How's My Nanny...Now You Can Really Know!
At Safety4Kids, we are forever searching for people and organizations that care as much about children's safety as we do. We believe we have found such a person in Jill Starishevsky, founder of HowsMyNanny.com. Here is her story.
As the mother of two beautiful girls, ages nine months and three years old, and an Assistant District Attorney of child abuse and sex crimes in New York City for the past ten years, my number one priority has been to look out for the safety and welfare of children.
Last March, while attending a prosecutor's training program at the Police Academy, I was eating lunch on a park bench and noticed two young girls playing alone on the jungle gym. The girls, who appeared four and six years old, ran over to a woman who was engrossed in a book. I realized that this woman was their nanny and the children were essentially unsupervised. I observed the girls play for nearly an hour as the nanny continued to read. These girls could have easily run off into the busy Manhattan streets or been lured away by a stranger. I wanted to communicate to the girls' parents about the substandard care their daughters were receiving, but I had no way to contact them.
As a working mother, I knew I would want to be notified if my caregiver was being negligent. So I created a communication tool where parents can be informed of any praiseworthy or problematic behavior occurring between the child and the caregiver.
HowsMyNanny.com is that tool that enables the general public to report behavior they observe in a secure and confidential manner.
In order to sign up for membership, parents log onto HowsMyNanny.com and provide an email address where they can be contacted. Within a week, parents receive a 4x7 inch license plate with our website and a unique identifying number that attaches to the child's stroller. Should a concerned citizen want to report an "event" to the child's parents, it's simple. Just go to HowsMyNanny.com, put in that child's unique license plate number, describe what you saw and the parent is instantaneously notified via email. The good Samaritan could even choose to remain anonymous to the member.
While HowsMyNanny.com was initially conceived with the intention of making parents aware of negligent nannies, it has grown and expanded to provide positive feedback as well. There are many insecurities that are associated with leaving your child alone with someone other than family. Even parents with the most wonderful nannies breathe a sigh of relief when they are told that their nanny lovingly treated a boo boo or sang softly while they pushed an infant on the swing. It was with this in mind that HowsMyNanny.com incorporated "praise reports". Such feedback will open up the lines of communication between you and your nanny and help to continue your positive relationship in the future.
Most workers who provide important services are monitored in today's world--police officers wear badges, health care providers are drug tested, teachers are given year-end reviews. Why shouldn't a nanny taking care of our children have some oversight? In essence, the license plates are another precaution to ensure the safety of our children, much like installing childproof locks on your cabinets, protective covers on your outlets, or gates at the top of your stairs.
An added benefit of the HowsMyNanny.com license plate is the deterrent effect. Research indicates that when the trucking industry employed a similar technique, the rate of truck related accidents plummeted between 20-53%. Simply put, accountability encouraged drivers to be safer. This is the goal of HowsMyNanny.com--encouraging nannies to be diligent caretakers.
When Safety4Kids contacted me and invited me to blog, I was thrilled! It is so important to keep our children as safe as possible and the more people involved in that effort, the better. As a contributor to this blog, I will provide timely, relevant and interesting information you can share with your nanny. Periodically, I will have fun and educational activities that your nanny can do with your child. Please feel free to suggest any activities that you have found children enjoy. Use this as a forum to ask all those questions you have and don't know who to ask: should I get a "manny" (male nanny)? How do I make sure I have a reputable nanny? What questions should I ask when I interview a prospective nanny? Should I put my nanny on my insurance?
I look forward to a lively dialogue--an exchange of ideas generated by concern for the safety of our children--from which we all can learn and grow.
Photo courtesy of Lucie Sanchez.
As the mother of two beautiful girls, ages nine months and three years old, and an Assistant District Attorney of child abuse and sex crimes in New York City for the past ten years, my number one priority has been to look out for the safety and welfare of children.
Last March, while attending a prosecutor's training program at the Police Academy, I was eating lunch on a park bench and noticed two young girls playing alone on the jungle gym. The girls, who appeared four and six years old, ran over to a woman who was engrossed in a book. I realized that this woman was their nanny and the children were essentially unsupervised. I observed the girls play for nearly an hour as the nanny continued to read. These girls could have easily run off into the busy Manhattan streets or been lured away by a stranger. I wanted to communicate to the girls' parents about the substandard care their daughters were receiving, but I had no way to contact them.
As a working mother, I knew I would want to be notified if my caregiver was being negligent. So I created a communication tool where parents can be informed of any praiseworthy or problematic behavior occurring between the child and the caregiver.
HowsMyNanny.com is that tool that enables the general public to report behavior they observe in a secure and confidential manner.In order to sign up for membership, parents log onto HowsMyNanny.com and provide an email address where they can be contacted. Within a week, parents receive a 4x7 inch license plate with our website and a unique identifying number that attaches to the child's stroller. Should a concerned citizen want to report an "event" to the child's parents, it's simple. Just go to HowsMyNanny.com, put in that child's unique license plate number, describe what you saw and the parent is instantaneously notified via email. The good Samaritan could even choose to remain anonymous to the member.
While HowsMyNanny.com was initially conceived with the intention of making parents aware of negligent nannies, it has grown and expanded to provide positive feedback as well. There are many insecurities that are associated with leaving your child alone with someone other than family. Even parents with the most wonderful nannies breathe a sigh of relief when they are told that their nanny lovingly treated a boo boo or sang softly while they pushed an infant on the swing. It was with this in mind that HowsMyNanny.com incorporated "praise reports". Such feedback will open up the lines of communication between you and your nanny and help to continue your positive relationship in the future.
Most workers who provide important services are monitored in today's world--police officers wear badges, health care providers are drug tested, teachers are given year-end reviews. Why shouldn't a nanny taking care of our children have some oversight? In essence, the license plates are another precaution to ensure the safety of our children, much like installing childproof locks on your cabinets, protective covers on your outlets, or gates at the top of your stairs.
An added benefit of the HowsMyNanny.com license plate is the deterrent effect. Research indicates that when the trucking industry employed a similar technique, the rate of truck related accidents plummeted between 20-53%. Simply put, accountability encouraged drivers to be safer. This is the goal of HowsMyNanny.com--encouraging nannies to be diligent caretakers.
When Safety4Kids contacted me and invited me to blog, I was thrilled! It is so important to keep our children as safe as possible and the more people involved in that effort, the better. As a contributor to this blog, I will provide timely, relevant and interesting information you can share with your nanny. Periodically, I will have fun and educational activities that your nanny can do with your child. Please feel free to suggest any activities that you have found children enjoy. Use this as a forum to ask all those questions you have and don't know who to ask: should I get a "manny" (male nanny)? How do I make sure I have a reputable nanny? What questions should I ask when I interview a prospective nanny? Should I put my nanny on my insurance?
I look forward to a lively dialogue--an exchange of ideas generated by concern for the safety of our children--from which we all can learn and grow.
Photo courtesy of Lucie Sanchez.
6 Comments:
Dear Jill,
I am so impressed with your concept of how we can better protect our children while with their caregivers. Putting license plates on strollers is a brilliant idea. Vehicle drivers are able to be identified and held accountable. Why shouldn't our child's caregivers be identifiable and held accountable as well?? I am so glad to know that there are others out there just as concerned for our children's safety as I am. It certainly is not the same world our parents grew up in. Thanks so much for all you do in protecting our children, Marcelle
Dear Jill,
Thank you for your post. Although your program has obvious pros, I would not feel comfortable putting a plate on my stroller. I really do trust my nanny and her knowing that is part of what makes our relationship work. If I were a nanny (even a great nanny) I would find the plate offensive. My son went through a period of yelling "HELP!" when he didn't want to do something. He would scream as though he were being abused just for dramatic effect. What if this happened w/ my nanny and someone emailed me about this? How do you apply context to a report? Also, there is a lot of rivalry between nannies, there is a lot of nanny poaching. It's a complicated world out there. How do you account for people's motives? Finally, so many of our nannies are not here legally and I am sure they would all be fearful to walk around with this plate on the stroller even if they are doing nothing to merit a bad review.
It bothers me a little bit that we have so many of these watchdoggy type things happening that can so easily be abused by someone who just likes to make trouble.
One person's idea of neglect may not be another's. And why stop at nannies? Why not report negligent parents who let their kids run amok in the neighborhood streets with their scooters and no helmets?
I see this as a well-intentioned thing, for sure, but one that's too easily abused.
While I understand and share your concern about too much "big brother is watching" I'm not sure I agree with it in this case. I see this as something akin to a "nanny-cam" and not snitching to the local police department. Would you install a "nanny-cam" into your home to "watch" your nanny? I know I would. And if someone reported an incident about a nanny's bad behavior I would probably discuss it with my nanny and make sure it wasn't my child's "Help Me" phase that he was going through.
There will always be people who will abuse a system like this to hurt their rival...I think that in each case that is reported it is up to the nanny and her employer to determine what really happened and how to proceed.
I would NEVER install a nannycam in my house. i think it is such an enormous violation!
if a nanny is going to beat the hell out of a kid, i think she will wait til the tag is covered with a big diaper bag or coat or do it somewhere else. talk about a false sense of security. who wouldnt be meryly streep on the playground while the nanny plate was on full view?
you wanna know how your kids are being treated, have someone watch the nanny when she doesnt know she is being watched. i guarantee you no bad nannies will be caught with this program. and it costs money?
but she works in the business of protecting children? for the state?
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