL Nanny"
19 comments:
not a single comment, huh?
i dont trust those teen programs, the people who run em are usually strung out on the pot themselves.
nice that this turned in to a good nanny sighting for you.
My two cents on the teen campers... I was a camp counselor for a teen program (a private summer camp, no religious affiliation). Those kids tend to be over-privileged monsters who have no intention of listening to anyone, because they know they can get away with anything. It was an embarrassment to be seen with them and be associated with the camp (we too had matching shirts). There were 9 counselors for about 90 kids, and even with a ratio of 1-10, the kids were uncontrollable.
Great nanny sighting though!
I once called a day camp to complain about a similar situation with a group that was coming to our playground regularly. The next day, the camp director was at the playground, asking adults there about what they had observed. We had no problems with that group for the rest of the summer! It can't hurt to call.
The good nannies sighting is lovely, thanks OP.
A Nanny
the one thing i dread about summer is being somewhere fun with my kids and seeing those busses full of day campers coming. they are always horribly behaved and/or using equipment inappropriately. once when my older kids were toddlers, a huge group of tween came to the baby wading pool and started splasshing all the little ones. it's really quite awful. i'd never send any of my kids to those camps because i know how lax the supervision is.
too bad about those rambunctious kids not being disciplined. Hopefully somebody gets a hint about them.
But at least those nannies seem sweet with their charges! ^^
How nice to read about those wonderful nannies!
If I were you, I'd contact that daycamp directly, and either write a letter to, or ask to speak to, the person at the top, by name. Tell them what you witnessed and express your thoughts on it. That behaviour is absolutely out of line and should not be shrugged off. As poster above suggested, they may take note and put their foot down with the kids and the counselors.
While I understand how you feel about the older kids, I think it's a little unfair to them that they can't use the equipment. Parks are for everyone, not just toddlers and preschoolers. Even thoough 5 - preteen seem like big kids, they are just kids afterall. If you actually read what it says on the park equipment, most equipment usually is designed for children 5 - 12 years old. Of course they are rowdy and using the equipment wrong. They have tons of energy to to get out and are probably frustrated there is nowhere for them to go and play. I hate when parks don't have enough big kid swings. There is no where for my six year old to swing and it's not fair. It's not just about the little kids all the time. But I will agree with you that 50-70 kids is an insane number to bring to a park.
This post took me back to my days as a rowdy day camper. Boy, I sure loved day camp - but I'm sure our camp was a nightmare for every pool, roller rink and park we "crashed"! The problem is that the counselors for these types of camps are usually college students or other young people who are not inclined to be strict enforcers of discipline; they are just big kids themselves. I don't really know what the solution is. Glad you saw some great nannies at the park where these big kids were running wild.
bigkidsneedluv2- I understand what you're saying about the playgrounds being for older kids too, but there is no excuse for shoving the little kids, climbing in baby swings, and basically acting so wild that it drives the other playground goers away.
I ocassionally watch an eight and ten year old in addition to my three younger charges and they would never get away with acting like that. They are able to go to the park, run around and get out all their energy without disturbing anyone else.
The problem with the summer camps is the complete lack of supervison. We have one here with about 100 kids, and only one actual adult that I've ever seen. It's basically run by college kids and high schoolers. They completely take over one of our nicest area parks and pool all summer, and we don't even try to go there anymore.
2:09/BKNL2
If it's for toddlers, big kids have no reason to be on it. Just because there may not be anything their age to play on, that's a matter you should take up with parks & recreation.
well, it seems that summer camps should definitely be split up in smaller group of 15-20 kids when they want to go to the parks. so anyone bothered by the campers should probably talk to the camp.
but I also think that Parks and Recration would just say parks are for everyone to use, and would point out that the equipment is actually designed for ages 5-12 (most of the time)
I think it's a great idea to call the recreation center/day camp and directly speak to them. I have a feeling, if they knew that the children were acting out this badly they'd do something about it. I agree with others that parks should be for all ages of children (it's a lot better than a lot of "actives" pre-teens and teens are doing today!) BUT, with that said, these children should be supervised and not allowed to act in such a disrespectful disruptive way. Perhaps you can even suggest to the head of this camp, that they break the children up into smaller groups? With this many rambunctious children I'm sure the counselors are in too far over their heads to even properly supervise these children, let alone keep them remotely under control.
Also, please remember that these campers are STILL children themselves, so they aren't always consciously attempting to annoy everyone (though it may feel like it at times ha ha) and simply don't always make the most mature or wise decisions (because they are too young to truly posses maturity yet.) I can remember being about 11 years old, and going to the park with my friends during the summer, we'd flip the baby swings upside down and sit on them that way in order to swing, because they took out all of the "big kid" swings at the park. I still remember one day in particular that we were really goofing off and having a good time (even standing on the sings-which we called surfing) completely lost in our own world. When a mother ran up to us completely hysterical screaming at the top of her lungs, what "hoodlums" we were and to get down off the swings so her baby could swing. She was absolutely fuming, and we were actually SCARED of her. To be honest we were so caught up in our own world that we hadn't even noticed her, and had she just asked us to move politely we would have. We got down off the swings for her feeling incredibly stupid, but looking back at it, she should have felt ashamed (and stupid herself) for yelling at a group of 5th graders that way. My point is this, they are just children, try kindness, and if that doesn't work call the camp and get the adults in charge to DO their job.
I agree with Cali Mom: the only way anything is going to possibly change is by contacting the camp director. If the camp director is notified, he can work with the staff and help them to do their job more effectively.
LindaLou, I disagree that "those camps" always have lax supervision. I worked for a summer camp that was run by a school system near where I live: I was in charge of the third and fourth graders and we went on field trips every week, to museums, parks, pools, etc. Our kids were typical inner-city kids but because most of us were effective adult teachers (I know you think I'm a "college kid!" :)) we kept them in line and rarely had negative comments. The staff that were "college kids" were awesome as well, and we closely supervised them and never allowed them to slack off.
If my camp director had gotten a negative comment about our kids or any of us, you can bet we would have had a meeting about it so that the situation could be addressed.
As cali mom said, call the camp and speak with a supervisor.
You have the website for the camp, so look up the director and fire off an email about what you witnessed. Those kids should have been brought somewhere more appropriate for a field trip.
OP here... I just wanted to confirm that in addition to posting this here, I also emailed the organization directly and reported what I saw. Hopefully they will be as appalled as I was and ensure that in the future, the child in their care are kept safe. Because honestly, as annoying as it might have been, it was actually more scary. The children were engaging in unsafe behaviors (running and pushing in the parking lot, jumping up and down on baby swings, etc.) and no one was looking out for them.
Good going then, Atl. nanny!
umass, i'm just going by what i've seen here in the seattle area, every summer for the past ten years. i'm sure there are some excellent groups, but overall, the supervision is just not there. i do not feel that it is the fault of the children involved, but it is somewhat annoying as a parent of three to be out somewhere and to have to police a bunch of children who are not mine in order to keep my little guy safe (my big kids can stand of for themselves, generally.) the other complaint i have is that some of the kids in the camps are quite small and so desperately needy for attention that they will engage almost anyone in order to get it. when i am somewhere with my kids, i'm there to interact with and supervise THEM (and often their invited playmates), not to do someone else's chilcare job. while i do try to be kind, i often have to tell the children that i am not able to do what they are requesting. i am regularly asked for any number of things including snacks, requests to *watch me! watch me!* and *pick me up* and *help me swing* and *take me to the bathroom* etc... i find it disturbing that the children are given free reign to approach strangers in such a manner. i'm not especially overprotective as a mother, but that's the reason i never trusted those day camps enough to send my big children when they were smaller.
you know, you have just placed a bad rep. on my church. you placed our website (link) on your "sight" but that was not our church at the park. For one, we don't have church vans. Secondly, we don't do summer camp here with children that age. Our 12-17yr olds do summer camp in Alabama! It really hurt to google my church and find this. There are several "Word of Faith" churches. Please find the correct site and/or take ours off...I would appreciate it. Thanks and God bless.
Done.
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