Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So you're paying crappy wages to some immigrant who barely speaks English to watch your kid, and you expect her to care as much about your kid as you do?

Good luck with that.

45K/yr is crappy?

It isn’t great. $20/hr isn’t enough to get you Mary Poppins.

Nanny here. I am guilty of using my phone when my charges play. Because I work 13-hour days and my only break is when the kids are happily absorbed in a safe and confined area. That’s why we go to those places. I am supervising, but I’ve been doing this for over a decade. I don’t need to stare at them every second they are awake in order to keep them safe. If we are doing other activities (going on a hike, touring a museum, creating art, swimming, etc. etc.) then I am on and engaged the whole time. That is fun too but I can’t sustain it for 65 hours a week. And believe it or not I AM often doing kid-relatwd things. I volunteer at their school and need to email and text committee members, I order all their clothes, I order groceries every week and make all of their meals so I need to meal plan and use the instacart app and so on. Many nannies take on everything a SAH parent does but our standards are often higher since we are professionals. My charges eat home-cooked meals and only use screens when they are ill.

OP, I agree with you.

I SAH and at least 80% of nannies I see out and about SUCK. Ignoring the kids for very long stretches, then running around chasing them with their phone so that they can get one good photo of the kid for the parent.

And while as a sahm I certainly have my moments of checking out, what's remarkable is the percentage of nannies who are doing this at any one time versus moms. At a storytime we went to recently, there were maybe 12 nannies and 8 moms. All but one nanny was entirely ignoring their kids, and only one mom was, and that just for a moment. The other moms were engaged, tickling, having kid sit on their lap, wiping noses, or instructing kids on proper story time behavior. All but one nanny had kids running around wildly, with no attempt to get them to sit, no attempt to discipline after one kid hit another, etc. The only time they paid any attention was when it was time to get that precious photo of their kid at storytime standing near the librarian!!

Anonymous wrote:So you're paying crappy wages to some immigrant who barely speaks English to watch your kid, and you expect her to care as much about your kid as you do?

Good luck with that.

45K/yr is crappy?

At indoor play areas I try to stay out of the way. I sit on the bench and let the kids run around. We go there to let out energy and so the child can socialize with someone else other then me. Unless the child is toddling, caregivers should try and stay out of the way so the kids can explore and be around other kids.

Anonymous wrote:My sister asked me to watch her daughter (my niece) during my winter break from school because her nanny was taking a 2 week vacation.
I took her to gym classes, indoor playground, libraries, etc during that time and noticed a lot of nannies suck.
They just sit there on their phones chatting/texting/instagramming away while the kids just hung out by themselves. Every once in awhile the nannies would look up to take a picture and text the mom/dad boss I'm guessing. It's just sad because I know these parents are paying their nannies ALOT of money. Just a vent, it sucks.

You know nothing...

You don’t actually know if they were nannies or parents.

You don’t know what they are being paid, if they are nannies.

You watched a child during your winter break. You have no idea what actual full time childcare is like and the exhaustion it puts on someone.

You are a typical arrogant student. Get off your high horse and come back when you actually experience life and children longer than 2 weeks.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a SAHM and believe in letting my child play and interact without me hovering. I would expect the same from a nanny. Also, you should consider that the nanny is probably looking up child related things while their charge is busy playing. It’s better to be distracted by the phone while your child is occupied than when you’re one on one, obviously. I do a lot of planning at night but I wouldn’t expect a nanny to do that on their off time.

Lol!

So you're paying crappy wages to some immigrant who barely speaks English to watch your kid, and you expect her to care as much about your kid as you do?

Good luck with that.

I’m a SAHM and believe in letting my child play and interact without me hovering. I would expect the same from a nanny. Also, you should consider that the nanny is probably looking up child related things while their charge is busy playing. It’s better to be distracted by the phone while your child is occupied than when you’re one on one, obviously. I do a lot of planning at night but I wouldn’t expect a nanny to do that on their off time.

I'm a SAHM and I'm on my phone at these things, too. As long as my kid is happy and playing, I deserve a break. What am I supposed to do - stare at her while she plays? If she brings me a book or a toy, then I absolutely put my phone down and engage with her. And I'm looking up from my phone every 2 seconds anyway to make sure she's behaving, and if she takes a toy from someone etc I get up and tell her she needs to share. But if everything is going fine, then I'm gonna enjoy my downtime. Honestly, I think it's healthy for kids to be independent, and if I had a nanny, I would ask her to let my child play independently or with other kids as much as possible, instead of "engaging" with her constantly.

For every nanny that's out with a kid at a library, gym, playground, there's another who is sitting the kid in front of the television.

So, maybe they suck, but they could certainly suck more.

Engaging with a child 100% of the time is impossible and nobody does that, parent or nanny.

I've noticed this too, OP, but I'll say this. I'm a SAHM and I'm not 100% on with my kid all the time. I wouldn't expect a caregiver to be either.

Parents do the same thing. LOL.

My sister asked me to watch her daughter (my niece) during my winter break from school because her nanny was taking a 2 week vacation.
I took her to gym classes, indoor playground, libraries, etc during that time and noticed a lot of nannies suck.
They just sit there on their phones chatting/texting/instagramming away while the kids just hung out by themselves. Every once in awhile the nannies would look up to take a picture and text the mom/dad boss I'm guessing. It's just sad because I know these parents are paying their nannies ALOT of money. Just a vent, it sucks.