Do Not Mess With the Peach!

I'm at the park today. Literally just hanging out while the kiddos played, noticing all the the different clicks. There's mainly nannies, but you have the Jamaican nanny group, and the Hispanic nanny group, and the Polish nanny group...they all hang out and talk in their corners. Then you have the occasional actual Mom. I have figured out that you can usually tell the Moms, they are the ones playing with their children. So blah, blah, blah that's what goes through my brain at the park.
Miss Peach and The Little Man are playing in the sandbox. We always bring extra toys to the sandbox, so the kiddos who forgot toys can play as well. Miss Peach was playing with her pink bucket. A little girl came up and wanted to play. Miss Peach offered her blue bucket. This girl wanted nothing to do with the blue bucket, she wanted the pink one. This little monster tried to grab it away from Miss Peach. Well, Miss P. took her bucket and moved to another part of the playground where she continued building sand castles. I kid you not, this little girl stomped over, knocked Miss P. down, stomped on her castle and proceeded to kick sand at her! I try not to get involved in the rules of the sandbox, but I thought Miss P. might be in over her head with this monster...I was wrong! My Peach got up and grabbed this girl with one hand by the throat (think Darth Vader in Star Wars) and took her down. I was stunned, so was the little monster:0 I was there in a flash to pull them apart. The nanny didn't even leave the park bench, can you believe that? So I guess I learned that my little girl can hold her own...wow, where did she learn that move? I wasn't sure how to handle it, 'cause the fact of the matter is...I thought the girl had it coming to her. So, I just told Miss Peach "we don't fight". Which was lame, but I didn't want to encourage this behavior.
You might think I sound anti nanny, I really don't mean to. Truth be told, if we could afford it, I'd love to have someone come in two afternoons a week just so I can take a sanity break. What worries me is many of the ones I see in the park don't pay as much attention to the kiddos as I would. For example, this sweet little girl was sitting at the top of the slide while Miss P and The Little Man were playing there, she obviously wanted someone to catch her at the bottom. Which I was doing for my babies. No one was paying attention to her since they were all talking to each other...so, I caught her at the bottom. I just felt bad for this little girl who had no one to catch her on the slide....As a parent, how do you know what caregivers are doing when you are gone? I don't know, maybe it's a good thing some kind of nanny isn't in our budget. If it was, how would I ever find someone I trusted? It certainly isn't working out for the little monster girl at the playground...

25 comments

  1. I'm glad that Miss Peach stood up for herself... as you said it is a hard situation because you don't want to encourage her to be "violent", but at the same time... girl "had it coming!"

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  2. Honestly, I'm glad that my daughter is in her 20's now because I think it's extremely hard to find anyone you can trust these days....it was hard back then. Even harder these days! I think you're better off watchin' your own Miss Peach! But you may want to consider one glass of wine each night! :))

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  3. It is nice to know she can handle herself. My 5-year-old lets kids walk all over her. Which is good and bad. But perhaps more bad than good?

    And the nannies, how sad. I agree, I'd love to have some help a few days a week. I have a housekeeper, I guess it's an either/or situation for us. And I'd rather play with my kids than clean the house, so there you have it. :-)

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  4. Good for Miss Peach.

    I feel sorry for the other girl though because there wasn't anybody around to teach her to play nicely in the first place.

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  5. You go girl! I'm proud of you, Miss Peach!! And mama, you are a wonderful parent! maybe its time to stick a note in the little monsters pocket for her momma to find! Then again, she probably doesn't do the laundry at her house...

    so sad.

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  6. I have seen that.

    Makes me so happy that we can not afford a nanny and that I can be there to catch them.

    ;)

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  7. there is a website where you can write about nannies and their behavior, you post it explaining where you were and what the kids and nanny looked like. honestly, i think it is great, and important. i have a sitter one day a week, i hate coming home and seeing her watch divorce court while my kids try to get her attention !!

    also, my sister had a nanny in nyc and there was the whole nanny clique thing. she had a haitan nanny at first and the girls had tons of friends. then she got a midwest nanny and NO ONE would talk to her or the girls. Crazy huh ?? day care sounds better when you hear all that.

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  8. Good for Miss Peach for standing up for herself. Good for you mommy for catching that little girl on the slide.

    I am so thankful that my children are the age they are now and I don't have to worry about nannies or daycare any longer. From past experience's no one can be trusted with our children except maybe other family members.

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  9. Your point about not being there to catch them really got to me. That is so sweet. I can truly say that I don't want anyone else catching my baby at the bottom.

    Glad Miss Peach can stick up for herself!

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  10. Maybe this is why the other girl wasn't behaving, maybe she just needed a little attention.
    Great that you caught her at the bottom of the slide !
    And yes, it's hard to find a great nanny but they are somewhere, I met one a few years ago at the playground. She was so great that I thought she was the mommy !!
    Way to go Miss Peach !

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  11. yah that other girl TOTALLY had it coming!

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  12. Yahoo Miss Peach. Love to hear another little lady sticking up for herself.

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  13. It's nice to find out what our children are really made of. How great she can stand up for herself.

    I don't know where you live, but I hired a couple of college girls to help me out. 3 kids in 2 years, a husband that travels and a move AWAY from family and friends...we couldn't afford NOT to have help! I was with them for the first couple of months so I got to see them with my kids first hand. It did suck to have to pay someone to be here when I was here though.

    How sweet of you to catch that little girl. She probably needs all the attention she can get.

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  14. i completely understand what you are saying! we go to the park everyday and it is me vs. the nannies. very few of them are paying a lick of attention to their kiddos. I too would love to have some help but say the same thing to my hubby--I don't want to pay someone to ignore my kids!

    and I'm not saying all nannies/babysitters are like this...just some of the ones i have seen.

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  15. Did you watch the nanny diaries, I thought it was going to be a cheesy chick flick (and watched it anyway,) but it as actually pretty good and not really at all what I expected.

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  16. Yeah, I am with you there. I know there are very good nannies out there. But no one takes care of my kiddos better than I can. Yeah, I want to catch my kids as long as they will let me.

    And, you go girl Miss Peach!

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  17. wow! It's so hard to step back in those situations, but obviously your little one had it all under control!

    There is a website called I saw your nanny, where people report neglectful nannies. I actually know someone who reported one in our town and the family fired their nanny because of that incident (and others)!

    One of my pet peeves is watching teachers chit chatting when the kids are playing on the playground and not paying attention to the kids! Drives me crazy.

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  18. Good for your girl--you don't want to raise a doormat.

    It is sad to see those kids that don't have someone who thinks they are the most amazing thing in the world around more of the time.

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  19. Miss Peach rocks! You must be doing something right! I love to see self confidence in a kid. (although I probably would have stepped in, too, like a good mommy should, but way to build the self confidence!)

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  20. Yea for Miss Peach!! And god for you for playing with other people's kids. Sad that it's needed.

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  21. As I like to say, "My 20-month-old can beat up your three-year-old!" ;)

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  22. I get so sad when I see parents at the park who are too busy texting/cell-phoning to even push their kids on the swings. So sad. . .Way to handle the confrontation. . .I wish there was some instruction manual on how to deal with other people's kids. . .good for standing up for herself!!

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  23. I got a big kick out of the Darth Vader reference! Go Miss Peach!

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  24. Go Miss P! :) I agree with you on the sitter not paying attention thing... that poor little girl. I'm glad you caught her at the bottom of the slide.

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  25. I saw a nanny with a double stroller today...the kids were BLINDED by the sun and were waving their hands in front of their faces. The nanny was just talking to another nanny for atleast 5 mins not paying any attn the kiddos. They were literally burning in the sun while she was chatting away. I should have done something.

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