Friday

Union Square Park - NYC

BADNANNYSIGHTING
My mother-in-law, who takes care of our daughter, just told me about this bad nanny sighting. Last Thursday or Friday (she thinks late afternoon), she was at the playground at Union Square Park. She noticed a little boy, maybe 2 1/2 years old, with brown hair, wearing a white t-shirt and either blue or green checkered pants, roaming around the playground by himself for at least 45 minutes. She wasn't sure who his caregiver was because the whole time, he was completely on his own and there was no one nearby who could have been his caregiver.

He climbed up and down the ladders in the playground set numerous times, and my mother-in-law remembers being afraid that he was going to hurt himself. Sure enough, he slipped and fell off a ladder and started crying. Everyone noticed and started looking for his parents or nanny. It was only then that his nanny showed up at his side. My mother-in-law had noticed her before but had not realized that she was this little boy's nanny because my mother-in-law hadn't seen her ever engaging with the boy or even looking in his direction the entire 45 minutes or so since my mother-in-law first saw the boy. The nanny, who was a black woman who looked to be in her 50's, had been engrossed in a conversation with her friend on a bench the entire time, while holding a baby girl of maybe 8 or 9 months on her lap.

When the nanny finally saw the little boy crying on the playground floor, she handed the baby girl to her friend, scooped the boy up and gave him a snack, without checking him to make sure the boy didn't have any injuries. My mother-in-law didn't know that a site like ISYN existed, so she only just told me about the incident. I told my mother-in-law that the next time she sees something like this, she should try to take a picture or remember more details, but I hope that the parents of this little boy and baby girl read this, if for no other reason than to make sure that the little boy is okay from his fall. Thanks for the work that you do!
Union Square Park
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17 comments:

EastBayNanny said...

sounds like another "bench" nanny? Very very common. Take heed, parents!

great said...

Kids get hurt. It sounds like this child would've fell anyway. If he was in danger, why wouldn't any one of you do anything to prevent the fall? Since nobody did anything, that's why I think the boy wasn't in danger, just that he fell, as kids often do.

So when he got hurt, the nanny took him & cared for him.

Good nanny.

EastBayNanny said...

Oh my gosh! I have been working WAY WAY WAY too hard! Just wait for the screams?! Duh! Why didn't anyone tell me?!

RBTC said...

thank you Op for the sighting - a clear case of dangerous neglect - thank your mother inlaw also and keep us posted with any updates or pictures

katydid said...

@ great

Did you miss the part where OP said the nanny smacked the little boy?

That is not a good nanny.

I am careful not to throw around the charge of bench nanny, as I believe a good nanny doesn't hover around her charges all day and hinder their opportunities to play , discover, and socialize on their own. All while eing supervised.

But that's not what took place the nanny wasn't paying attention to notice a child was on equipment not appropriate for his age and then she slapped the kid all that is bad.

A said...

sNack, not sMack. Not criticizing, I often misread, need to update my glasses!!

Nanny abroad said...

If she didn't know who his nanny was, how can she be sure that his nanny wasn't watching him from the bench? Obviously she came over to pick him up and hand him a sNack.
Toddlers fall down, that is part of growing and learning. You can't hover around a kid 24/7.
I don't see anything wrong with that nanny. She was there for him and watched a little one as well.

Manhattan Nanny said...

This reminds me of the time the rumor flew around the Olympic Village that the Koreans were cooking snakes in their rooms. SNACKS!

OP, Thanks to you and your MIL for caring enough to post. This is the kind of thing parents want to know about.

MissMannah said...

I think this is a so-so sighting. It isn't something I would do. With children that young, you have to keep your eyes on them all the time. I also would have been letting the baby crawl around and play, not holding her the whole time. But PP was right, kids fall down and get hurt. You can't always prevent that. If the nanny hadn't responded to his cries at all, she would be a bad nanny. But she did, she picked him up and, while OP's MIL probably didn't see it, the nanny noticed that the little boy wasn't really hurt.

PS: I also read SNACK as SMACK the first time!

Nanny abroad said...

MissMannah, no matter what one does there will be someone finding something wrong with what you do.
If the baby would have been in the stroller that would have been wrong. If the Nanny had her on her lap that is wrong, because she didn't let her crawl. If she would have done so the mil would have criticized her for letting the baby crawl on the dirty floor. Do you get my point?
There is no way to please everyone.
Maybe the baby girl doesn't crawl yet or the mom told her nanny to keep the baby on her lap. We don't know.
All we know is the baby was on her lap and not strapped in the stroller. She noticed the fall of her boy and went over to him.
I am a Nanny who sits in the sandbox and who watches the child in my care carefully but still gives them enough space to feel independent.
But I don't expect that from everyone. As long as you keep an eye of your child, fine.

Nanny abroad said...

...on your child of course ;).

katydid said...

Lol I stand corrected!

This is a middle of the road sighting.

At least the Op and her mom in law are paying attention.

MissMannah said...

Nanny abroad, I was simply saying what I would do because my charge is 9 months so I could relate. Plus, she never wants to sit on my lap more than 2 minutes! I would like that baby cuddle time again.

OP said...

OP here. My comment didn't get published when I posted the first time so hopefully there's no double post. I just wanted to clarify that my MIL did see the nanny before the little boy fell (my MIL had been looking around for a while trying to figure out who the little boy belonged to because he was wandering all around by himself), but my MIL didn't realize she was the nanny at the time because she clearly was not looking at the boy; instead, her face was turned away from the little boy the whole time and turned completely to her friend, so my MIL figured she was only the nanny of the baby girl she was holding. And after the little boy fell on the ground and was crying, it was several minutes before the nanny finally realized that it was her child who was crying and got up to do something, while everyone else had already noticed and was trying to figure out whose child it was. So this isn't the case of a nanny who is just trying to give her charge some space but is still paying attention, which I can certainly understand. All I know is that if this had been my child's nanny, I would like to know. I know children fall and get hurt, but I would still hope that my nanny was making some effort to be vigilant.

curious said...

OP, unfortunately some people don't get it the first time around. I think you made yourself perfectly clear in your original post. All you did here was wash-rinse-repeat. But thank you for trying to clarify your BAD nanny sighting for those that only read between the lines.

Lyn said...

Wash rinse repeat made me lol!!!

RBTC said...

yes! really awesome wash-rinse-repeat!!- thank you again for the sighting - keep us updated !