Hi, I am a nanny here in the great state of Texas, Dallas Texas to be exact. I have been a nanny for more than 15 years and recently I have been attending Book Marks Story Time in the Northpark Mall in Dallas. First, let me start by saying the story time is great, if you or your nanny are able to take the children, you should, it's fun, interesting and educational. Or at least it's meant to be for those who are in tune with their children and those in their care.Now, for the meat of my story! I am not very familiar with Latino nannies, but, since I have moved here to Dallas I am getting a first hand look into the daily lives of these nannies and the children who are left in their care. Today, March 30, 2011, my charge and I arrived at Northpark at 10:00 a.m. which we normally do each Wednesday. As usual I noticed the several groups of Latino/Hispanic nannies arriving with their charges in tow. What is so odd about this you might ask, well they all show up, they remove the children from the strollers and then they walk off to the outer areas of the group where they carry on conversations, text, talk on phones, read books, do everything except for what they need to be doing. They totally turn off any resemblance of being a nanny or child care provider.
Today was oddly a little more chaotic than normal because today the Critter Man was at the mall with real live animals. Interesting you think? Well, of course it was interesting, very interesting that there were 10 children standing in front of Critter Man who were asked no less than 20 times to sit down and move back. These animals were snakes, lizards, turtles, you know, things with teeth, animals that bite! There were children as young as 12 months wandering around in front of the Critter Man alone, no one was watching, no one cared that he was concerned for their safety and concerned that the other children who were being attended to could not see because of these out of control children. One little girl fell, hit the back of her head on the hard tile floor, do you think the nanny saw what happened? Nope! Do you think the nanny could hear the distinct cry of a child who was injured? Nope! No one came, no one heard until finally one of the other Moms in the group picked up the child. Same thing happened all during the presentation, other adults had to move children, sit children down, entertain children who were NOT being attended to by their nannies.
How do I know these are nannies you might ask, well, I have been a nanny for more than 15 years and let me tell you, I know a nanny when I see one, and, I know a good one from a bad one. I even witnessed one nanny bullying her charge. The little girl wanted so badly to hold onto a handle on the parachute that was out for play, she kept grabbing for it and her nanny kept pulling her hand off and then raising the parachute handle out of her reach and she would smile, like it was funny, like it was amusing to her that the little girl wanted nothing more than her Mommy or Daddy, someone to help her. It is scary, unsettling, upsetting and really makes my blood boil.
What is one to do? Can I help these children? Can I help these families and their nannies? I think I can, I want the word out there, I want parents to know what is going on when your most prized possession is out for the day with the person you hired to care for them, love them and educate them, but most of all, don't you want your nanny to love your child as much as you do? Don't you want your nanny to teach your child right from wrong, love and trust?
Here is what I would like ALL of you parents to do. I want you all to take a break from your busy schedule one day, I want you to come to Northpark Mall and come in thru the upstairs level, you know above the Park Central where story time takes place. Come in, have a seat up there, get your eye on your nanny and your child and then see if you think you are making the best decision for your family. I know it's appealing to hire a nanny who works for a mere $8 an hour and she will clean, cook, run errands and take care of your children, but really, is it worth it?
I know first hand, I am a mother to a 6 year old and a nanny to a 2 year old and a 5 year old. When my charges grow up, they will look back and know I cared for them as I would have cared for my own child because I have had the education and experience to do so. Are you going to sit back and let this continue? I urge you, take a break and watch one day, you will be surprised at the lack care you are paying for!
37 comments:
I live in CA where we have a large Hispanic Nanny population. Most of the Hispanic Nannies I have met are very nice, they engage w/their charges and they seem very loving. It pains me when I speak w/them an they reveal how little they are being paid. Families love a bargain, but I do not think bargaining childcare is a good idea as can be illustrated by this post. The old adage, "You Get What You Pay For..." is still around Folks because it is so true. While I do not excuse these irresponsible Nannies, I attach blame partially to the parents who hire them. They know these women will work for less than most and they take full advantage of it. Sadly, it is the children who pay the ultimate price.
I like OP's idea of coming to one of these storytimes to observe. I highly recommend all parents do the same occasionally.
OP, while I liked your post, you are wrong when you say you are a good nanny due in part to your education. Education does not make a great nanny in my opinion. A loving heart, a gentle manner and a ton of patience means more to me from a nanny than a Ph.D from Harvard. Sure it is good to get some Child Development units if you can, but even mothers who have already raised children know the stages of a child's development and how to deal w/them. Education is for the corporate world only. As long as a nanny knows basic things, i.e., how to spell, write properly, read properly, etc..as well as count, etc..then that is okay. Who cares if she knows how to graph in slope-intercept or determine probability???
Loved, loved loved your post. Please write more!
Maybe it's just me, but I found this post to be very discriminatory. Yes there are "good" nannies and "bad" nannies, but what does the ethnicity of the nanny have to do with that? I wish that people on this blog would stop racially profiling and use ethnicity and physical characteristics ONLY when descrbing the SPECIFIC nanny in your story. I understand that you may have to include such details when trying to help someone identify the nanny that was behaving badly, but I thought the OP took it too far in her post.
"I am not very familiar with Latino nannies, but, since I have moved here to Dallas I am getting a first hand look into the daily lives of these nannies."
"These" nannies?? What?! You sound very ignorant OP.
This post is total racial profiling.
That being said, of course parents should do random check-ins on their babysitters and nannies.
OP, you sound really racist. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but it's obviously true. I don't give a crap what other posters say about my opinion. I stand by it.
The last thing I want to do is make this post about racism. OP clearly stresses that it is a certain group of Nannies that over and over is causing the same problem with their charges. I believe it to be an identifying factor. However, if the majority of you feel I need to edit this post to be more sensitive, I will.
I found op's post to sound bias and misinformed. I completely agree that every parent should randomly drop in to check on their nannies; however, your depiction of these nannies was stereotypical. Maybe you should engage these nannies in conversation and get to know them before you start labeling every Hispanic nanny as uneducated,Illegal, under paid, "bad" nannies. There are good and bad in all ethic groups but you seem blinded by you desire to fit everyone into a certain category.
I for one am a educated, well paid, loving, 100% Hispanic nanny; doesn't do any housework. And reading this post made be a little sad to think that even "educated" nannies who I hope have taken early childhood courses (which entirely focuses on Muti cultural and anti bias) would be so discriminatory.
OP I would recommend you sit down and talk with one of these nanny groups next time and get to know them before posting a warning. Also take a step back while watching them and ask yourself am I just judging based on their race or are they really behaving poorly. Then instead of writing a post about an entire ethic group you can be more specific, by writing an actual account of one particular nanny's behavior.
Also educate yourself on bullying, because what you describe as a nanny bullying her charge sounds a little off.
One last thing, I don't want you to take this as an attack but more of an eye opening because I do agree that ignoring the children during any activity is inappropriate and should be cause for some concern but basing this behavior solely on what you believe these women are paid and because they are Hispanic is totally unacceptable.
I really hope I just read into this post the wrong way and that your not as bias as this post came across.
Other than specifically pointing out that these are Hispanic nannies and insinuating that Hispanic nannies in general are bad, this was a very good post. I hope some parents do drop by the mall to see what is going on, but, my gut tells me they won't
I am with Texas on this one. I live in Arizona and we have hispanic women all over treating their charges and their own kids like this. My step-sons monther is straight over the boarder and she treats her kids like this. But no one should be surprised that Texas and Arizona are together one this one. No one else understand what out states have to put up with so other people call us names. Until you live and see it every single fucking day over and over and over. Where they do not give a two flips about our culture. They don't want to be US citizens they want to be Mexicans with American rights. I know how they think first hand. I know how their culture is with raising kids, treating eachother, their outlook in general. Texas didn't sugar coat it at all. She said it straight up.
@Phoenix:
I pray to God so you never have to leave your country to go work and send the money to your family so they can eat.
You don't know a thing!!!
You are selfish, ignorant and a racist.
I am not ignorant I personally KNOW what they are thinking. Let's see I would say about 1 out of 1,000 illegals here actually send money back home and actually are trying to become something. The others are taking advantage and you are too blind to see it. If you don't live in a border war state and see it everyday you have no freakin clue. CA doesn't pay attention because they try to love everyone... look where that got them. There is a reason people in AZ and TX have this attitude. My step-sons mother has been in the US for 20 years. She REFUSES to become a citizen because she feels that it goes against what she is but she gets food stamps and access. She REFUSES to learn English because she thinks we should conform to her. She REFUSES to get a drivers license and insurance but she drives a car on American streets everyday. She doesn't make money to send back to anyone. And 99% of them don't. They screw up their kids so bad that the kids aren't accepted by real Americans and if they go back to Mexico their kids aren't accepted there either. I am not racist I am married to a Mexican American. I don't like people who take advantage of what they do not have rights to.
Like I said. If you don't know then you have no right to say a dam thing about it.
i work in this industry and the Op's description of these critterman type events is dead on. The hispanic part - not so much. in january i posted a good nanny sighting "maria" at a similar event ( made many of the nannies on the sight mad tho, go figure) LOL
It's not just nannies though - in my community there are moms who follow the critter shows to plop the kids down and read and text - we know them and help them out with the kids, it's a phenomenon - very well described by the op
@Phoenix:
I'm telling you, you don't know a thing!!!
You say that you are married to a Mexican-American, and you are SO racist.
"They screw up their kids", oh, really? where?
Mexicans or any type of Spanish/Hispanic/Latino family is WAY more involved with their kids life that any American family.
We see it in this website ALL THE TIME.
American parents who have kids and the Nanny raises them.
You won't see that in Mexico/any Latino country.
And about the food stamps: I've seen people buying iPhones and expensive items and then... go to the store and pay with food stamps.
Oh you're right... Just Mexicans. That is all we have in my state. I am not sure about the others. FYI - Spanish are considered white. They are European.
I am not racist. I don't like ILLEGALS. the illegals in my state happen to Mexican most of the time. So hence I don't like them. The culture of their child raising sucks. BIG FAT SUCKS. Like I said. You don't know. So you can't say anything. My husband's entire Mexican American family hates the Mexicans from Mexico. They think they are a plague. But the Mexicans don't like the chicanos either so. Northern Soranos vs Southern Soranos... take your pick. If you don't know first hand you can't say anthing. Puta.
@San Diegan: I also live in San Diego and for those that don't know...Tijuana, Mexico is right next to us. We have a large illegal population here, which truthfully consists of Hispanics. I have empathy for those that come here to seek a better life. In Mexico there is not only a great deal of poverty, but corruption galore among top people. There are drug gangs as well and it is very dangerous to go across the border these days and kidnapping is very common. If I lived in Mexico, I would leave too. I don't have a problem w/people entering this country illegally if they truly want a better life and have family to provide for. Esp. if they see it as their only option. My problem is w/all the women who come to the U.S., get pregnant so their children will be automatic c U.S. Citizens, then collect WIC, Food Stamps, Welfare and Medi-Caid. Also, our hospitals NEVER refuse healthcare if someone has an emergency so they treat illegal immigrants who have no health insurance. And we also never deny illegal children a U.S. education and free lunches. On a personal level, as a nanny it is very difficult to find a decent paying nanny job. There are many women here who work as nannies for less than $10 an hr. They work under the table as well which families love since they don't have to pay taxes. I admit, it's nothing racial...I just am frustrated that many of these nannies are affecting my chances of getting a decent salary. I do not think they are "bad" nannies at all...I simply resent having to work for less than what I am worth. Period. If any of you watch the News, you all know that our state is broke beyond belief. San Diego is even broker. Yet we are paying more than $4.00 a gallon for gasoline.
I read and re-read this post and do not think OP is being racist. My God mother was Mexican (R.I.P. Dona Nacha :( and I have many many Mexican and Cuban friends. I think OP was stressing more the behavior that these nannies were engaging in and they just happened to be Hispanic. If she truly were being racist, she would have point blank have said something derogatory about RACE, which she clearly did not do. She simply stated that she sees a group of Hispanic nannies at the mall, etc.
Sadly, you all are focused so much on this racism thing that the main point here is being totally glossed over. Kids are being neglected people. Stop playing the race card and think about the children!!!! This reminds me of the O.J. Simpson trial all over again which is problematic.
I am Mexican-American and my family came here as immigrants. My parents had to go through the proper channels in order to obtain legal status which they have now. :)
I hate it when I see people on T.V. (primarily Hispanic descendants like me) who act like they are entitled to legal status "just because." Sorry, life does not work that way. My parents had to learn English, pay a lot of money + wait a long time to get their legal status. They never got anything handed to them just because they felt like they deserved it.
Sorry, but I am 100 percent Hispanc, yet I resent illegal immigration. I personally believe they are ruining our country. They come here and steal jobs from so many citizens. But they are not completely at fault. I also fault the families that hire a $5 Dollar an hour nanny just because they can.
Guys, the point I am trying to prove here is that even us Mexicans disapprove of illegal immigration. Cesar Chavex was opposed to it as well, yet he was a very respected Latino. Just because the Original Poster said these Hispanic nannies were ignoring their charges doesn't mean she was saying that all Hispanic people are bad.
*Chavez
Ok give me your address so I can tell all the ones here to go to live with you! You're an idiot if you can't see what is going on around you. I'm very happy that you have empathy but it is geared towards the wrong set of people. The majority do not want what they are claiming and you don't realize that. Oh yeah but CA is wierd anyway. YOu guys aren't even allowed to carry guns to protect yourselves. LOL.
Have empathy all you want. I don't give two shits about them because they don't give two shits about you. They laugh at you and they would never ever give you the time of day. Think about it real hard. There is a reason AZ is up in arms about this. We have the gaul to stand up for what is right for our state. While the liberals in CA want to give everything away. I hope to hell that when we start passing stricter laws they go live by you. Juarez is 1,000 times more dangerous than a Mexicao vacation spot you border with. Texas deals with more crap than you can imagine.
But whatever. i'm done talking about a subject with someone who wants to let them all in because they are all "trying to supprt their families" yeah idiot by taking from ours!
Brown and Proud said exactly what my husbands family feels. They came here and had to do it the right way.
Thanks for explaining it.
I think the OP was attacked just because she said the nannies were Hispanic. I don't feel this is racist as it is an identifying factor in this case. She was not saying ALL hispanic nannies are horrible but the ones who come to this mall, at this time are.
And sorry Bostonnanny but while I understand how you can took offense to the post, telling her to sit and talk with this group and get to know them makes no sense here. These kids are obviously being ignored and since there were a lot of nannies it would be too tough to point out one or two. The fact that one child hit her head on the floor, was crying and the nanny never noticed? Shows serious neglect to me.
For those of you who claim that saying "Latino/Hispanic nannies" is racist, how would you like posters of nanny sightings to describe the nanny they see?
For example, let's pretend I saw a skinny white nanny with red hair and an arm tatto mistreating her charge. Can I say exactly that, or do I need to say:
Nanny who might, maybe, possibly, perhaps be Caucasian/Western European or maybe not, with red hair that might or might not be dyed and a personal expression of her idiosyncratic desire to not blend in with the crowd placed on her extremely small, less-than-fleshy, arm was spotted today doing XYZ. Her general body type matches her arm, with her other arm, torso, and legs also lackiong in excess flesh.
If OP saw hispanic/latina nannies, then she needs to say that to alert parents of the children that may be involved.
That said, assuming these nannies were underpaid was understandable (since many employers of all sorts feel they can pay potentially illegal immigrants poor wages), but frankly, I've met very well paid nannies who were truly worthless, and poorly paid nannies who were fantastic. Assuming that less than stellar job performance equals poor pay is kind of silly.
I strongly disagree with your last sentence Tales, etc. You get what you pay for in life. If this weren't true, then the adage would not exist today, but it still does. As with any categorization, there are ALWAYS EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE..ALWAYS. I can say all the Nazis were mean and bad people, yet there could have been one or two who weren't. I can say all Asians are smart at Math & Science, but I am definitely the exception to the rule as I am sadly reminded each day. LOL.
For the most part, a nanny's wage is attached to her work performance. If I were making $10/Hr, I would do the bare minimum honestly. I would never neglect my charge or abuse him or her, yet I may not go the extra mile by doing any household duties that were not required. Yet if I was being paid $15/Hr, I may go the extra mile and empty the dishwasher or take out the trash even though it is not part of my job. Get it??! It all boils down to morale. It is not a silly belief at all Tales, etc. This is why Nanny agencies can provide nannies with higher paying clientele. The nanny needs to meet certain qualifications in order to even be considered for some of these higher-paying positions. Sure, you can advertise on CL for free....but from my own personal experience, many of these families are cheap. Oh..there goes another generalization....I know..I know...there will be someone who will tell me that they met a great family via CL so that means what I just said is absolutely bogus.
@Phoenix: For the record, we are allowed to carry guns in CA. Please don't get us confused with Japan. Sheesh....
CA has waaay more illegal immigration woes than Texas does, I believe. Why so?? Because we are a much larger state...duh??! I am a Democrat, yet I disagree with the way they are handling things in this manner. I blame illegal immigration for why the nanny rates are so low here at home in San Diego. See for yourself. Browse Craigs List and you will see. Rich families in La Jolla who want someone to work 50 + hrs per wk, cook for the family and do all the cleaning and wash, for only ten bucks an hour. Sadly, they will find someone to do it for cheap. Us nannies who are legal have basically two options. Find a new profession or work for seven bucks an hour since if we leave, there is always a long line of illegal nannies just waiting to snatch our job away. Plus, families prefer hiring Hispanic nannies since their children will speak both Spanish and English which is a huge asset here in CA.
I did not think that the post was racist. The ethnicity is irrelevant here. When nannies huddle together in large groups, kids do not get the attention they need. As a mom I know that I sometimes do not pay as much attention to my kid when I am talking with a friend as when I am on my own. I understand that nannies want a break and need social interaction, but it is possible to do that and still have an eye and interact with the child. The situation that OP describes is not acceptable.
Truth seeker, I'm sure there are plenty of people like you, who put forth an effort based on what they are earning versus what they see as their dollar value. My question to you is this:
If you aren't earning what you think you deserve, how does minimal effort help you advance to a better paying position?
If I hired a nanny for $10 per hour, I would expect her to do her best for me. I would also expect that she would eventually find a better paying job, BASED ON her excellent work for me and my recommendation to her potential employers that she was a hard worker who gave her best.
Maybe I'm old fashioned or foolish to still believe that hard work for a low salary helps one progress to a better salary, but I would rather believe in that than accept that everyone out there is a cynical, somewhat self-entitled, slightly lazy person who does the bare minimum they feel they should do based on their salary.
@Phoenix:
Spanish? you mean Spaniards?
Also:
Puta, lo serás tú. Yo también sé hablar Español y quizás mejor que tú.
I completely agree with Tales on the concept of nanny salary and performance. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have never, within a normal range, seen a correlation between what I pay a nanny (or what she $ requests) and her job performance. Yes, if you are paying a nanny below a market range for your area, you are going to limit your choices and include more women doing the job for the wrong reason - desperation for money. However, both amazing long term nannies and the 2-4 amazing sitters I have had asked for or accepted the standard starting salary of $15/hr. Now because these women were amazing, I was happy to give them good raises, perks and bonuses to reward them and make the job more enticing financially. I have absolutely tried hiring the young women (usually new college grads) asking me for $20/hr for occasional sitting with no other duties, thinking that perhaps I was missing something by not accessing this group. Guess what? They were universally subpar. Not all terrible, though some were, but doing less, on the phone/text less, less initiative, messy and entitled.
I believe a professional, experienced nanny/sitter knows the market salary of her area. She asks for a reasonable, but not high starting salary because she understands the market. Any good employer then cherishes finding such a nanny and will go to great lengths to keep them. They do exactly as Tales described: do their job to the best of their ability and get rewarded with a long-term position in which they are respected and given rapid advances in salary and benefits. I believe in a core work ethic. Either you have it or you do not. If you do, you do your best at every job (within reason, I don't mean anyone can be perfect or give 100% all the time). If you don't, you always find some excuse why you won't work hard - either pure laziness or some perceived mistreatment by your employer. It isn't hard to separate the two groups very quickly as an employer, either in the nanny profession or supervising residents in my day job.
Also, just a thought on the racism thread running through this post -
Having just returned from a trip to Arizona where we used a nanny agency, I do think it gave me a new perspective on the rampant, angry venom we see toward new immigrants in AZ and TX. FWIW, I have lived in San Diego in the past and saw nothing like this so I think it is something unique to a certain mix of races/class. First of all, the nanny agency charged only $11/hour for 3 kids paid to the nanny (plus a small fee of $15-25 paid to agency). I find this shockingly low, but talking to the women we employed they felt it was very good money for the area and job.
I apologzie in advance as this is going to be a bit long-winded and just my initial thoughts. In NYC and SD, we do see some anti-immigrant sentiment, but it is not the norm. In AZ, it is *everywhere*. I think the difference is that AZ has a true lower class white population that is competing directly with the new immigrants for the jobs. The white population in AZ is virtually identical to the immigrant population in education, class, and income. Compare this to NYC where there really aren't many white, MC-UMC women who want nanny jobs. There are new college grads who want to be part-time sitters, but they don't want the full-time jobs. Those employing nannies and even those who aren't, but don't want to work in nannying, have no reason to feel such resentment toward immigrants. In NYC, the immigrants and non-white population are often doing jobs the white population does not want to do so lower-middle class caucasians are happy the group exists to fill this role. There really isn't a huge lower-LMC caucasian population in NYC and those that are here are generally only temporarily in that position.
In SD, things were somewhere in between though on average there was still far less anger toward immigrants than AZ. Again, I think this is because of similar reasons to NYC. Though there is more of a MC caucasian population in SD, it is still FAR less than what I saw in AZ. Plus, those many caucasians in SD who were competing for nanny jobs were also viewing it as a temporary job for a few years while they enjoyed living in SD.
I hope I'm not unintentionally expressing racism here and apologize if it is perceived that way. I'm constantly trying to understand views I cannot relate to and my recent experience was eye-opening for me!
nycmom - you explain things in a statistical tactful way not using profanity and controversial designations/assumptions...s'nice.
Yeah, I'm suuuuuuure all Latina nannies act like this. Give me a break, OP. Can you say more racist things in this post?
@ Tales
You can say "the nannies in question happened to be Latina". There, now you know the nannies in question are Latina. And that doesn't smack of "Yeah, I live in Texas, which is full of those Spanish nannies and I SEE what they do!" which is an implication against ALL Latina nannies.
In addition, you're silly if you think "here, be a slave for a wage that wouldn't cut it in a lot of cities" is going to make people work harder. It will make people go home, look at their paycheck and feel like garbage, which honestly? Unless you're about 16 years old (and even if you are) $10 an hour is garbage for most nanny positions. People in NYC still try to pay that when anyone could go get a full time job at Starbucks for the same hourly, plus benefits, plus actual respect.
In general:
Another agreement with the nanny salary versus care. People hire Latinas because they don't want to pay them and usually when someone brings up in an ad that they want a "Latina nanny" they REALLY mean "I want a Latina nanny who isn't a citizen and will work for $2.50 an hour" not "I want a respectable Latina nanny who will force me to abide by a contract and except me to pay a living wage." Quit blaming people who just want to get some work for "taking jobs away from citizens". When those "citizens" are hiring these nannies and paying them nothing, THEY are the ones taking jobs from you. THEY are the ones who basically are looking at you and going HAHA! The nannies are just working. The people with the paychecks to give are handing them away. Blame THEM.
@Anni: I semi-agree that part of the blame should lie with the employers who pay such piddly wages to illegal immigrants. They are definitely part of the problem here. But some of the blame lies with these illegal immigrants as well since they are part of the equation too. It is a two-way street, and if you look at it objectively, the illegal immigrants are the thieves and the employers are the enablers/accomplices here.
Nycmom, as a San Diego resident, I agree with the dyanmics you listed. That is a very interesting assessment that maybe some of our politicians have never even considered. I totally am with you 100% on this.
However, I do not agree that pay doesn't affect the type of childcare you receive. Be realistic. You were paying a high rate to young girls. The younger generation is less appreciate than their predecessors and have more self-entitlement issues by and far. If you hire a 20-something nanny, then you will get an inexperienced girl who is still a kid herself in most respects. You were a fool to pay a young girl such a high salary...you should have hired an older nanny with more life experience under her belt. An older nanny has more common sense, parenting experience and a mature and appreciative manner as opposed to a young girl who is just starting out her life...
@Tales from the N'Hood: I agree that starting a job with lower pay, then climbing up the ladder to better pay w/benefits is ideal. We all must pay our dues sometime, right?? Not so in the nanny profession. One can work for a great family who treats her like a queen, she can make a great salary and get her health care provided, yet in a few years it is inevitable that the child will go to school and she will be back at square one. In the corporate world people go in entry-level, pay their dues than get promoted. The nanny profession is unique in that it works more like a lottery. If a nanny has great pay than it is most likely based on chance as opposed to "paying her dues."
OP, you asked, 'Can I help these children?' Yes, actually you can. When you see something out of hand such as the girl falling and hitting her head, speak up and say something. While it would be great if the parents of these children showed up at the mall to observe, that is probably not going to happen. If someone really crosses the line, speak up if you feel that strongly about the situation. If a child is left unattended, call mall security. Maybe that will shake up the people who are neglecting these children.
Bravo! Well said...
Why is this comment thread so politicized? We all know Texas has a huge Latin population--pointing it out doesn't make someone a racist. I didn't see OP saying that the nannies were illegals. We all have an opinion on illegal immigration but I don't think this is the place to discuss it. I applaud OP for bringing this particular story-time to the attention of Dallas-area parents. Hopefully they'll heed her warning and maybe stop by to see if their own children are being properly supervised. And, to reiterate what NVMom said, yes of course you can always speak up when you see a child get hurt.
"anonymous", that was a tremendous display of irony! I mean, calling Phoenix out for calling names and not posting under her real name, then calling HER a name and posting anonymously. Terrific performance art piece. Congrats!
I agree Tales...talk about the pot calling the kettle black.
What? Give my real name...uh no. You give me your real name. Call me a coward you posted under Anonymous. You're a little bass ackwards ain't you.
I agree, I may have categorized all Latino nannies in my post, however, that was NOT my intent. My post was focused on this ONE group of nannies at the mall, not ALL nannies. There are also som great nannies at this mall, some are Latino, some are white some are not. So my post was only about the nonsense going on at Northpark Mall, not things that are going on in other border states, not about the nanny down the street from you who is Mexican, it was strictly about what I have seen at the mall when I have been there. My goal was to warn parents, check in on your kids, find out what is going on, open lines of communication and let all nannies know what you expect of them in your home and in public. Yes, you are right, I could speak, I could say something and maybe I will do just that this week when I go with my 2 year old charge, however, as a nanny I take my job serioulsy and I have to say that getting involved in what could be a heated debate in the mall is probably not the best idea while my charge is present. Anyway, didn't mean to start a racial debate, it's not about race, it's about this group of nannies and the parents who hired them.
Sincerely,
Texas
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