A horror story has been making its way around New York City’s robust nanny community this fall. The source was a post made to a popular Facebook group, the Nannies of New York City, in November. An experienced nanny, whom we’ll call Julia, wrote that she had recently been hired full time by an Upper West Side family. The father worked from home — not ideal for most child-care professionals but manageable. The red flags proliferated from there. On Julia’s first day, she learned the parents expected her to stay indoors with their toddler all day. Pretty unreasonable, but all parents have quirks, and a job is a job. Then the father started joining in when Julia did crafts or puzzles with the child and even hovered over diaper changes. Sometimes, she and the toddler would just be “having fun laughing doing nothing” and the dad would come into the room and suggest they study the ABCs instead.
