I just saw two nannies both of whom were neglecting their charges. This occurred 1/2 hour ago (approx. 1pm) at Harbor Island Park in Mamaroneck, NY, off of Boston Post Road. The first nanny was wearing brightly colored clothes. It was a matching outfit and she had an unusual hat on, small, perhaps cultural to Africa. She had gold earings and was about 5 foot 6, 150 lbs. The second nanny was wearing blue jeans, a long sleeve white shirt, white tennis shoes, she had a silver cuff bracelet on her arm, was about 5 foot 5 and 200 lbs. The first nanny was making her charge hold an umbrella over her to protect her from the sun. This was while she searched in her big bag for something. Her charge was a boy who was maybe three years old and was begging to swing. She told him a number of times no and that he needed to play with himself that this was her break and he needed to be a big boy. She wasn't that nice about it.The second nanny had a little boy in a stroller. He was blonde, I would guess 18 months, with very fair skin, wearing a green block print polo and black pants. This nanny had a sack of what looked like the sort of bag one would obtain to handout candy at Halloween. It was a giant bag of mini snickers. To keep the boy stilled, she just kept opening mini snickers and handing them to him. She too, was eating them. Quite a bit. That's her perogative, but the kid clearly could have walked around the playground, been put in a swing, anything. But she wanted to sit there gabbing. Both of the nannies were AA. Both of the children were caucasian. These nannies were not interested in their charges or providing them any kind of care. A sad sighting.
My playgroup meets outside at playgrounds all summer. Yes, we sit and shoot the breeze, we are all nannies, or daycare providers. We police our own, but we also keep an eye on each others. We are not ignoring, we are not forgetting about our jobs. The little ones, 2 and under are usually playing at our feet with toys. The older ones I think need to learn to socialize, learn to get along, take turns and work out their own issues. These nannies you spotted. I do not agree keeping a child strapped into a stroller when he wants to play ( 4 month olds can enjoy just watching} And I definitely do not agree shoving candy down a kids throat to keep them still!
ReplyDeleteI agree with World's Best Nanny. The kids in this post should have been allowed to play, while the nanny's kept watch. But like WBN said older children need to learn to socialize and play with other children. I see alot of postings on here about "park bench nannies" and how they are bad nannies. I think there is a happy medium. If the children are safe and playing happily then there is no problem with the nanny sitting on the bench. I consider myself a great nanny and I sit on the bench many a times. That does not mean that the children are not being watched and that I don't get up often to play and interact with them. In addition, I am active with my charges within the home with activities such as reading, painting, drawing, etc..
ReplyDeleteThat being said, the nannies in this post are NOT good at their job. Not allowing a child to play is unnaccetable just as is feeding them candy to placate them. Good posting OP.
Feeding the 18 month old snickers though- doc saids no peanuts until 2 years. I say baby is old enough- he should be running around, playing in the sandbox, getting pushed on the seing. YOUR BREAK WOULD BE WHEN THEY ARE SLEEPING!! You do not get paid to sit and be a park benched nanny
ReplyDeleteActually Get a life, I do. My employer knows EXACTLY what I do when I when we go to the park. She also knows how happy and healthy her children are. They are engaged in some activity all day. They only watch half an hour of television a day and that is with the parent. And I hate to tell you this but most nannies ARE NOT on a break at nap time. When my charges are napping, I am cleaning, preparing snacks, lunches, and dinners, preparing arts and crafts activities, and organizing the playroom. So if I sit on a park bench, for a whole 10 minutes, so be it. Like I said, MB knows exactly what I do.
ReplyDeleteWhen my charges are napping I am cleaning the kitchen, tossing in a load of laundry, doing some prep work for dinner etc. I once worked for a only child. I took her everywhere! 2 playgroups weekly, 2 story/craft times a week, indoor and outdoor playgrounds etc. The parents were so grateful that I had socialized their child that she was more than ready when it came time for full time kindergarten! ABC's and 123's can be taught while being idle...learning to take turns, to solve problems, to wait patiently, and to realize that yes, there are other kids and the world does not revolve around you, can only be learned by being with their own age group, supervised (not conducted, not helicoptering)by adults.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a daycare I worked at years ago. At 7a, children of this child's age group were placed in high chairs for breakfast. They stayed confined for two hours, had diaper changes, when back into the chairs for snack, were taken out at 11 for diapers, placed back in the chairs for lunch, taken out for diapers and nap and placed back in them for snack/dinner at 3p. This center served dinner at 3p, because some children didn't get fed at home after leaving daycare. One of the three women who I taught with in this room was L-A-Z-Y. Some people are good at childcare, other's aren't, like these nannies. Feeding an 18 month old goldfish for a snack? Fine. Cherrios, fine. Snickers? Maybe a few. An entire bag of Snickers, and Snickers has nuts in them? Whatever. Great sighting! I hope the parents find out about their sloth of a nanny.
ReplyDeletemiss dee that is so sad about the children! I cannot believe they sat in those chairs and never played! And I also cannot believe some of them never got fed at home, that is horrible too!
ReplyDeleteOK, in defense of the people who complain about nannies who sit on the bench...
ReplyDeleteI don't actually recall anybody here ever posing about a nanny sitting on a bench while the children in question payed and socialized properly.
It is always about the child needing something he is not getting and/or the nanny not taking proper care of the child as she sits on the bench texting, reading, talking excessively on the phone, stuffing her face or gabbing with her friends.
Give the OPs a little benefit of the doubt and trust that they know a neglectful situation from one where a nanny is supervising an older child properly from her seat on the bench. All of us have sat on a bench and watched kids at a park. Not all of us have left a crying baby strapped in a stroller for an hour while doing so, or screamed at a toddler for wanting our attention. There is a difference, and I suspect the OPs here mostly use some discretion before posting every time a nanny sits don
Yikes, my spellchecker seems to have gone on a three week paid vacation. Sorry about all the typos!
ReplyDeleteJust a quick comment about "park bench" nannies. When I take my kids (age 2) to the park I want them to run around, go down the slides and play. Get some excerise. If they sit and swing for 20 minutes that isnt doing much to burn off any energy before nap time. I swing them last, before we go home. But they want to swing right when we get there. Im sure people have heard me saying "no we arent swinging yet" and thought I was being mean. Oh and I do sit on the park bench while the 2 of them play with each other. I interact with them the other 8 hours we are home. I work 11 hours a day.
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