Carl Schurz Park playground - UES, NYC

Received Tuesday, August 26, 2008.
Date of Incident: 8/25, 12 noon and earlier
Nanny: Average height, medium build, medium dark skin, short wavy brown hair cut well above shoulders. Wearing a long, loose tan skirt with a vaguely leopard type print (but not racy in any way). White sleeveless collared shirt, button down. Tan flip flops. Carrying a small-medium purse with a brown strap, tan with thin, horizontal stripes of various colors.

Kids: Appeared to be with two girls maybe 5-7 yo. Could have been sisters or a playdate. Older girl was caucasion, brown hair in a ponytail, glasses, pink shorts with a lacy bottom part, blue sleeveless shirt, large heart necklace, pink flip flops. Slightly younger girl was caucasian with brown hair, ponytail. Wearing a long blue dress with diagonal stripes, blue flip flops. Did not get any names.

Your nanny was acting very inappropriately with other children at the park. She was initially sitting with her two girls waiting for other kids to get off the swings. There were about 4 kids in line. Two other girls about 7-8 yo were swinging for maybe 10 minutes. Several younger children for a bit longer. Nanny decided this was too long for everyone. She started yelling loudly at each child on a swing, pointing, and berating them. She would alternately tell the other kids they were being rude and should get off. Then she would turn to her two charges and tell them (loudly so everyone could hear) that XX child was misbehaving and needed to get off NOW.
At one point she got up, went over to one of the older girls and started shaking the swing (while the girl was swinging!) and demanding she get off immediately. The girl did because she seemed confused and intimidated. The nanny "allowed" the other kids to swing a bit (though many kids had gotten up and changed swings during this time), then started up again with her comments. My son was on one of the swings and I was initially sitting outside with my other child. While I was outside, Nanny stated the pointing/yelling at my son. I was able to go in about now and told my child he could stay on until I said it was time to switch. She then stopped yelling at him, but continued to berate the other kids. Other caregivers/parents were present and seemed equally shocked, though I think we were all trying to avoid a confrontation given the number of kids around. Most chose to just exit the area. Although I do not think it would in any way excuse her behavior, most of the kids I observed were swinging for no more than 5 minutes before she would yell at them to get off.

Although I understand the need for sharing and courtesy when there is a line, and that we may have different opinions on how to handle that, I do not think yelling at small kids or shaking another child's swing is ever appropriate. FWIW I did not see this nanny yell AT her charges, but her comments were extremely inappropriate and I would not want my children being cared for by someone with that behavior - particularly when she started berating other kids to her charges. Honestly she seemed like she was trying to provoke a fight in general, and her aggressiveness was obvious. This is my first posting and I see it is hard to convey someone's tone and demeanor in full, but I can say with certainty this is not someone you want watching your kids.