Tuesday

Discovery Center in Binghamton, NY

Received Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Today (7/10) I was at the Discovery Center in Binghampton, NY from 10:00 am-12:30 pm. I’m not sure if anyone else from Binghampton looks at Isawyournanny, but I figure it’s worth a try to post what I saw. Immediately, I noticed a girl being really mean to the other group of children she was with. I looked around trying to find an adult that was responsible for her, but found no one. After about 10 minutes of watching her boss and push around two boys, another girl appeared holding a baby. I thought for sure an adult was right behind her, but I waited around and no one came. After another couple of minutes she left that exhibit with the baby and I followed her to another exhibit where she sat the baby down on the floor and started dressing him up in the play clothes. She was actually very good with him, but at 7 or 8 years old, she needed some adult supervision. I would have liked to follow them around the museum to keep an eye on the baby, but with my own three toddler charges it was impossible. Throughout the next hour, I saw the children from this group wandering around with no adult in sight. The two oldest girls seemed to be taking turns pushing the baby around in his stroller or carrying him. Finally about an hour and a half after first seeing these children, I saw their apparent sitter, Miss Kathy, leading two of them out of the museum area. A few minutes later when I saw the group of children and Miss Kathy enter the cafeteria, I ran to the art area to grab a crayon to write down their descriptions, and I took my own kids into the cafeteria for lunch.
The first child was a baby boy with a full head of blond hair. He was around 1 year old, and I assume he is not yet walking. He was wearing a white romper with light blue trim and a green lion on the front. He had on brown sandals. He was in a light blue umbrella stroller with an animal print.
The oldest girl was 9 at the most and had long light brown hair pulled back in a messy low pony tail. She was tall and thin and had on a green tank top possibly layered over a white tank top and green shorts. She was wearing navy blue crocs, and small gold hoop earrings.
The next to oldest girl was maybe 7 or 8, also tall and thin and had long light brown hair pulled back in a low pony tail. She was wearing a white tank top with sequins around the neck, pink sporty capri pants and light pink sandals.
The next girl was maybe 6 or 7 and had light brown hair pulled up in a high pony tail. She was wearing a light blue tank top with thick criss crossed straps in the back and jean shorts. She was rolling around on her Heelies sneakers even though there is a big sign posted on the door that says “No Heelies Sneakers”. These three girls looked very much alike. I’m almost certain they were sisters. They had very pretty faces and looked like they could be Italian.
The first boy had shaggy short brown hair. He was wearing a yellow shirt with a soccer ball on the front, and blue athletic shorts with white stripes down the sides and yellow trim around the leg openings. He also had on dark sneakers.
The next boy had blond hair. He was wearing a white shirt with blue trim and blue and black striped shorts.
The last boy had short dark brown hair, a white tank top and brown sandals. The boys all appeared to be somewhere around 4 or 5.
There was a toddler girl who was between 2 and 3, had blond hair and was wearing a pink shirt. I had not seen her in the museum area.
Their babysitter, who one of the girls called Miss Kathy was a larger woman and had very short curly blond hair. She was wearing a pinkish/orangish sporty top with a hood and brown athletic pants. She had on white sneakers, glasses and multiple earrings in each ear. She also had a large tattoo on her lower right arm.
The other adult who may or may not have been responsible for the children was sitting with Miss Kathy. She had short brown, styled hair, khaki pants, a tan shirt, and a silver watch. She was not thin, but not at all overweight.
They had a white cooler with a pink lid and an orange tote bag with white and yellow flowers on it. Miss Kathy and the other adult sat at one table with the toddler girl and baby boy. They were facing away from the older children who were sitting at their own table. Neither of the adults spoke one nice word to the children and Miss Kathy had a permanent scowl on her face. She would throw food on the baby’s tray, but never spoke a word to him. She did ask the older children if they wanted peas, but I’m pretty sure that’s all she said to them. The other lady talked on her cell phone for the majority of the 30 minutes they were there, and I heard her say they were on the way to the Binghampton Tennis Center.
That poor baby was left under the supervision of two children for almost two hours, and then sat with two grumpy adults for lunch. I would have loved to say something to Miss Kathy, but didn't feel safe starting anything while I had my own charges to keep safe. Miss Kathy was looked very tough.
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15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there, im from the Binghamton area, and I do read this site. It almost sounds like it may be a (bad) family home based childcare provider or something. You may want to contact the local childcare councel. They would be able to tell you who is providing home based care in the area. From there it shouldn't be too hard to find out who "Miss Kathy" is. Hope this helps!

Linz

Anonymous said...

I live in the same area. I agree it sounds like a home based childcare. I have a wonderful person for my child and as much as I trust her, I would be more comfortable with her not taking the children on other excursions. I am not the only mother who uses this person and I don't make the rules, of course. This post just reminded me of my fears of the person taking the children out in to a larger public area.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like a child care center day trip, but without the proper supervision for the children or the appropriate number of supervisors. I'd get my kid out of there FAST.

Anonymous said...

Great descriptions, OP!

Anonymous said...

Definately some serious neglect here.
But on a lighter note - your post was well written and very descriptive, and should be used as an example of an outline for others trying to send info about bad nanny sightings ... great job!

Anonymous said...

WELL DONE..HOPE THEY FIND OUT "MISS KATHY'S" DAYCARE....
GREAT JOB

Anonymous said...

I provide part-time childcare out of my home: I was a pre-school teacher for many years and when my husband and I had our baby we decided that would be best.
I had a hard time building up clients because of people like this person!!! They give us such a bad name.
As a rule, I do not take my children on outings, I keep them safe in our home and our backyard, never transporting them anywhere: the parents want it that way. I take excellent care of the children and would never dream of ignoring them! I also only have two besides my own, and they are only three days a week: I would never take on more than that unless I had help.
It makes me so mad, especially if the parents don't know about the neglect, and even angrier if they do know and don't care because they are paying next to nothing.
I think this person should be shut down, and arrested for neglect!
There are some of us out there who provide good quality care in our home.

Anonymous said...

you really need to get a life.

Anonymous said...

anonymous,
Your comment is so bold in it's originality.

Anonymous said...

You sound like some stealth ninja spy tracking these children in the museum. What were your own children doing while you were looking for crayons to write about the blue and pink striped jersey pullover with the white ducks and green hat with orange trim and purple and red and yellow stroller?

Anonymous said...

wow 10:50, her children were probably sitting down eating lunch while she was sitting with them writing. If I was these children's parents I would want to know this was going on. Anyone could have taken them at any time. By having descriptions like this it is much easier for people to really know if this involves their child. Normally on this blog when there is not enough information people ask for more and then you are saying there is too much? Are you Miss. Kathy or something? This is for the well-being of the children.

Amy Bellemare said...

This is a GREAT description, and I applaud the OP.

That having been said (and yes, I'm a nanny myself), i'm VERY surprised that someone else didn't notice and get an employee of the museum or CALL 9-1-1 !!!.... Also kinda surprised that the OP didn't do this either. I definately would have.

Anonymous said...

oh my god. you're kidding, right? call 911? FOR WHAT? unless you mean call 911 on some crazy lady who is ignoring her "3 toddler charges" to follow around this group of children and write down everything they do and what they're wearing, in which case i totally agree. the people who post on this forum are so completely and utterly detached from the real world it's unbelievable. are your lives so empty that you truly have nothing else to do than to obsess over other people's lives? yes, i know what you'll say- "you're no better, look at you, posting your comments anonymously" blah blah. be that as it may, it doesn't make my observations any less true. you are all pathetic.

Anonymous said...

pscyho nanny is on the board.

run. run.

Anonymous said...

I'm the OP and my kids and I were eating lunch a couple tables over from Miss Kathy and her kids. That is how I was able to write down their descriptions. It took all of 10 minutes, and I continued to talk to my kids the entire time. As for what my kids were doing when I ran to grab a crayon, they came with me. I let them know, I was very proud of them for letting me write down an important note.