Thursday

Mariah Carey, Nick Cannon Lawsuit: Ex-Nanny Claims She Was Fired After Showing Twins ‘Too Much Affection’

Mariah Carey, Nick Cannon Lawsuit: Ex-Nanny Claims She Was Fired After Showing Twins ‘Too Much Affection’
v Cn Sasn
Memo to domestic workers: You might want to think twice before working for Mariah Carey or Nick Cannon. At least, that’s the takeaway from a new lawsuit filed by a woman who claims she was stiffed on overtime pay while working as the estranged couple’s nanny.

In the lawsuit filed in New York district court Wednesday, Simonette DaCosta claims she worked for Carey and Cannon as a nanny, caring for the couple’s twins Monroe and Moroccan — but was fired after showing the tots too much attention.

Assuit paints things, Carey kept DaCosta pretty busy.
“Ms. Carey would often call Plaintiff at hours in the middle of the night and demand to be taken to her children or to be updated as to the status of her children,” said legal papers obtained by TheWrap. “Mrs. Carey would not tolerate any delay when she called and Plaintiff had to attend to her every demand, spontaneous or otherwise, whether called upon during the day or in the middle of the night,” the lawsuit reads. (Read More)

Issues with Food

Dear ISYN,
I have issues with my nanny and her food issues. I have a good relationship with our nanny, the only problem I note is that she is sensitive and easily offended. Hence, my asking in a forum how to handle this ongoing situation.  My nanny has been with us since my twins were in preschool. She bring a lot of great things to the job. She brought a tremendous amount of structure and organization. In the beginning, I had to catch up. My children had very scheduled days and she would have them eat breakfast, lunch and even dinner at very set times.  I had general times in mind, but I appreciated that structure serves young children. The one area I disagree on is where food is involved. When I am with my child and they ask me for, an example a cookie, I say, most often, "yes" and half the time I will say something like, "sure, but I just cut up a bunch of cantaloupe, can I get you some of that."

The nanny would respond, "you can have ONE cookie after you have an apple or a glass of water.", etc. It's rarely just yes. If the child were to ask for an apple, of course, the answer would be yes. I get that she wants the child to incorporate healthy food choices. I am okay with that. Last night, I was home and went in the kitchen to get a snack and found all of my potato chips gone. My son told me that 'Nanny' "caught him sneaking chips and through them out.". I wasn't there, but I am wrong to have an issue with my child feeling that he would need to sneak chips? I also have an issue with her throwing out the chips to punish him.

This has been an ongoing issue with her making snide remarks about some of the food that I buy and bring in the home. She takes issue with white eggs, bottled water, gatorade, cheese nips, fruit snacks, etc. I know every reason why, because I feel like she really lays into me about the food choices I make for my home. She is not a live-in nanny. We do not provide her food. She is free to eat anything she likes in our home and since she sometimes grocers to pick up things for school lunches or something, she does have the ability to buy herself healthy things to keep in our home. That is not the issue.

I had a friend who used to punish her daughter by sending her room and making her read. I feel that the nanny is making the positive choices feel like a punishment, rather than just a choice.  I should say here that my children really love the nanny and that her positive reinforcement of their behavior and choices is something they seek as much as my own.

Do I say something? If so, what?

Wednesday

Is Your Baby Monitor Secure?

A nanny was going about her day caring for a baby in Houston, Texas, on Monday when she says she heard a “strange” and “creepy” noise coming from a security camera above the child’s crib. Ashley Stanley told KPRC-TV Texas that she heard some sounds while changing the diaper of a 1-year-old little girl in her care, before quickly realizing that the noise was actually a man’s voice — and he began commenting about what was happening inside of the bedroom. “I kept hearing this strange noise from over there by the crib,” Stanley said. ”They kept telling me that it’s a cute baby and, ‘Wow, that is a poopy diaper.’” The voice also recommended that the family put a password on the camera.

In April, Adam and Heather Schreck told Fox 19 that they woke up at midnight to the sounds of a man yelling at their daughter, Emma, and were surprised to find their Internet-enabled baby monitor moving -- even though they were not the ones moving it. This is not the first time something like this has happened. In August, Marc Gilbert of Houston, Texas, told ABC station KTRK that he heard a man yelling “Wake up, Allyson, you little (expletive),” through a baby monitor to his two-year-old daughter, whose name was spelled out on the wall. (It turns out that the baby could not hear the stranger; she was deaf and her cochlear implants were turned off).

Wireless baby monitor cameras are incredibly insecure. Rather than connect to a home network, they simply broadcast a wireless signal with a range of a few hundred metres to a dedicated receiver. Older analogue cameras don’t encrypt or password-protect the signal in any way, although you can switch to a different wireless channel to avoid interference. That means anyone with the same type of camera can simply wander the streets with a receiver, switching channels until they find a wireless signal they can watch. There’s absolutely nothing you can do about this, other than throw the camera away and buy a more secure model. So if this sounds like your set-up, it’s time to go shopping.

If you have a baby monitor or any home monitoring system, make sure you have changed the passwords to something difficult to decode.

 Sources:
KPRC TV Texas
NBC News

ABOUT

I Saw Your Nanny was developed in 2006 by a former nanny, turned personal assistant. The blog quickly rose to fame and was featured in both National and International Media. I Saw Your Nanny has been cited in at least a half a dozen books since 2006. The Blog was out of commission for a while due to the family circumstance involving Mary Poppinz, who ran the blog for Jane for the better part of a year. The Blog is in the process of being revamped and an exciting new group of editors and bloggers has joined the I Saw Your Nanny Team. If you want to write, or share your own blog, contact us at isynblog@gmail.com.

Nanny sightings are the crux of the blog. Since 2006, obtaining cell and video images of negligent nannies has gotten easier. It is our preference that submissions include photographic details relevant to the sighting. If it is not possible to get the nanny on video, please try for a picture of the child's jacket, stroller, even the venue. If you are unable to obtain a photo or video of the nanny in question, please provide a detailed description of the nanny involved. Nanny sightings are always confidential and will the identity of the provider will never be provided to any source.

The Nanny and Employer relationship is a tricky one. For those who have been a part of a working nanny/employer relationship, you have truly known bliss. Do you have suggestions how other employers or nannies could similarly succeed in their professional relationships? Our readers are nannies and employers and they want to know what works and what doesn't work.

If you are a nanny or an employer involved in a less than stellar relationship and seek the guidance of other nannies and employers, send your questions to isynblog@gmail.com

If you are an employer with a nanny horror story, we want to hear from you. If you want to rave about your wonderful nanny or the best nanny that you ever had; we want to hear that story too! We know nannies have their own horror stories too, and those too are of great interest. Nannies, do you want to tell us about the best nanny experience you've ever had..or the worst? The worst interview? The worst day on the job? The best gift? The best bonus? We are your forum.

We have many excitement columns and features to reveal. Thank you for being a part of our adventure. We look forward to reconnecting & lighting the web on fire with all things nanny.

Your ISYN 2015 Team,
Gianluca, Lesley, J'NeiNei, Adam, Caludette & Hillary
isynblog@gmail.com One contact for all things ISYN
I Saw Your Nanny on Pinterest
ISYN on Twitter
ISYN on Instagram

Stay Tuned!
#isawyournanny  #isyn #nannyblog  #isynblog  #isyn2015



























Tuesday

MUCH SOUGHT, HIGHLY ANTICIPATED RETURN OF I SAW YOUR NANNY


On January 28, 2015, and in response to overwhelming requests, I SAW YOUR NANNY, the nanny blog, also known as ISYN and the #1 source for negligent nanny sightings, nanny advice, employer advive and generally all things nanny is back.  A forward thinking professional team is working with techincal support to iron out the website glitches and style at http://isawyournanny.blogspot.com. If you would like to join our team, spot some nannies, write an article, share a rant, or submit a questions, please do not hesitate and contact us at isynblog@gmail.com,  #nanny #isawyournanny  #isawyournanny  #returnofisyn  #isyn

Press:
Wall Street Journal Parents Patrol Nannies Online
SF Gate New Blog Narcs Out Childcare Providers
ABC News Nanny Cams, Better Parental Control or Violation of Privacy
Larchmont Gazette Nanny Blog Tattles on Local Caregivers
Fishbowl Big Brother is Watching Your Nanny
ABC News Radio Online Parental Control or Big Brother
My San Antonio The Real Nanny Diaries
Gawker Upper East Side Nanny Watch
Slate Honk if You're Going to Report this on the Internet
Jezebel Here Come The Nanny Police
Jezebel Distasteful Nanny with Penchant for Sunflower Seeds & Male Porn
Jezebel I Saw Your Nanny is Sensitive to to a Diversity of Stereotypes
Jezebel Bad Perm and Stroller in the Street Spark Controversy
Jezebel I Saw a Crazy: Nanny Policing Goes off the Rails
ParentDish I Saw Your Nanny Blog
PopSugar I Saw Your Nanny
Seattle PI I know what (your nanny) did last summer
Sydney Morning Herald Celebrities and the Teams that Raise their Kids
The Morning Call New Blog Adds Another Chapter to the Nanny Diaries
LA Mama Do You Know Your Nanny
Patch California How Responsible is Your Nanny?
Faculty Lounge The Fury of White Mothers
A Child Grows in Brooklyn  I Saw Your Nanny Blog
Chicago Now There are Worse Things than Leaving your Child in the Car.. 
HuffPost Six People You See on the Playground
IKidNY  I Saw Your Nanny
Circle of Moms The Nanny Diaries
Responsibility Project Nanny 911:Reporting Bad Nannies
Growing Your Baby Where is Your Nanny? What is She Doing with Your Kids?
GradMommy I Saw Your Nanny
MotherTalkers I Saw Your Nanny
Nan Byrne- I Saw Your Nanny
KCH I Saw Your Nanny
AOL Jobs Confessions of a Nanny
Wired PeekaBoo, I'm Spying on You
I Speak of Dreams Spying on the Nanny
Independant Women's Forum Nanny Diaries
My Rye Nanny 911: The Shoplifter
Textile Blog I Saw Your Nanny
HelloBee  So This is Kind of Why We Didn't Go the Nanny Route
BabyRazzi Website for Reporting Bad & Good Nannies

Books:
Little Kids, Big City..Tales from a Real House in NYC
Alex McCord & Simon VanKempen

Parenting Out of Control: Anxious Parents in Uncertain Times
Margaret K. Nelson

Raising Brooklyn: Nannies, Childcare & Caribbeans Creating Community
Tamara Mose Brown

Other:
I Saw Your Nanny: Do You Report on Bad Babysitters?
I Saw Your Nanny
Brooklyn's Nanny Diaries

Cited:
9 of the Strangest Request Parents Have Made of their Nannies
Parents Pay Private Detectives to Watch Their Nannies
10 Great Blogs for Babysitters
Places Like Libby Lu
London's Worst Parents

Rough Nanny at Barnes & Noble in White Plains

Who: Bullish looking American babysitter or nanny, wearing brown corduroys, carrying a brown suede bag with fringes on it and wearing a baby blue puffer jacket.
With: Two year old baby boy, round face, dark eyes, dark hair, olive skin, wearing a blue coat with Paddingtong style buttons and a NY Yankees beanie with a puffer ball on top.
What: Nanny took child in the restroom for her personal use. I was in the restroom at the time. He was being ornary but she was very rough on him. I heard some thrashing in the stall, the boy was crying. I couldn't be sure what had happened though. About five minutes later, she is in the sale book area and he is whining for food. She had a pack of mini donuts and she gave him one. He threw it on the floor. She picked it up angrily, looked around and then smashed it in his face.
When: Friday, January 23, 2015, around 11 AM
Where: Barnes & Noble Bookstore, White Plains

We are going through our mailboxes and picking out the most recent sightings & queries to share. If you have a nanny sighting (good or bad), a story, a question or an experience to share, email isynblog@gmail.com.

Monday

The Milk Nanny

Wicoz wants to ease parents’ pain with Milk Nanny, it’s smart baby bottle appliance. Sure, the name’s a little creepy, but that doesn’t change the fact that lots of our child-rearing friends will probably want one. In the time it takes Junior to cry and wake the parents, and for one of them to throw on a robe, the other can mash a few buttons on his or her smartphone and have a perfectly measured and warmed baby bottle waiting.(Read More) What inventions do you swear by to be at your A Mom or Nanny Game?

Sunday

Buyer's Remorse

Readers, Mothers, where are you? I need a less direct audience to discuss this! We had an incident involving our nanny of five months in November. I don't want to get in to the details, but she created an alcoholic treat and left in a common place, my four year old sampled some. She came upon him, immediately induced vomiting, called poison control and called us. I was upset. My husband was furious. My husband fired her that evening and send her packing without a reference or severance. I feel I knew the nanny better and that she generally exercised great judgement but this was just an oversight. She left our home and went to stay with a nanny friend of hers where I learned, through a mutual friend that several items dear and expensive to her were stolen, including cash, ipad, iphone. Still feeling bad about the way she left our house, I reached out through the mutual friend, for sake of explanation, the mutual friend is her best friend's employer. I arranged for her to receive a new ipad and iphone delivered to her best friend.  I sent a short letter saying in essence that I was sorry that things ended so terribly and I appreciated the way she treated for and cared for my son. I did not share any of this information with my husband. She responded to me by email yesterday and said, again, in essence that she was sorry for her carelessness, she missed DC and she really appreciated my gesture, but what she really needed was cash for living expenses until she found a new job.  Here, I would like to say that I wasn't looking for an ongoing conversation. I wrote back what I thought would be the last time saying, "I wish you the best, I was hoping having access to an IPAD and phone would help you in your job search."  She then followed up with an email asking for me to meet her at the Apple Store and return the stuff for cash and give her the cash. I was put off by this request. I mentioned this to her best friend's employer who said to me, "I really don't know how you kick a girl from Kansas out of your house without a dime to her name. I don't know how you let DH do that. If you would have handled your situation with the proper etiquette, this poor girl would not be in this awkward position.".  I'm between livid and exhausted. Help me make sense of how this should have gone or how it needs to wrap up.
*edit* Nanny made sorbet with champagne and set it to chill in our kitchen freezer in a tupperware style container. While she packed up my son's playdate and got them on the elevator following a playdate, my son stayed in the kitchen, where he consumed about 1/2 cup of the sorbet and a handful of Cheez Puffs.

Confessions of a Celebrity Supernanny

“Luckily, I’m not easily impressed,” she says with a laugh. “You might find yourself in a department store in New York, where the doors have been closed to the public and you and your family are the only customers. My errands can include accompanying kids to movie sets, or taking the family’s private jet to pick up their favourite candy from a store on the other side of the country.” The perks are extraordinary and the pay no less so; she has earned $10,000 for one week’s work and been handed a $900 tip at the end of an evening. This is not a job for the faint-hearted, however — elite nannies face gruelling work hours and diva demands. In fact, Christian has even flown to LA for an interview with one of America’s most famous families and was offered the job on one condition: she’d have to dye her hair brown to fit in with the family’s aesthetics (she hasn’t decided whether to accept). Keep Reading...

Thursday

25 Reasons Why Being A Nanny Is The Best Job Ever

Buzzfeed has 25 ideas why being a nanny is the best job over.  What can you add to the list? Let's keep this a positive experience posts.

Want to write your story for ISYN? Email isynblog@gmail.com.

Email isynblog@gmail.com to submit nanny sightings

Date:
Time:
Location:
Description of Nanny: (photo preferred)
Description of Child:
Other identifying information: (stroller, diaper bag, vehicle, etc.)
Detailed description of what you witnessed:

*All submissions are guaranteed confidential unless the author wants to have personal contact with the family when located. 



What is a nanny state?
Intrusive government policies in Europe and recently the United States, designed to legislate morality and social behavior, assuming the state knows best what constitutes such, in the goal of essentially protecting people from the obvious consequences of their own stupid and destructive behaviors. Therefore, the central government believes it has the comprehensive and moral duty to protect the citizenry from itself. A derogatory term used in reference to intrusive political policies where the government has an excessive desire to govern and control society in the name of “protection.” When the central government of countries goes from being a governing body to a regulatory power and social caretaker, that engages in social protectionism and economic intervensionism, to control you from the womb to the tomb and instituionalizes them as common practice.