• Every Thursday, there are 15 nannies that meet up to watch the children they care for at the local park. They bring potluck food and help each other out with all the children.  Everyone benefits.  The children have playmates, the nannies have companionship and assistance from their friends.  I overheard one nanny telling another child who was not under her care, to stop behaving in a mischievous way.  I thought how great to have that kind of communal support.

    I can’t imagine a group of parents at the park, reprimanding another’s child and not getting reprimanded themselves for doing so.  I often have to bite my tongue to stop telling someone else’s kid, to not throw sand or refrain from some other deviant act.  Instead, I move away from said child.

    It’s a pity that we engage in this kind of parental censorship these days.  There are so many different parenting styles, that one parent might not want their child spoken to in a certain way.  You just never know and it isn’t fun making enemies at the park.  So we keep silent.  Once, a woman scolded my child.  She then apologized to me and I told her that I welcome it because it only helps to reinforce what I told my child earlier.  Sometimes our children listen better when it comes from others.  I walk by this group of nannies weekly, envious of their mini communal child rearing society.