The Fury of Angry White Mothers: I Saw Your Nanny

A new blog on the internets reaches new levels of upper middle class parental paranoia.   I Saw Your Nanny reports sightings of caregivers "being bad" with their charges.  Reported sightings include nannies (invariably "black," "of color," "AA" or foreign) who are invariably drunk, abusive, or inattentive in front of the Wobegonian urbanettes, who are invariably "blond," "adorable," and "precious."  One child, who looks "like a young Brooke Shields" (at 15 months) was under the care of a "thin Hispanic woman" who criminally turned her back in the presence of the child at a swingset in a public park.

Locating white nannies is more difficult because of the physical similarity between adult and child, and probably not as guiltily satisfying.  It's the racial schaudenfreude of parenting: ratting out someone else's Caregiver of Color.

Good thing the blog has links handy for Sex Offender Registry and Lost Child Information.  Good help is hard to find.

Shocking reports of Bad Black Nanny behavior after the jump.

It is true that the action described in some of the stories is something to think about but a good read reveals that extra shock is motivated by racial observation and parental indignation.  A presumption exists that women of color in charge of white children are being paid to do the job, and the racial difference between them and the children draws the watchful eye of concerned white parents. Racial branding invites judgmental parents who likely harbor no overt racial animus, but are extremely quick to judge what they see as black behavior not in the best interest of the child. 

Some may argue that any bad behavior is bad behavior, but when the majority of the posts focus on the indignation of white women, the colorblind trope of indifference to "blue, black, red, green, or purple" becomes suspicious.  And most likely, some watcher would report that some horrible mother out there has irresponsibly put her child in the care of a chartreuse skinned woman.

Samples:

"Caucasian child in blue patterned, umbrella Stroller. African American Nanny in white, sleeveless top. Nanny (she had nanny written all over her) showed alarming disregard for baby of 4-10 months as she left the bank."

"The nanny is African-American, with short and kind of spiked hair, gold loop earrings, I would guess in her 30's. The child is a Caucasian girl with blonde, shoulder-length hair with bangs...The child looks so sad...  the nanny is in no way engaging."

"I was walking past your nanny (Black, with accent) and little girl on the corner of 23rd and 6th Avenue at about 1:45 p.m.. The child, white with blond hair, couldn't have been older than 18 months. The nanny was sitting off to the side as the girl walked near us on this very busy street corner. The nanny called out to her, but obviously the kid was not paying much heed, considering her age. Really disturbed me how easy some nut could just pick this girl up and disappear before this nanny could get her ass up!"

"The nanny is an overweight AA female who is probably at least 60 years old with greying hair. The little girl is completely stroller trained and rarely ever let out. The nanny comes and sits on the bench with other AA nannies and chats while keeping the little girl in the stroller....The little girl always looks sad and has never been in the sandbox, on the swings or down the slide when I am there...I just wish the parents knew what a lazy, mean nanny they had!

Comments

[Jamison Colburn]

"new levels of upper middle class parental paranoia" . . . really? I have to say: I don't think you've seen the real thing, friend. this is tame compared to real middle class parental paranoia. besides, the blog seems to be populated mostly with the posts of another nanny . . . ratting out the competition.

[matt]

There was a NY Times article on this blog and phenomena a while ago. Some other blog (I can't remember which one) posted on it and I was surprised and saddened to see people on it (law professors or lawyers, it seemed) arguing, with a straight face, that this sort of thing was necessary because they, the wealthy employers of the nannies, were weak and powerless in the face of the nannies who could control their every whim. It was truly shocking and pathetic to see these wealthy, privileged people insist that this sort of thing was necessary because otherwise they just would not have enough protection against these powerful women.

[Ann Bartow]

Kevin,
I agree with you that the blog is appalling for a lot of reasons, but I have to ask: On what basis do you conclude it is "Angry White Mothers" who are providing the blog fodder? Because my first guess, if I was guessing, would be angry women-hating men.

[alisa]

So these mothers care about their children and want to make shure they're safe and they're angry, racist and paranoid. I guess black people know the most about raising children since theirs always turn out so well. Maybe if the black or hispanic nannies where more attentive at their jobs they wouldn't be reported and then angry white mothers wouldn't have to be "racist"

[taobao]

i love you post