The parents never mentioned their four-year-old wasn't toilet trained.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't see it as an issue. If the child was 7 then that would be strange to not mention. But at 4 I've nannied for two different 4 year olds who wore diapers.

Yikes. I don't believe you're a nanny, but if you want to be one, you should study some child development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many of these children do in fact have a horrible problem:
NEGLECTFUL parents.
Sorry, but who cares if they're nice people?

Three and four year old children need to be toilet trained.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I asked the parents about muscle tone when they got home and they said he was normal. He was very tall for his age. The parents just believe that he should initiate all toilet training.

I should have been warned. It was a very unpleasant day and he was quite an unpleasant child. Very spoiled and badly behaved in general.

I will turn down all requests to care for him again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see it as an issue. If the child was 7 then that would be strange to not mention. But at 4 I've nannied for two different 4 year olds who wore diapers.

Yikes. I don't believe you're a nanny, but if you want to be one, you should study some child development.

I have a masters degree in early childhood education. I potty train children when I'm told to by the parents. And yes some wait until age 5 or right before kindergarten. I've also potty trained a 1 yr old. Every family I'd different, I follow their direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see it as an issue. If the child was 7 then that would be strange to not mention. But at 4 I've nannied for two different 4 year olds who wore diapers.

Yikes. I don't believe you're a nanny, but if you want to be one, you should study some child development.

I have a masters degree in early childhood education. I potty train children when I'm told to by the parents. And yes some wait until age 5 or right before kindergarten. I've also potty trained a 1 yr old. Every family I'd different, I follow their direction.

OMG - that is truly disgusting. A five-year-old in diapers?! Parents, of course, can do whatever they want but they will NOT get me as a nanny or even occasional babysitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see it as an issue. If the child was 7 then that would be strange to not mention. But at 4 I've nannied for two different 4 year olds who wore diapers.

Yikes. I don't believe you're a nanny, but if you want to be one, you should study some child development.

I have a masters degree in early childhood education. I potty train children when I'm told to by the parents. And yes some wait until age 5 or right before kindergarten. I've also potty trained a 1 yr old. Every family I'd different, I follow their direction.

OMG - that is truly disgusting. A five-year-old in diapers?! Parents, of course, can do whatever they want but they will NOT get me as a nanny or even occasional babysitter.

+1 I also feel very sorry for the poor 5 yr old child still in diapers. One poop among his friends and he will be teased mercilessly by his peers.

[Anonymous]

I knew a nanny whose charge was four-and-a-half and still breastfeeding.

I will never understand some parents...

[Anonymous]

I am very surprised by negativity here from professional child caregivers. Seriously? I understand it is unpleasant to change poopy diapers of big kids, and yes parents might have needed to disclose more, but these are the kids that you are paid to cared for, and somewhere in the process you must have said "I LOVE kids"... So, OK, you just got to a family and see this as an issue, so talk to the parents as a professional. There might be medical issues, parents might have read some article that "kids need to initiate it" and don't know any better, etc... It doesn't necessarily mean parents are lazy... You should be working as a team with the parents, not blaming/judging them at every corner -- then you will never have productive, professional healthy relationship.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am very surprised by negativity here from professional child caregivers. Seriously? I understand it is unpleasant to change poopy diapers of big kids, and yes parents might have needed to disclose more, but these are the kids that you are paid to cared for, and somewhere in the process you must have said "I LOVE kids"... So, OK, you just got to a family and see this as an issue, so talk to the parents as a professional. There might be medical issues, parents might have read some article that "kids need to initiate it" and don't know any better, etc... It doesn't necessarily mean parents are lazy... You should be working as a team with the parents, not blaming/judging them at every corner -- then you will never have productive, professional healthy relationship.

OP stated clearly that there are no medical issues as reported by the parents. You have no idea what kind of nonsense most nannies/babysitters have heard and seen from parents. Most nannies understand that issues as discussed here are never the child's fault -- and always the parents fault. And occasional weekend babysitters are NOT part of the "team".

I would never knowingly accept a occasional weekend job to care for a NORMAL 4 year old who was still in diapers. I would have no respect for the parents I was working for and that is never a good situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am very surprised by negativity here from professional child caregivers. Seriously? I understand it is unpleasant to change poopy diapers of big kids, and yes parents might have needed to disclose more, but these are the kids that you are paid to cared for, and somewhere in the process you must have said "I LOVE kids"... So, OK, you just got to a family and see this as an issue, so talk to the parents as a professional. There might be medical issues, parents might have read some article that "kids need to initiate it" and don't know any better, etc... It doesn't necessarily mean parents are lazy... You should be working as a team with the parents, not blaming/judging them at every corner -- then you will never have productive, professional healthy relationship.

Was it not important to you when you took your job that you respected the company you worked for?

That is a key for me -- as a nanny I must respect the parents that I work for. I would never accept a position from parents who believed in hitting their child or who believed in opening their child to ridicule by not toilet training until the child was four. If I found out either I would quit immediately (or int he case of this occasional, weekend nanny - I would never work for them again).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't see it as an issue. If the child was 7 then that would be strange to not mention. But at 4 I've nannied for two different 4 year olds who wore diapers.

Yikes. I don't believe you're a nanny, but if you want to be one, you should study some child development.

I have a masters degree in early childhood education. I potty train children when I'm told to by the parents. And yes some wait until age 5 or right before kindergarten. I've also potty trained a 1 yr old. Every family I'd different, I follow their direction.

OMG - that is truly disgusting. A five-year-old in diapers?! Parents, of course, can do whatever they want but they will NOT get me as a nanny or even occasional babysitter.

That's not a standard of anything.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you shouldn't be a nanny/babysitter then. I've cleaned up after a 6 year old who had an accident. This job just isn't for you, find an office job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you shouldn't be a nanny/babysitter then. I've cleaned up after a 6 year old who had an accident. This job just isn't for you, find an office job.

Take a breath, PP. If you don't understand the difference between an accident and constant diaper changes for a four-year-old then you aren;t bright enough to be a nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe you shouldn't be a nanny/babysitter then. I've cleaned up after a 6 year old who had an accident. This job just isn't for you, find an office job.

Take a breath, PP. If you don't understand the difference between an accident and constant diaper changes for a four-year-old then you aren;t bright enough to be a nanny.

+1 Accidents are "accidents". A four-year-old purposely crapping in pull-up that you have to clean is a different ball game all together. I turned down a job last year when during the interview the 3.5 year old boy went behind the couch I was sitting on and took a huge dump in his pull-ups. That was "his spot" his parents told me as the stench filled the room. He was entirely too old for that kind of behavior and I certainly didn't want to work for parents who thought it was okay.

[Anonymous]

A good, experienced babysitter can pick and choose her jobs. Parents should remember that when deciding to keep their child in diapers until they are five or raise a brat. If you have a high turn-over of babysitters with most who are never "available" when you call again -- the fault is in you or your parenting style.