I am watching the Sonia Sotomayor hearing today but during certain Senator's statement I walk away and do other tasks. During Sen. Feinstein's statement I took the dog out for pee. Walking past the playground across the street I witnessed something I have never seen before. A nanny pushing her ward on the swing talking with a mommy pushing her child on the swing. This is an amazing breakthrough for the groups that don't interact much on the playground.
Perhaps this happened only because there was few people in the playground.
Why don't the mommies and the nannies talk more?
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Monday, July 13, 2009
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3 comments:
As a mommy I find it difficult to connect with the nannies at the playground. It's about socioeconomics. They often seem uncomfortable talking to mommies when approached and vice versa. There is also a culture of tattle-tailing among the mommies that the nannies are aware of and consequently are naturally apprehensive.
It is sad. If park slope is such great community where people are connected to the happenings how does this divide exist so strongly?
I would think that the nannies are an important part of the community. They have your kids!
When we live in NYC and Boston, it was often assumed that I was Pixie's nanny because of the difference in skin color (as I am obviously Latina, and Pixie looks like her white father, down to the light eyes and blond hair). What I discovered was that this automatically placed me in a category of Other. I was assumed to be uneducated, unable to speak English, and generally a lower life form. There is something deeply disturbing about a system that says "yes, brown person, care for my child, but I am too good to socialize with you".
These are the women who care for your children day in and out, providing love, guidence, and support. I will forever be grateful to the family day care that cared for Pixie, and, lets be honest, helped raise her. We are still in contact with them, visit each other. When people comment on her exquisite manners, I am quick to point out that the day care gets some of the credit too.
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