Caught My Nanny Red Handed...Err...Or Blue Handed...

[Anonymous]

Okay this may or may not mean anything, but here goes:

My nanny is 45 years old and is wonderful. My 2 year old son just loves loves her and so do I. She is always on time, very reliable, a great communicator and just as nice as can be.

She gets down on the floor and plays with my son and actively engages with him the majority of the time. The T.V. is never on and she takes him for walks to the playground every day as well as makes crafts with him.

Okay so my son takes a 1 to 1 1/2 hour daily nap and during that time I let her do whatever she wants. She can eat her lunch, watch T.V., rest up...do whatever. It is her time.

Well the one day last week I came home (she knew ahead of time, I texted to let her know,) at my son's nap time to pick something up for work, and found her coloring in one of his coloring books. When she saw me, she didn't look embarrassed & she just continued coloring. I was surprised and made a joke which I now cannot remember, but it had to do with her coloring at her age.

She told me she has always loved to color and that she sometimes colors during my son's nap times because she gets sleepy and it helps her stay awake and it also relaxes her. She says she finds it enjoyable.

Is it me or is it weird that a 45 year woman likes to color on her own?
After she left, I thumbed through some of my son's coloring books and there are quite a few pages colored by her.

This is not a deal-breaker or anything where I am considering letting her go. Nor am I considering asking her to purchase extra coloring books or crayons, etc.

I love her and think she is awesome. I just find this a little "off.

My husband thinks it is funny and endearing.

[Anonymous]

You're creepy. Get a life.

[Anonymous]

Google "active meditation" or "mandalas." She is doing a soothing task mindfully as a way to relax and center. I do the same thing (usually not coloring books, but I will fill an entire sheet of paper with a specific doodle, etc.). It is similar to what people enjoy about gardening or cooking: focus on completeing a concrete task and being "present."

[Anonymous]

Completely normal. I see it along the same lines as knitting, cross-stitching, crocheting, etc. She's keeping her hands busy and doing something creative.

Would you still think it was off if she was using a blank sketch pad and using colored pencils? oil pastels?

[Anonymous]

Coloring can actually be very calming, even for adults. When my own kids were younger I found a Mandala coloring book that I bought for them, but I would often tear out my own sheet and color along with them. I think the "pattern" aspect of the mandalas made it particularly enjoyable

It might be nice if you could buy a couple coloring books for her, and maybe her own set of colored pencils (seem a bit more grown up than crayons to me )

Or you could even find mandala coloring sheets online to print out, and just keep a few in the same area as your sons coloring books--and maybe she'll get the hint and color those instead of in your son's books.

http://printmandala.com/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Completely normal. I see it along the same lines as knitting, cross-stitching, crocheting, etc. She's keeping her hands busy and doing something creative.

Would you still think it was off if she was using a blank sketch pad and using colored pencils? oil pastels?

This. I'm 28 and sometimes I really enjoy coloring (although I prefer colored pencils over crayons!). It is just keeping my hands busy and I find it fairly relaxing. I love coloring because I wish I could draw, but I'm God awful at it. At least there is already a picture in front of me vs having to come up with something on my own!

[Anonymous]

I like to color. Have I done it during nap time no but if its out on the table and the kids are playing together and I'm bored I color or will do a kids crossword puzzle.

[Anonymous]

OP your radar is way off. This is a normal, meditative activities many adults enjoy. Sometimes I enjoy coloring in adult coloring books (more complex patterns) but it is much more relaxing to color a page in my son's Easter activity book. I find your reaction far stranger than her coloring during naptime.

[Anonymous]

You seriously need to find a real problem. I'm 43 and I color my daughter's coloring books all the time. With all the drugs, illegal activity, negligence, laziness, carelessness out there... you are seriously going to sit there and take the time to post about your nanny coloring????????????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Coloring can actually be very calming, even for adults. When my own kids were younger I found a Mandala coloring book that I bought for them, but I would often tear out my own sheet and color along with them. I think the "pattern" aspect of the mandalas made it particularly enjoyable

It might be nice if you could buy a couple coloring books for her, and maybe her own set of colored pencils (seem a bit more grown up than crayons to me )

Or you could even find mandala coloring sheets online to print out, and just keep a few in the same area as your sons coloring books--and maybe she'll get the hint and color those instead of in your son's books.

http://printmandala.com/

This, get her a nice book and her own crayons/markers/color pencils as a gift. Or, tell her to feel free to take a nap.

[Anonymous]

Even before I became a nanny, I sometimes for the urge to color and had a jumbo box of crayons, pencils, markers etc on hand in addition to blank sketch books. Sometimes I like to color someone's else's image, sometimes I like to draw my own. Until now, it never occurred to me that anyone would think this was an odd thing to do. I prefer simple ones over intricate designs. I don't like to color THAT much. Like PPs, I don't see how it's any more strange than knitting, gardening etc. The added bonus is they go quick and you don't get sucked in and can only stop when to get to a certain point or you'll lose track of where you are. I also enjoy crossword puzzles and Games Magazine so I enjoy a variety of relaxing activities.

[Anonymous]

I'm an uptight bitch but even I agree with your husband.

[Anonymous]

Seriously, OP, you would post about this?! I am an adult and I love to color in my kids' coloring books when they are asleep. It is very relaxing and calms my mind.
Clearly it is something that you should try. Maybe you'd stop looking for problems where none exist.

[Anonymous]

Jeez OP. This is charming and lovely. And why on earth do you care?

It sounds like you have a gem of a nanny so I would urge you to remind yourself of the laundry list of positive, crucial things you listed about your nanny any time you have a critical thought like this.

- MB

[Anonymous]

Um I'm a 30 year old nanny and I color all the time. In fact I recently went on a beach trip with a group of friends and had crayons and coloring books in my tote bag from having the kids out the day before and literally everyone made fun of me..cut to the end of the weekend almost all of them had sat down at one point and colored a few pages. Why don't you Google videos of nannies caught on nanny cams slapping and throwing things at children or worse and then find something real to complain about?