I just saw a nanny ignoring the child in her care for 40 minutes and it broke my heart. This happened at the Chelsea Foodmart on 8th Ave btw 19th and 20th St. from 4:30 - 5:10pm on Weds 5/13. The little girl seemed happy and cheerful which made me even more angry about the nanny's behavior.The caregiver was fit and of average height. She had a dark middle eastern complexion, with shoulder length black hair. She was dressed conservatively and well, in a black fitted jacket, jeans and pearl or round silver earrings. She was speaking on the phone (she had two phones) and I heard her speaking in what I believe was Arabic and also Spanish when she picked up the other phone.
The little girl was blond and blue eyed and probably about 16-18mos. She was wearing a fleece jacket with different colored flowers on it. She had turquoise blue pants with white socks and pink sandals. She was strapped into a Micralite stroller, facing away from the nanny.
Your nanny was talking on the phone the entire time while your adorable little girl sat in her stroller interacting with strangers in the deli (who likely felt sorry for her, like I did). She was very cute and was trying to dance to the music playing and just generally interact with people. Your caregiver had a stack of phone cards on the table and it looked like she was just going through the minutes on them. She had bought the girl a bunch of grapes and was letting her eat them without being washed. You have such a charming little girl who deserves to be somewhere interesting for her when she has a caregiver being paid to care for her. I did not see the nanny treat your child in an overt or harsh manner, but I would want to know if my nanny were acting like this while I was at work.
27 comments:
That's it all cell phones should have timers on them. 10 minutes and it automatically hangs up. You can't call out or receive calls for another 30 minutes. I have seen everyone from the youngest of babysitters on up to an elderly grandmother on a cell phone when they could have been interacting with the child they were with. I think as we evolve children will just look at cell phone conversations as part of everyday life.
re:nanny taxi
um. cell phone conversations ARE a part of every day life.
i am not condoning this nanny's behavior, but i think you are ridiculous.
Yeah, I understand that you may have to have a quick phone call or two. But come on, interact with the child. It is what we are paid for. You can always pick up the phone when the baby is sleeping and no more than a quick 5 minute phone call- if its important. Children are only little for a while- cherish that time you have with them- don't spend it on the phone!!
am i the only person snickering at unwashed grapes!? =)
get out your paper lanterns kids, blanche is alive and living in chelsea...
Well, you really should wash your fruit first. Just saying.
As far as this nanny, I can't stand people who yammer on their cell phones all the time. I especially hate it when there are really really bad drivers out there who don't signal, cut people off, etc. while they are talking on their cell phone, especially when they have kids in the car and my kid is in my car. Yes, cell phones are part of life, but there is no reason to go overboard.
Minute Muggle,
You're on a roll. Good posts.
And yes, wash your fruit. No baby needs to eat pesticides.
Love, Blanche
mom & minute muggle,
If you could remove your tongue from the asshole of the other long enough to have an independent, cogent thought, that would be really nice.
Thanks!
Kay,
You sound like a lovely person. What is your problem if two posters happen to agree with each other most of the time? Mom and I do not always agree, but we do respect each other. Obviously you do not respect others to talk so nastily. I hope you don't teach that disrespect and intolerance to your charges or your children.
Yes, the nanny should get off the phoe and pay attention to the child, but "heartbreaking"? Seriously, get a sense of proportion already. ::eye roll::
Kay,
Pardon me for echoing MMs sentiments, but "You sound like a lovely person" was exactly what I intended to say before I saw that she had, once again, made a stellar post.
In fact, we do not always agree with one another. However, that does not mean we hate one another, and does not prevent me from telling her, or anybody else, when I admire a post, or several, that they have written.
Nor does anybody complimenting another poster obligate them to have any kind of sexual experience with one another...not even the disguting, unsanitary (no wonder the unwashed grapes didn't bother you a whit!!!!)act you suggest. mom(It might do you good to make that a general life rule for yourself...especially when dating...otherwise you're probably going to spend most of your life with your legs in the air.)
unwashed grapes!! haaaa....
forget about unwashed.....grapes are a choking hazard for under 3 years old, unless cut in half. The ignoring nanny wouldn't notice her choking either.
wash this:
right on. that's true.
wow. a debate about grapes: washed or unwashed, cut or uncut. and i was worried it would be about the cell phone.
minute muggle,
are you umasslytherin?? you sound like her and if you are..welcome back:) you were missed.
Good post- this nanny is obviously not doing her job. Talking on her cell phone for 40 plus minutes, ignoring her charge and feeding her dirty food that she can choke on? Good bye- time for a new nanny. One that actually does her job.
Who's to say that the grapes were dirty?
I wash grapes in their packaging, since there is holes in it anyways. Easy to assume I just bought and ate them.
And who is to say the mother and father don't feed this girl grapes without cutting them, and told the nanny it is okay to do so? (The parents of the 18 month old boy, the first child I was a nanny to, fed him grapes without cutting them. I cut them into 4ths because I am so overly paranoid, but they told me I didn't need to.)
Talking for that long is wrong, of course. But the child was being fed, and was happy. Maybe the nanny was stressed and having one of those days? Maybe she had a family emergency and needed to talk to people?
This just doesn't seem like a huge deal. The kid wasn't even crying.
wash this- this first thing I thought of was the choking hazard to. I don't think this is a bad nanny, but a pretty lazy one. But seriously, standing in the deli for 40 minutes on the cell phone? The store should have asked her to leave. If it was my nanny I would want to know.
I wash my grapes in the bag too. Pesticides aside..maybe they were organic....who cares though.
I always wash my grapes..but many people I know do not, and none has ever gotten sick from it, plus my whole childhood, every time I was in a grocery store since I was tall enough to reach, I would steal a grape or two from the bunches......sometimes I still do to see if they are tasty and not too sour.
Haha, Mom will probably assume I am a common crook for such outlaaaandish behavior, but I assure you, I am an upstanding citizen.
I used to wash my fruits and vegetable religiously until I went to work as a nanny. Yeah, we washed grapes, most of the time, but we surely didn't have a coronary if the child chomped on ten before they got washed. I mean don't freak out over small things. I would want the nanny- because she is on the job and should do the job a certain way- to do everything by the book but I wouldn't freak over unwashed grapes. I would freak over uncut grapes. This whole post reminds me of the nanny who was feeding the kid the hotdog at the park and she would take a bite herself, chew it up and then put it in the kid's mouth. One extreme to another...
What's next? The child did not close his/her mouth while eating the unwashed grape? (gasp!)
anannyinnyc,
no, I am not, but I also miss her. more than you know.
minutemuggle,
oh ok! you sounded like her and i know that a muggle is from harry potter which she likes:) sorry to have assumed. hope shes ok:(
Being on the phone that long while on duty is unacceptable. I see many people on the job who abuse cell phones, and it's getting crazy! I would be upset if I paid a Nanny and she spent her (my) time on the phone instead of doing what she is getting paid for. Interaction is key for a developing mind.
Side note - it seems the rude behavior with cell phones is becoming more acceptable as well... (People talking while going thru drive thrus, gate agents at airports behind the counter while talking on a cell... )
I swear I know who this nanny is.
She is kind of insane if she's who I think she is.
I don't really know any nannies who wear pearls and a jacket to work. Would you have assume this woman was a nanny if she were white?
Honestly, this sounds a lot like a mom (adoption anyone?) or stepmom to me.
That said, people who wander through the supermarkets on their cellphones make me want to hit them in the ankles with my cart.
People who are freaking out about the unwashed grapes are silly. Probably the same people who carry around those bottles of hand sanitizer. Read up on antibitoic resistance and chill out.
The issue about unwashed grapes is not germs, but pesticides.
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