Adventures in Nanny Camming

 I hired a young nanny from Poland in March. We used an agency and everything seemed to be going smoothly. She was quite loving with the baby, even wore him most of the time, at her own choosing. We had a nanny camera set up and loosely looked at it in the beginning.

As our child started getting older, we noticed some problems. Nothing specific, but I am glad we noticed them. They were issues of judgment and intelligence would would have likely culminated in a problem.

Some of the things we noticed. We had trouble getting my son to start solids. He didn't seem to want to eat for us.She told me and I remember specifically, "he likes the sweet potatoes warmed". But he wouldn't eat. Using the camera and clarification, I saw the problem. She was using (Jackson's Honest) Sweet Potato Chips and mushing them up with formula and then microwaving them. I know, it probably doesn't seem like a big deal, it was just troubling. We had bought jars and jars of baby food online, from farmer's markets.

The next thing I noticed was that she was giving baths outside in a plastic planter. When I asked her about this, she said that she got warm water from the hose and he bathed under the sun, like this was common place. She said, "In the garden on a beautiful day, what problem could you have with that?" I suppose there is nothing really wrong with it, but why did she think of the things she thought of?

I came home early and heard what I thought was something Satanic, but it turns out it was Buddhist Monks Chanting. She always seemed surprised when I asked her about these things, like it was common place. Again, was it hurting my son? No.

So this caused me to look through some footage on the nanny camera drive. I found multiple instances of her doing "baby yoga." I don't know if she is trained for that or not, but I didn't like to see it, especially going back to 4 months of age. Wouldn't you expect your nanny to ask before she did yoga with your child?

The final straw for me was when I saw her lighting something on fire in the kitchen and blowing smoke all over. It scared me to death. I assumed it was some sort of voodoo.  She literally lit what looked like a dried bouquet. I asked her the day after watching it what was going on and by this time, she wanted to know why I was looking at old video and what was wrong. (She said she was smudging the house with lavender and sage.) I told her I was just deleting files and saw what I thought was a fire and became alarmed.

This was Wednesday morning as I greeted her and prepared to leave for the day.
She said, "Do you want me to go"
I said, "No"
She said, "You want me to stay"
I said, "yes, yes, of course".
She said, "Disconnect the nanny camera. You have to trust me or not".
This conversation went on. I suggested I would talk to my husband. She walked over to the counter, took out a piece of paper, scribbled some things. Then says, "You owe me $398. I will take it now."
Then I am on the other end, practically begging her to stay. She's looking at me like I am untrustworthy and refused to talk anymore. She said about five times, "Please pay me what you owe me so I can be on my way".

And I did, and that was that. I'm knee deep in interviews for a new nanny. My whole life has been upset. I have clients that are being held up on things that only I can help them with. My job performance is in jeopardy.

Will I use the nanny camera again?
Yes!