The Nanny Diaries

Right after I was hired in early June, I quickly secured daycare for my children. It wasn't an easy task, especially since Big Sister goes to kindergarten half days and needs both before and after-school care. She was going to early morning care at her school, and then would have taken a bus to a local Montessori in the afternoon. Little Sister was going to come with me everyday to our on-site daycare facility. At the end of July, early August, only a few weeks before school started, I called the daycare facility where I work just to confirm things, and was told that they lost my paperwork, and didn't have a spot left. You have no idea what an upheaval that created. I had to quickly check out other facilities, but could not find a situation that would allow me to be at my job on time every day, 7:30 a.m. I wound up spending one entire weekend interviewing nannies, and hired one. She lasted one day. Mabel (not her real name), an older woman, who knew it all and was the "BEST" arrived and immediately started giving me her two cents on everything. The worst part was when she didn't think Big Sister (age 5 1/2) needed any supervision at the park, and could go to a separate park away from her little sister on her own. After that, she was gone.

Next came a Romanian woman, referred by a friend of a friend whom I was told would care for the children "like her own and work hard." Both turned out to be untrue. Mona (not her real name) has ZERO personality. She interviewed well and seemed happy and sweet, but within a few days, showed her true colors. First of all, she refuses to follow my simple directions like feeding my kids healthy meals. I spent 30 minutes one day creating a meal chart of what foods to prepare for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. She followed it for two days and then stopped,and has been continually feeding them M&M's all day. She even put M&M's in their Jello one day. When she empties my dishwasher, she shoves clean stuff wherever, including silverware How hard is it to put the spoons with the spoons, and the forks with the forks. Rather, she just throws everything in there. The worst part about Mona is her lack of empathy for my kids. When they cry over Mommy leaving in the morning, she stands back and laughs at them. I have also heard that she spends her days laying on my couch. I am really upset over this and want her gone NOW. Of course, life isn't that easy. I have to find someone else first. I am going to interview four more potential nannies this weekend. Wish me luck and send those much needed prayers.