The Nanny

I have been mistaken for a nanny of my own children several times, so when I see a woman (or man) with a child I just automatically assume that the child is theirs.  If they don’t look alike, I think perhaps, like in my situation, the other parent has the more dominant genes.  Or maybe the child is adopted, or it’s a step-child situation.  I never assume someone is a nanny.  I guess it’s my own experience being hurt by people thinking I am not the parent of my own kids that gives me this bias.

I took Buggy and her brother to the park a few weeks ago and a woman was pushing who I assumed was her child on the swings.  Buggy loves swinging, so we went over and started swinging.  I struck up a conversation with the woman and she asked how old my kids were.  I answered, then asked “How old is your daughter?”  “Oh no!  I’m not her mom!  I’m the nanny!”  She said.  The she laughed.  A really long awkward laugh that made me so uncomfortable I nearly packed up the kids and left.  But then she said she was flattered I would think she was young enough to have a toddler.  Apparently she was in her 40’s and her daughter is in college. 

I felt bad that I had jumped to a wrong conclusion about her relationship with the child she was caring for.  But, a moment later I realized she didn’t care, so why should I?  People make mistakes all the time, and this was a very minor mistake that clearly didn’t make a difference in the life of this stranger.  We continued to talk while the girls played together on the slide, and found out we had a lot in common.  Buggy and her new friend had fun, and we made plans to return to the park the next week and meet up again.

Playing at the park!

This girl loves to swing!

I am working on forgiving people who assume I am the nanny, and not jumping to any conclusions myself.  Next time I think I’ll just ask  “How old is he/she?” to avoid all the awkwardness!