Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, it's "site" rather than "cite."

Also, this already exists. You need to do your research.

OP here. I tried looking for sites of a similar nature, but couldn't find any... if it does indeed exist, would you mind posting the link?

No. I'm not doing your research for you.

Anonymous wrote:
As an employer I would be VERY upset if my nanny was arranging playmates using an on-line match making service. So many problems here....


This. I want to vet the people my children are around, whether I bring them into contact with my children or my nanny does. I would not be comfortable with my nanny vetting them, no matter how much I love her and even trust her. Blame our current news culture or whatever, but there are just too many stories of pedophiles and grooming out there...

I agree with this. I prefer my nanny make play dates with children we already know through the various activities my child is involved in. Our nanny already sees many adults in any given day. They may not be her peers, but she can socialize after work with her peers, much the same way I do.

I would not use your site, nor would our nanny. Sorry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nice idea, but I think it depends on the nanny.

I'm pretty much an introvert, so I can easily go 12+ hours with just the babies and no adult conversation. However, I can see how others may need it.

+1...That's exactly how I am. And if I did want to socialize or what have you I would do it with various people we see at playgroups and classes. Not with random people off the internet. Too risky and my bosses would not be happy about that either.

The idea of meeting strangers gives me ridiculous anxiety. I have a hard enough time keeping plans with really good friends.

Op, i can tell you are really into your idea and that's great. But I think yiu should do some more planning and then re ask for opinions. You really seem to be glancing over the parents ' concern by saying the site isn't just for nannies. I think we get this but want to know how you are going to ensure the person on the other side of the computer isn't a pedophile searching for a 5 year old girl who lives within 10 miles of Timbuktu and likes ponies. I want to know how you plan to address this regardless of if it is me, my DH, or a nanny looking for a playmate. It seems like you haven't put any thought into how to go about setting up security and you really don't seem to be addressing that concern with posters.

I encourage you to investigate more into this and when you have a better idea, you'll have a more positive feedback.

Anonymous wrote:OP, it's "site" rather than "cite."

Also, this already exists. You need to do your research.

OP here. I tried looking for sites of a similar nature, but couldn't find any... if it does indeed exist, would you mind posting the link?

Anonymous wrote:MB here. I would love for my nanny to have a peer or two in the neighborhood with whom she, and our kids, could meet up/have playgroups/etc... during the day. It would be great for everyone.

That said, my nanny needs our help w/ anything online so she'd not be likely to use a service like this, unless I did it for her.

More importantly, as other posters have said, I would want to know with whom she and my kids were spending their time. And I'd probably want to meet the parents (or at least the Mom) to make sure we were like minded enough that this felt comfortable, that play spaces are safe, some shared rules/boundaries about where to go, what to do, diet, etc... are agreed upon, and so on.

So I like your idea in concept, but figuring out how to actually make it work well, and safely (lots of liability issues potentially) might be tough.

Thanks for your comment. It's thoroughly insightful. As I've mentioned in another comment, the parents will of course have to give their nanny permission to use this site, monitor her activities, and be actively involved in the process. SAHPs can also use it for similar purposes as well. The proposed sites greatest priority will be the safety of all parties involved, especially since we are dealing with children. How this will be accomplished will be difficult, so I'm still looking for suggestions (e.g. thorough background checks of both nannies and parents or something along those lines).

As is the case when MBs and DBs search for nannies to employ, this site will encourage them to greatly use their discretion and safety precautions beyond what the site can offer (as thorough and great as these may be) when searching for similar peers with charges/children who can make suitable playmates for their children and social interactions for themselves as well.

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a great idea but it needs some tweaking. There needs to be a safety factor for all parties using the site. As a nanny, I would love to be able to find some playmates for my charge- but this sounds very risky and I would never put him in harms way. Why not approach an established website and sell your idea to them? It could be a branch off from Care.com or Sittercity, unless you are prepared to build a website with background check security features. Good luck on this endeavor.

Thanks, and I totally agree with the safety factor. And I wouldn't mind promoting my idea to Care.com, Sittercity.com, or other sites of this nature if it will help nannies and SAHPs alike find playmates for their charges/children, and peers their own age to interact with as well.

Anonymous wrote:

I understand this "danger"aspect as well... but it's really no different from posting information on sites such as care.com, sittercity.com, craigslist, etc when searching for employment or someone to employ.

When an employer searches for nanny on an on-line site (or an employee responds to an ad) they take necessary precautions, employers do reference checks and background check, and its not an on-going activity etc.
This isn't happening with your on-line nanny playmate service. It could be very attractive to a predator and just by being on the sight the predator knows the nanny is someone who lets her guard down and takes risks.

You are basically putting the kid's at risk for getting involved with a potential creep/predator for no reason other than to find the nanny some social companionship while she is working.

Op here. This site won’t simply be geared towards nannies, it’s for SAHPs as well who would simply like to appropriately garner social interactions for themselves and/or their children/charges. I understand the danger aspect presented in this case, but this is simply a rough idea that I thought would be neat. Of course it needs a lot of work to make it safe, hence why I’m interested in constructive comments and suggestions that will push it towards that goal.

The website will be designed to protect all parties involved and, while I understand that predators can seep through the cracks (as they can on all sites of this nature), it’ll attempt to fairly and sufficiently screen and protect against this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an employer I would be VERY upset if my nanny was arranging playmates using an on-line match making service. So many problems here....

This. I want to vet the people my children are around, whether I bring them into contact with my children or my nanny does. I would not be comfortable with my nanny vetting them, no matter how much I love her and even trust her. Blame our current news culture or whatever, but there are just too many stories of pedophiles and grooming out there...

Agree, and I'm a nanny. My bosses are very clear about this.

Once again, this site won’t just be geared towards nannies; it will be geared towards SAHPs as well. Of course the nanny will need her employer’s permission to use this site, and the parents should be actively involved in helping her screen prospective social playmates for her charges and, hopefully, herself as well.

As I see it, it’s often difficult for many nannies and parents alike to form social interactions for themselves and their children/charges. Even when attending child activities and centers that have groups of nannies and parents engaging with each other, many individuals who attend either do not have the time to chat before/after the activity in order to set up further interactions outside of the center, or they simply do not wish to. The site will simply serve to connect nannies and SAHPs with other nannies and SAHPs who want this for themselves and their children/charges, but who cannot manage to find it elsewhere for whatever reason.

I’ll reiterate. The ultimate goal of this proposed site will be to allow nannies and SAHPs to discover peers their own age (whether they are other nannies or SAHPs) and who are located in their area that have children/charges around the same age as theirs, so that they can form social bonds for themselves and playmates/playgroups for their charges/children. I don’t want it to be “self-serving,” but “all” serving and multifunctional.

While I do understand the safety concerns presented here (after all, I’m a nanny myself, and I love children and wouldn’t do anything to harm them or put them in harm’s way), I’m just trying to work out a rough idea that I believe can have great potential if appropriately carried out.

So keep the comments, suggestions, concerns, etc. coming. They’re all greatly appreciated.

MB here. I would love for my nanny to have a peer or two in the neighborhood with whom she, and our kids, could meet up/have playgroups/etc... during the day. It would be great for everyone.

That said, my nanny needs our help w/ anything online so she'd not be likely to use a service like this, unless I did it for her.

More importantly, as other posters have said, I would want to know with whom she and my kids were spending their time. And I'd probably want to meet the parents (or at least the Mom) to make sure we were like minded enough that this felt comfortable, that play spaces are safe, some shared rules/boundaries about where to go, what to do, diet, etc... are agreed upon, and so on.

So I like your idea in concept, but figuring out how to actually make it work well, and safely (lots of liability issues potentially) might be tough.

OP, it's "site" rather than "cite."

Also, this already exists. You need to do your research.

Anonymous wrote:As an employer I would be VERY upset if my nanny was arranging playmates using an on-line match making service. So many problems here....

This again. I hate the idea someone online could look up my child based on her age,location, and likes. It's just asking for trouble and meeting in a public place doesn't necessarily prevent that. And other than Craigslist, sitter city and care.com have security measures. Fine if parents want to search for each other based in age, location and interests but please leave my child out if it.

Anonymous wrote:Nice idea, but I think it depends on the nanny.

I'm pretty much an introvert, so I can easily go 12+ hours with just the babies and no adult conversation. However, I can see how others may need it.

+1...That's exactly how I am. And if I did want to socialize or what have you I would do it with various people we see at playgroups and classes. Not with random people off the internet. Too risky and my bosses would not be happy about that either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an employer I would be VERY upset if my nanny was arranging playmates using an on-line match making service. So many problems here....

This. I want to vet the people my children are around, whether I bring them into contact with my children or my nanny does. I would not be comfortable with my nanny vetting them, no matter how much I love her and even trust her. Blame our current news culture or whatever, but there are just too many stories of pedophiles and grooming out there...

Agree, and I'm a nanny. My bosses are very clear about this.

Anonymous wrote:As an employer I would be VERY upset if my nanny was arranging playmates using an on-line match making service. So many problems here....

This. I want to vet the people my children are around, whether I bring them into contact with my children or my nanny does. I would not be comfortable with my nanny vetting them, no matter how much I love her and even trust her. Blame our current news culture or whatever, but there are just too many stories of pedophiles and grooming out there...

I think it's a great idea but it needs some tweaking. There needs to be a safety factor for all parties using the site. As a nanny, I would love to be able to find some playmates for my charge- but this sounds very risky and I would never put him in harms way. Why not approach an established website and sell your idea to them? It could be a branch off from Care.com or Sittercity, unless you are prepared to build a website with background check security features. Good luck on this endeavor.