op is right to post this that nanny needs to be sacked nothing to do with bad news by phone she was just having her long chat like all the other nannies that nanny just for the money seen it loads of times they sit there chatting away and just dont bother with the kids they look after so all you do gooders that say she might have had a problem rubbish she was just to busy nagging end of !! post her pic and hope the mum spots it !!

Absolutely right Doney 45. I'm glad I'm not the only one who disagrees with public naming and shaming on the basis someone not paying attention in a play area specifically designed to be child safe, Croation nanny or otherwise!!

Now my son is prone to over exuberance and is often too rough with other children, hence I watch him like a hawk. I have nothing but envy for those parents/ nannies who can relax with a magazine/ book/ phone while the kids play. Oh yes, isn't that want soft play is all about, magazines and newspapers supplied for the adults while the kids play. 'It's a Kids Thing' is my worst nightmare as you can't see the kids at all from the cafe area, so I could never take my son there as I know he needed close supervision. If we follow the OP's lead, every adult there is neglectful.

Also like you Doney 45', I have a daughter who likes to be babied. She was a late walker at 2 yrs, and even then refused to do it all for months, having screaming tantrums instead! She's two and a half now and often stands in the play park crying/ screaming for me to carry her. I do leave her to cry and make her to walk over to me. I know my child and it's only by pushing her to do things out of her comfort zone that she finds her confidence. The OP and many others who have commented would no doubt witness this incident and label me lazy and neglectful. My child is loved, cherished and happy, but also a screamer! It's very sad that people are so judgmental, they can be so so wrong. I wonder how much is actually about looking out for the children and how much is about a sense of superiority over others. If the OP saw a child hurt and crying, for goodness sake why not go and comfort the child rather than kicking off at the nanny. Bizarre! Equally bizarre were all the comments that followed, people jumping on a 'neglect' bandwagon without seeming to have actually read the contents of the post!

Like I said before, maybe the nanny is neglectful and the children are at risk. If that's the case I don't think shaming on an Internet forum is an appropriate way to deal with it. The idea of posting a picture of the woman!! WHAT??! Because she she didn't notice the child fall over??? I'm clearly in the minority here, but I think it's outrageous.

If the nanny is on her phone for a long time or playing games, she's not keeping her eye on her charges nor is she being professional. I've also seen nannies ignoring the children they were supposed to be keeping an eye on. Once two nannies were so busy chatting, I had to chase one of their charges from running into a busy road. They just ignored me, and kept chatting!

I personally don't follow my two around the playground given their age, but I do always keep an eye on what they are doing. Personally, if it had been my nanny, I'd appreciate the heads up.

You wanted to post a photo
A nanny drinking, a nanny smoking, a nanny smacking,
A nanny that was on her phone?????

However it's healthy for children to have times allocated that means no interaction from adults. This is also very good for child development, That nanny could have baked and planted with children all morning and was allowing some play without interaction.

My little girl often pretends not to be able to do the slide. (she's 4) and on purpose I pretend to be busy to help her find her own feet.
This is a child who will pretend she is unable to do many things age can. Sometimes allowing a half hr in the park has done wonders for her.
This is my view that's right for her.


I'm not saying that nanny is not in the wrong it's just wrong to shame her
When it's not a crime. For all you know she could have been calling the children's doctor. Or arranging play dates.

You've also just guessed the children's ages and could be completey wrong.
They could have been older and this was age appropriate for them.

Unfortunately I see far too many nannies in playgrounds sitting on the bench ignoring young children while they fiddle with their phones. Even if they are still keeping an eye on them, I think they should spend some time actually playing with the children and helping them on climbing frames and so on, just as parents would. I've seen wonderful nannies too, but so many don't seem to like their job.

I think a nanny abusing children,neglecting them is a perfect reason to try and help warn others. Although in this case you have not made it clear , when you say unsupervised, it sounds as though the nanny must have been very near them, for you to be supervising your own children. Aware of the nanny on the phone,and what the Children in her care got up to. I don't believe the children were unsupervised at all. Sounds like you must have all been in eye sight of each other.

[quote="Chestwig"It's allways the foreign Nannies/au pairs that do things like this.
Don't let it put you off getting a Nanny coz there are good ones out there I promise.
Kelly[/quote]

I think as an English person you should concentrate more on your spelling first, especially since you work with children! As for English nannies being 'better' - I've only ever worked for British people and and all of their preferences were for none British - that tells a story on its own!
I am certainly not against any nationality or race, I am trying to show you that you had no point and you should put more thought into your comments.

nanny_kitty wrote: I entirely disagree with the generalisation of "foreign" nannies though, there are both excellent and terrible nannies of all nationalities.

Very true

hjm wrote:This is both racist and untrue. I had a terrible, lazy English nanny and now have an amazing Polish one. We all know that there are good and bad nannies out their; their race or nationality is completely irrelevant. Let's stick to the point of the original post and try to help the person who posted.

Please show evidence for the racism. An above poster made an ill thought generalisation; it was not racist. I myself do see this thread becoming somewhat Eastern Europeancentric however there's no need to start race baiting. (Just so you know, I'm not English but I tire from people shouting 'racist' without considering the meaning of the word).

I think there is a difference between looking out for your community and snooping. I am glad there are people who are concerned for children's wellbeing however let's not turn that into prejudice or a witchhunt.

@nanny_kitty - very very well said. I couldn't agree more with you. As a mum of two who has childcare, if they are out without me, I hope that the community are my secret pair of eyes. I think it is fantastic that people post on here if they see something that worries them.

Given that nannying is a profession with little supervision by colleagues or management, and usually working with non-verbal children I think it is totally appropriate for nannies to be "outed" on a local forum. If you are doing your job properly then surely you have nothing to hide?

I entirely disagree with the generalisation of "foreign" nannies though, there are both excellent and terrible nannies of all nationalities.

Whatever is going on, at work she should put the children first. I think it's great that other people out there care enough to report things. Besides if something 'serious' is going on in her personal life I'm sure the parents would take that into consideration.

Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable at this trend for 'outing' foreign nannies?

Would any of us like a snapshot of one of our less glorious parenting moments photographed and broadcast online?

Who knows what the 'nanny' was dealing with on the phone? not me, not the OP. Perhaps it was a stressful phone call, illness, a bereavement, a problem with the children's parents. Perhaps being confronted by the OP was the last thing she needed.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe she was neglectful, but I feel very uncomfortable at judgements being banded around based on a snapshot of lives we can know nothing about.

It is so awful that people that do not have the vocation to work with children, do it just for the money.
I always loved the kids I looked after and I loved spending time with them. Each day I felt so grateful to have the possibility to spend my time with kids so amazing. I fully understood the feeling Mums and Dads had in the morning leaving them to go to work. I always made sure I had the best ideas to keep their most precious jewels happy safe and sound.