“Cushy”: A nanny’s job

An acquaintance once, in a moment of amusement, told me that I had a cushy job. My first reaction was to laugh the statement away, but in retrospect she made me think about what other members of my community might be thinking when they see a nanny pass by on the street pushing a stroller or sitting in the park while the children we take care of run around. I wonder if they know the responsibilities that our job involves. The risk, the discomfort we experience knowing our every action, every word is being scrutinized, not just by our employers but by almost every resident we come in contact with in the community, even the children we take care of.

“Cushy,” its an interesting view of a nanny’s job. Speaking with a fellow nanny, Helen, on Thursday on the subject of what nannies experience on his/her job she said, “We are treated as one dimensional beings on the job, as if we don’t have lives outside of our jobs.” Most adults we come in contact with still treat us as if we are in the 19th Century, like servants not professionals.
With the re-emergence of the decade old case involving convicted babysitter, Audrey Edmunds, 45, for the death of 7-month-old Natalie Beard, I am freshly reminded of the risk my colleagues and I take each day we go to work. We are expected to always have a clear head. Moments of anger can be detrimental, not only in the extreme cases like Audrey Edmunds but on a mental level. Most of us, nannies, are integrally involved in the first five years of the children we care for, hence a fit of anger, that could be seen as normal with another adult, is “scary” to a child.