Wednesday

Harbor Island Park in Mamaroneck, NY

Received Wednesday, May 13, 2009
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Where: Harbor Island Playground / Mamaroneck, NY
When: Tues, May 12, approximately 5PM
Nanny: Black woman, short, tight Afro, light blue Capri pants, white t-shirt with lace on it. light blue flat slide-in shoes.
Child: Child of about 6 yo, white, brown hair, in two braids, yellow shirt with big mushroom on it and paisley design inside mushroom, blue jeans with a roll at the bottom, plain white tennis shoes, white short socks.
Incident: This isn't really a huge deal. I don't know. Depends on what you think. If it were my nanny, I would be pissed. The nanny sat on a bench, which is fine, the child is older enough to play on her own. The child then needed to go to the bathroom and came and asked the nanny to take her. The nanny said, "you can walk, you know where it is" and the little girl went on her own. I am not that familiar with the park, but from my vantage point, I saw the child leave the playground on a path and walk all the way to a building by the water where the boats are. I saw her circle the building twice. This was a distance of about a football field. There were maintenance men there and other men dealing with boats and things. My child needed assistance so I was helping the child on the playground and about ten minutes later, I saw the girl come out of a building that was closer to the playground. Much closer. I still don't know where the bathroom is. That little girl was petite and cute and there is no way in hell I would let her walk all that way over by the WATER by herself. (It's a marina). Clearly, the nanny should have made sure she knew where the bathroom was. The nanny had an attitude with the child where the nanny was like a drill Sargent, IE don't argue with me. One other thing I noticed is the nanny called the child over to the bench, her permanent perch and gave her an empty vitamin water bottle and pointed at the garbage can. Didn't even speak. The child gave her a look like, "you called me over here for this" and she spun around to go back to the friend who she was playing with. The nanny reached out and grabbed on of her braids, stopping the girl in her tracks. I don't know how much it hurt, but she gave the child a serious drill Sergeant look and held out the bottle and the child dutifully took it and trotted over to the garbage can to throw it out for the nanny.

15 comments:

SAHM said...

I think this is an excellent sighting. That little girl was too young to go to the restrooms by herself (in a public place of course).

R04 said...

Pulling hair is not okay at all.

nannyinmanhattan said...

horrible, just horrible...I am at a loss for words :(

Wicker Park Nanny said...

uh... i'd say that's pretty bad. she could have easily been snatched up or gotten too close to the water. and pulling hair? no matter how much it hurt the girl it is unacceptable behavior.

why do people think it's ok to do this stuff at all, let alone in public!

harbor island park fan said...

This is terrible. The restroom is very far from the playground and the water is accessible from many points around there. This park serves a lot of the area's communities, several towns, so I think it will be unlikely that the parents hear about this unless they are reading this blog. I really wish this child were able to convey to her parents the horrendous way she is being treated.

MinuteMuggle said...

OP: are you kidding? Of course this is a huge deal. Geez. As if letting the little girl go so far away to the restroom by herself by water wasn't bad enough: she pulled on her braid?

Oh my lord, I hope the parents see this. Any parent in their right mind would be angry. I am angry myself and it's not even my child.

world's best nanny said...

I have nothing to say, I am that angry.

Westchester nanny said...

I know this park well and the bathroom is a very creepy place accessible to ANYONE. It is also home to many community center type things. The building is way too far to let a child go alone and like I said the bathroom itself is creepy. One light bulb on if any and DIRTY. There is a much better bathroom right near the playground at the tennis place. If the lazy nanny would have gotten off her rear end she could have just directed her to that clean, well lit and nice restroom.

CT Mom said...

Excellent post- I would fire this nanny immediately. A young child, walking alone to a far away public restroom- that is a nasty Sex offender/Perverts dream. This nanny is a complete lazy loser- and mean. She pulled the girls hair because she was too lazy to get off her own rear to throw out something? Sickening. Get rid of her. Especially in this economy, she can easily be replaced.

Anonymous said...

I would say that is a horrible nanny! I mean, she just bosses the child around. I hope her parents find out!

sd said...

Definitely a huge deal!! The hair pulling part broke my heart. It's a wonder this girl is around 6 years old but doesn't tell her parents how her nanny treats her. It's so sad.

Kjenks said...

I think this sighting is a good reminder to parents to talk to their kids about their nanny. Ask questions more than, "What did you do today?" Follow up.

I bet these parents would find this stuff out if they asked more about the park. What did you do? What did Nanny play with you? etc.

oh well said...

It's definitely a good idea to ask a kid questions, but finding out the truth may be difficult even with older children. When a nanny gets mad at her charges, it is hard for them to know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable on her part. They will also feel guilty and may not share information readily.

Kjenks said...

oh well,

All very true. But with a bad nanny, it's usually a lot of bad behavior. Eventually a child is bound to say something (even something as innocent as, I couldn't find the bathroom, but a nice lady helped me) that would set off red flags to question more specifically.

cali mom said...

Oh God, this horrible excuse for a nanny should be fired immediately. I'm glad this wasposted, we can only HOPE the parents see this. OP, do you see this nanny and girl around town at all? Have you ever seen them before? Maybe you could go back to the same park regularly and see if you see them again and maybe engage the girl enough in conversation to learn some kind of info that would help you alert the parents? Poor child, it doesn't appear anyone is talking to her about "stranger danger", so maybe she'd tell you something useful?