Received Tuesday, March 4, 2008Stupidest Nanny Sighting Ever!
I was just walking towards Whole Foods on Houston when a nanny had exited with her charge in a stroller. The charge was under six months. The stroller was medium brightish blue, with a bright blue plastic tray and some plaid material trim on it . The nanny had dark hair, so dark it had to be dyed black, a pale face, army green cargo pants, a large black sweatshirt with a pink lion on the breast unzipped with another (peachish) zipper sweatshirt zipped up underneath. The nanny was about 20ish. She looked Irish, but can't say for sure. Attractive, thin. The nanny was trying to light her cigarette and it was raining lightly, so she leans IN TO THE STROLLER, yes under the stroller hood to get shelter from the rain and lights her cigarette. She got her cigarette lit and went on her way pushing the child East on Houston past Elizabeth. The baby was sleeping. Baby was white. Couldn't tell you much else about the baby except she was laying in a super fluffy cream colored blanket. The nanny smoked "Basic" cigarettes. The package was white and red.
43 comments:
Questions:
How do you look Irish?
How do you know she is not the mom?
Figures ... one in every bunch.
How about: BECAUSE SHE SAID SO!!
Before mom fires the nanny, she needs to kick her ass for endangering the baby like that.
how on earth would you know that's a nanny? ASSume much? lol
Endangering the baby? Do you people really believe that? I mean I wouldnt want her blowing smoke in the kid's face but she's outside pushing a stroller....she leaned in to light it, fine, but a half a second of smoke near her is gonna do NOTHING..... and who says mom doesnt know she hired a smoker? said it was ok as long as they're outside? or isnt a smoker herself?
A Mom who can afford a Nanny wouldn't smoke "Basic" - a cheap generic, would she?
I can't imagine a Mom hiring a Nanny that smokes, unless she's a smoker herself ... I wouldn't.
Watch American Idol? The gal with the best voice is irish and she looks Irish. Flawless porcelin skin, you know that same skin that inspired a soap called Irish Spring. Not every thing is a negative. Jeez.
People have said I "look Swedish". Why I have the coloring of Swedish, light blue eyes and pale blonde hair. I'm not Swedish, but who cares?
Can you not SHOUT!!
Don't write in ALL CAPS!
It's really RUDE!
I would think that unless you hold some prejudice, it would not seem offensive to be called any nationality whatsoever.
I often wonder about the people on here who get so upset when a description of a person indicates that they are probably black, or carribean, mexican, or whatever. Is that suppoesd to be a bad thing? Maybe the person posting the description doesn't find being black, or carribean, or mexican, or whatever offensive and so they just go ahead and say it. But maybe it is the person who comes along and does all the screaming that the person has been "outed" as a certain nationality that actually has the prejudice?
People guess at my nationality all the time. Who cares? I'm actually proud of what I am, so when somebody comes along and identifies my charahcteristics it makes me happy. If they guess wrong, I still assume they are trying to be nice and maybe make polite conversation. What's so wrong with that?
I would be concerned that she might drop the match while holding it over the baby to light up. Beyond that, it is either the mom, or a nanny who's employer knows she smokes.
Maybe a clear physical description would be preferable to a subjective assumption about national origin, especially in a country where so many of us are mongrels. ( I am 1/2 Scots, 1/4 French, and 1/4 Swedish. I've been told I look Russian, Dutch, Danish, and several others.) And yes, my born in Scotland dad would bristle at being identified as Irish!
How do you look irish? For crying out loud! Red hair, very light skin, etc etc. Can we all stop being so PC once in a while? I am sorry, certain ethnic backgrounds have very distinctive physical features. give me a break here!
And, smoking around a kid is a big no no! I can;'t stand when I see someone pushing a stroller or walking with a child and they have a cig in their hand! And, i am a smoker! i don't even do it around my own child.
ALL CAPS = no
To the (just deleted) screamer: the correct spelling is Scot. If you knew anything about your own heritage, you'd know that.
Typical Irish, Scottish (and some English): red hair, very light skin, possibly freckled. Not terribly tall in general, but POSSIBLY plumpish. Don't get your panties in a bunch girls about distinguishing between the three. The "British Isles" peoples bred freely among one another for centuries. Conan O'Brien has the look for example.
Irish (alternative, but also recognizable): Tall, thin, dark haired, blue eyes. (My grandfather looked like this and was distinctively recognized as Irish.)Sinead O'Connor, Colin Ferrell, Daniel Day Lewis, for example.
I doubt any of those people consider it an insult to be recognized by their heritage. Get over it. This overly PC thing had gotten WAY out of control!
FWIW... stupid if you are the nanny, stupid if you are the mom!
If my nanny EVER smoked around my child... even had cigs around my child, I would fire her.
Come to think of it... I only hire nonsmokers... :)
You hit a cord with this post and I know that I will be flamed for this, but I believe smoking around children is child abuse. My mother-in-law was a pack a day smoker her entire adult life (despite being a doctor and knowing better). She tried to quit many times, and I realize she was addicted, and she was a wonderful woman in many other ways, but her smoking wrecked havoc on my husband's health and my children's emotional stability. My oldest was very close to her grandmother. She loved spending time with her and they had a wonderful relationship. When my mother-in-law died last year after her third heart attack (yes, she didn't quit even after bypass surgery), it rocked her to her core. She is not the same child and misses her terribly. My son mourns her too but my daughter lost one of the most important people in the world to her and is fearful her father will be next. The effect on my husband from his mother's smoking is a crime. He has suffered from severe asthma since he was five years old and has had many attacks that have landed him in the hospital. He just turned 40 and despite carefully monitoring his health, eating a healthy diet, walking daily, and never smoking a day in his life, he has to take steroids and several preventative inhalers and medications daily. He always has an inhaler with him in case of attack. He needs to avoid strenuous activities, so he does not ski, skate, play football, soccer or baseball any of the activities my children enjoy. He lives with daily stomach pain which he also takes medication for which are a side effect of all the asthma medication he has taken in his lifetime. The kids have seen my husband taken away in an ambulance unable to breathe three times in their lives. I don't know if he will live to see his children married and have children of their own. Each attack I wonder if this the one that will take him away from us for good and it seems like there is little we can do about it despite all the medical care he gets. A good parent/caregiver/relative/friend/aunt/cousin does not smoke around a child. You are poisoning that child.
15 CommentsClose this window Jump to comment form
Anonymous said...
Questions:
How do you look Irish?
How do you know she is not the mom?
5:31 PM
Anonymous said...
Figures ... one in every bunch.
How about: BECAUSE SHE SAID SO!!
Before mom fires the nanny, she needs to kick her ass for endangering the baby like that.
5:47 PM
Deni said...
how on earth would you know that's a nanny? ASSume much? lol
6:41 PM
Anonymous said...
Endangering the baby? Do you people really believe that? I mean I wouldnt want her blowing smoke in the kid's face but she's outside pushing a stroller....she leaned in to light it, fine, but a half a second of smoke near her is gonna do NOTHING..... and who says mom doesnt know she hired a smoker? said it was ok as long as they're outside? or isnt a smoker herself?
8:35 PM
§mpp§ said...
A Mom who can afford a Nanny wouldn't smoke "Basic" - a cheap generic, would she?
I can't imagine a Mom hiring a Nanny that smokes, unless she's a smoker herself ... I wouldn't.
6:19 AM
You really just posted that? Only poor people smoke generic cigarettes? So I assume wealthy people smoke cigarettes with gold plated filters?
People have very strange perceptions of the world and people around them.
OOps! Sorry guys.
Blame the confusing comment on my newbie status.
mpps comment, although it may sound distatseful at first glance, is probably a very accurate observation. Don't hate the messenger....
jxj
You are overgeneralizing ...
relax.
My opinion: Why would they smoke generic when they can have the luxury of smoking something that tastes other than rabbit shavings.
I made no mention of poor people, or gold-plated filters.
Thank you, 5:01.
If I offended generic smokers, my deepest apologies.
3:17 your daughter would have lost her grandmother eventually whether she was a smoker or not. I have severe asthma as well however I was never around smoke, so you cannot say that your husbands medical problems are caused by smoking.
jxj just get used "mpps" saying stupid things, she does it daily.
1:13- the term is "Black Irish," people who have dark hair, light skin and blue eyes. They are said to be the cause of the evil and wrong doing in Ireland because their features are believed to have developed in the 1500s when Spainards pillaged Ireland and raped the local women. It is what the basis of the show "The Black Donnelleys" was developed from.
Anyways, I'm rambling! I also DO NOT think that anyone (parent, caregiver, friend or relative) should be smoking around a child, let alone sticking their head under the cover of a stroller to block the wind enough to light it.
Damn, the idiot sticks their are in this world.
Jerk at 7:17. Leave maryPP alone. This picking on people is really getting sickening. Get a life.
1:13 PM
"I doubt any of those people consider it an insult to be recognized by their heritage"
No probably not. The issue was people being incorrectly labeled based on their appearance. You can find yourself with your foot in your mouth by making assumptions.
"jxj just get used "mpps" saying stupid things, she does it daily"
You must be one of those jealous posters that has nothing but rude, hateful things to say because you are unable to offer any other insight.
It's o.k., one of these days you'll find something better to do.
I haven't been on this blog much more than a couple of months, but I've sure seen alot. I don't get why people attack each other so much around here.
To 7:17 ~
As I read OP's post, I was thinking the same thing you said, but you beat me to it.
What a shame you had to take such a thoughtfully written post and ruin it with such cattiness.
Mary Poppin Pills ROCKS!
I'm relaxed. I'm just not quite seeing the connection between income and cigarette brand, at least not enough of one to make assumptions about someone's income...I'm sure there are plenty of "well off" people who smoke generic brands, just as there are probably people on welfare buying Marlboros, ya know?
And as far as me mentioning gold plated filters..thank you for pointing out that you said nothing about them. I realize that. I was being facetious :-)
She said the generics taste like rabbit poop, so somebody would MOST LIKELY not smoke them if they could afford better. That's all. I thought it was a good point myself.
The nanny having set TENDS to be a little more status conscious also. Thes would be the type to sit and discuss which cigarettes taste best. It's hard to imagine one of these moms, then, pulling a pack of generics out of her diaper bag, holding them up to her friends, and announcing, "These taste like rabbit crap, but they're really cheap!"
JXJ
So was I. ☺
You win.
*********
10:12
lol, hilarious!
Haha. OK. I'm not taking this any further. Arguing about generic vs brand cigarettes seems a little silly.
P.S. I'm not a generic brand smoker ;-) So I'm not offended. But thank you for your concern.
And as far as the original post goes, unless this woman (who could have been nanny OR mother) was leaning into the stroller and deliberately blowing smoke into her child's face, I don't see why such an issue has to be made. That child probably breathes in more toxins due to pollution, on a daily basis, than he/she did when momma lit up for a nanosecond.
jerseyxjacqui
are you serious? so that makes what the nanny did ok? your making excuses because the baby is exposed to the other toxins daily?
Making excuses? No, not at all. Just pointing out the reality of the situation and how quick we are to judge someone's parenting skills(or lack thereof, in some cases). I was also pointing out that no harm was done to this kid and was simply using pollution as a real life comparison. Kind of like a "lighten up."
We're going to make our children NEUROTIC by the age of 8 if we keep up this silly nit picking.
i get the feeling you don't have any kids. but if you ever do - i promise you'll feel differently.
My nanny smokes. Our agreement is that it is done outside when my son naps or its okay when walking outside pushing the stroller. If you really think that smoking a cigarette OUTSIDE when you are behind a child who is in a stroller is going to harm them, youre crazy. Simple ast that, youve been brainwashed... do a little research instead of believing everything you hear/read on the news and youll know that second hand smoke doesnt cause ashthma
Don't be condescending and patronizing 11:36. You really don't know how I'd feel if I did or didn't have kids.
1:48, parents, especially first-time parents, get more and more neurotic and uptight as time goes on.
The more we're kept in constant, but subtle fear of things by the media (and by things I mean EVERYTHING: disease, sickness, poverty, tyranny, war, foreign policies, PEOPLE etc etc), the more people, generally speaking, allow that to manifest into their personal lives.
I disagree vehemently about the second hand smoke and lung disease. Yes, it definitely does contribute. *cough cough cough*
:shaking head: just where do some ppl come from?
anon @ 1:48,
You honey have hired yourself a discount nanny from the dented and scratched bin. Do you know how many chemicals are in ciggarettes? And how they stick to your fingers, clothes and face? You know that gets on your child, don't you? Or are you a total dween. Ever seen a nanny dweeb jonesing for some nicotine so bad she thwacks the child in her care? Ever seen a nanny jonesing for a ciggarette so bad, that in the rain she lights the ciggarette under the canopy of the stroller and burns the child? No. Well almost.
"dented and scratched bin"?
Where the hell do you people come up with this shit .... it's so hilarious!
Great post!
So nannies who smoke cigarettes are discount nannies? That's disgustingly judgemental and close minded.
Dented and scratched bin...
Such harsh judgements...Take a look in the mirror every once in awhile. Evaluate the things you do in your life. No one is perfect and no one lives without flaw. Smoking should never be done around the children, nor should a nanny smoke in a car that she transports children in. However, to go as far as to say that the chemicals from cigarettes stick on your clothes, hands and face, implying the child is in danger because of that is absolutely absurd.
I'd be curious to know what type of cleaning products you use? Air Fresheners? Carpet cleaners? Dirt tracked in from outside? Windex, is your soap fragrance free? What about the products you use on your face, mommy...hand lotions, lipsticks, CHAPSTICKS...Do you paint your nails in the house? Drive in a car with your child? How about perfume and even your clothing? Do you know what probably stays on your clothing everyday? Most likely, if you work with the general public, cigarette smoke. Unless you confine your child in a big plastic bubble, they are exposed to chemicals everyday. Chemicals from cigarettes left on hands, clothing and face are really the LEAST of worries.
Oh, goodness jxj ... you are friggin' crazy. I really disagree with you - but I like your post.
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