I also agree with your DH. Would you even be considering firing her if the police hadn't been involved?

Also, you never answered where the baby was. Right next to the front door? No big deal. Down on the sidewalk far in front of the house? Bigger deal.

I agree with your dh.

I'm a nanny who posted earlier that I never let kids out of my sight...we live in a big city! Perhaps, OP, you could just have a stern conversation with your nanny and move on from this. It sounds like you've been really happy with her thus far. I'd give her one more chance.

Anonymous wrote:"I live on a quiet suburban street and I have left my baby asleep, in the stroller, on the front porch as I unloaded the car or took my other child to the bathroom. I don't think it is a big deal. If I lived in downtown DC and there were many strangers walking up and down the sidewalk, directly in front of my home, I may think otherwise though."

Ditto. Presume that those posting that they are horrified all live in the city. Is that where you are too OP?

OP here We live in a quieter suburban area and yes many of my friends do the same when juggling groceries, although I have not. I'm taking the weekend to decide and just firing a nanny isn't the easiest thing to do. I work full time and don't want to be in a situation where I don't have childcare and am desperate to hire someone new especially when we have had such a good track record with our current nanny. I gave her the rest of the week off so that we could all have a rest and I could take some time to figure out what to do. That I can do because I have family in town so I have back up help for the next few days.

DH wasn't thrilled with that solution and believes she should continue on and has 100% confidence in her.

"I live on a quiet suburban street and I have left my baby asleep, in the stroller, on the front porch as I unloaded the car or took my other child to the bathroom. I don't think it is a big deal. If I lived in downtown DC and there were many strangers walking up and down the sidewalk, directly in front of my home, I may think otherwise though."

Ditto. Presume that those posting that they are horrified all live in the city. Is that where you are too OP?

I don't know....where do you live? If it's a quiet street on a nice day, it seems like it was probably a stupid move, but something that might be getting blown out of proportion. That's a hard one.

OP, Why are you posting? Just fire her and move on!

I also agree that it depends on the neighborhood. I am a nanny to a family that lives on a quiet cul de sac and MB and I both regularly leave the baby in the stroller outside the door while we bring the toddler in and get his shoes off, because the baby is much happier to wait outside than in.

Anonymous wrote:I live on a quiet suburban street and I have left my baby asleep, in the stroller, on the front porch as I unloaded the car or took my other child to the bathroom. I don't think it is a big deal. If I lived in downtown DC and there were many strangers walking up and down the sidewalk, directly in front of my home, I may think otherwise though.

Also live in the burbs and I've done the same. If I'm making multiple trips bringing groceries in from the car and the baby is sleeping, I see no difference in leaving the baby alone outside (assuming the weather is nice) vs alone inside while I'm going in and out. I've also seen my neighbor leave her youngest asleep in the stroller on the sidewalk while she plays with her older kids on the playground that is about 50 feet away. I see nothing wrong with that

Again though, this is a pretty quiet cul de sac that doesn't get many (if any) people coming through that don't live there. When I lived in the city, I never would have left dc downstairs/outside while I brought groceries up to our 4th floor walk up.

Anonymous wrote:I live on a quiet suburban street and I have left my baby asleep, in the stroller, on the front porch as I unloaded the car or took my other child to the bathroom. I don't think it is a big deal. If I lived in downtown DC and there were many strangers walking up and down the sidewalk, directly in front of my home, I may think otherwise though.

Exactly. Perhaps the cops were bored that day. We don't know.

I live on a quiet suburban street and I have left my baby asleep, in the stroller, on the front porch as I unloaded the car or took my other child to the bathroom. I don't think it is a big deal. If I lived in downtown DC and there were many strangers walking up and down the sidewalk, directly in front of my home, I may think otherwise though.

OP have you talked with her further about this?

She left your son unattended in the street?

It only takes a fraction of a second for someone to grab him if they wanted to.

This is a huge infraction on her part + deserves more punishment than a simple warning.

For the sake and well-being of your precious baby, you need to give her her walking papers. Stat.

This is an unforgivable offense in my book.

Did she explain why she left the baby outside for that long? How far away from the house was the baby? I nanny for multiples all the time and I'm tiny...I always carry both babies in together. I used to bring my own child to my old job. They lived in a three story walk up. I carried both my child (who was over 30 pounds) and their child up and down all three flights of stairs. Why? Because I could never justify leaving one of them outside for any period Of time.

I think her excuse is absolute baloney. the 6 month old was sleeping? why did she feel comfortable leaving a baby sleeping outside but not taking the baby in, THEN going back out to take the stroller out? why couldn't she interrupt his nap (okay, none of us like to wake a sleeping baby but that is ten times more preferable than leaving him outside unattended)? why couldn't she go a few more laps around the block to give him more sleep time and then bring him up?

finally, if your nanny was unable to manage the stroller and the baby this time, how do you know it hasn't happened before? if she has been your nanny for three years and hasn't figured out the stroller/baby/stairs combo, I think it's a safe assumption that she has done this before. I honestly would consider this a fireable offense. I'm sorry