Another day, another child and nanny story from a local park. (Hey, it’s summer.) This one comes from Carroll Park and the BoCoCa Parents Group. Here are some excperts:
This morning around 10:15, I was taking my son into the little side at Carroll Park and when I opened the gate a little boy wearing a red Plymouth Summer Camp t-shirt ran out. I stopped him and asked where him “Where is your grown-up? Where is your mommy? Where is you babysitter?” He just shrugged and giggled and ran away. I went around to every person in the little side asking if they were with the boy, and nobody knew him.
Then I walked around asking each of the people in the sprinkler area, nobody there knew him either. He ran into the big side and laid down on the bridge without making contact with an adult. I went around that side as well and still nobody knew him. I finally went to get Kathleen [the park caretaker], and she did the same thing– she went around asking everyone and talking to the boy but not getting answers about his name or his caregiver’s name. She headed toward the middle monument area with him and FINALLY a babysitter appeared. I am not exaggerating that 20 minutes had passed since the boy ran out of the gate. I have no idea how long he had been inside the little play area before I got there.
I did not speak to the care giver myself, but Kathleen was very upset about how rude the woman was to her, telling her she could “see everything always”… but she didn’t have any idea that the boy had been in the little area, and she didn’t know that several people were looking for her for so long, since by the time Kathleen asked so many of the same people I had asked, many people began to get concerned about him and were also looking out to see if they could figure out who he belonged to.
I must say, the boy was not at all afraid and didn’t seem to be looking for her, so perhaps this is normal for him. So, the boy was wearing a red Plymouth Summer Camp shirt. The nanny was wearing a white shirt and a long red skirt and pushing a red double stroller with a younger sibling in it.
Er, match any descriptions of anyone you know?
4 responses so far ↓
1 anonymous // Aug 7, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Maybe the brat was playing games and doing this to grab attention. He didn’t seem concerned in the least. Don’t underestimate the evil doings of little kids….
2 wisco // Aug 7, 2008 at 3:16 pm
ok 12:59 – great comment. you are a real humanitarian. are you a parent? obviously not.
meanwhile, this is frightening. anyone who lives around the area must must try to contact this child’s parents. personally, i am a big proponent of daycare because of stories like this. SCARY!
3 Anonymous // Aug 11, 2008 at 6:55 pm
The best would be getting contact with the nanny’s employer and tell what you saw. The employer probably knows what their nanny/maid wears (maybe the clothes are a uniform, clothes the employer requires her to wear, especially if it’s a young nanny girl, we don’t know). But the employer will probably give the nanny a warning.
4 newyorkshitty.com » Blog Archive » Priceless // Aug 12, 2008 at 2:34 pm
[…] I knew there was a reason I liked Paul McCarthy so much in graduate school. I’d pay top dollar to see an encore performance at Carroll Park. […]