Saturday, August 1, 2009
How Nannies Gain Experience
Employers tend to lump women from Latin America into one convenient label and think they are nurturing and caring, qualities associated with women’s “natural” expressions of love for family. In fact they come from widely diverse backgrounds and may have no experience in actual childcare. Only when they came to America did many take on the role of nanny or housecleaner. Over half (n = 6) the employees in my study identified factory work as their previous job. Others listed security guard, fast food restaurants, and elder care. Eloisa admitted having no experience with American children as young as the three she cared for. Maritza describes her job experience, “The truth is what experience I have I didn’t learn in school; I use the intuition of a mother like the way I am with my children.”
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Gloria is glamorous
Gloria, 52, wore a brimmed hat, sunglasses, and exuded style. With her winning smile and perfect teeth Gloria projected an easy confidence. When we first met she instantly offered me her apartment, a vacation rental, in Oaxaca City. Although I met Gloria at the Children’s Library, I conducted our interview at another playground within the community. She has been coming here for many years and gets together with other park nannies in her off-hours. Gloria declares proudly, “I am famous in this park!”
Gloria has three grown children, all surgeons, though she herself completed only six years of school in Mexico where her children’s natural father lives. He insists on remaining there on the grounds that it costs too much to live in the United States where “all the money goes to food and rent.” With only one 10 month-old baby girl to watch, Gloria went into detail about her early years in America. Her boyfriend of 18 years had been unfaithful with three girlfriends over an extended period of time. He told her he was moving out to marry one of them. She described being “sick with menopause and diabetes,” aggravated by the food she had been eating while traveling abroad with her former client family. One of her sons stepped in to support and advise her, and they now share a rented apartment. With three children who were surgeons, a 401K, a vacation rental in Mexico, and a swinging senior social life, Gloria’s profile was like no other.
Gloria has three grown children, all surgeons, though she herself completed only six years of school in Mexico where her children’s natural father lives. He insists on remaining there on the grounds that it costs too much to live in the United States where “all the money goes to food and rent.” With only one 10 month-old baby girl to watch, Gloria went into detail about her early years in America. Her boyfriend of 18 years had been unfaithful with three girlfriends over an extended period of time. He told her he was moving out to marry one of them. She described being “sick with menopause and diabetes,” aggravated by the food she had been eating while traveling abroad with her former client family. One of her sons stepped in to support and advise her, and they now share a rented apartment. With three children who were surgeons, a 401K, a vacation rental in Mexico, and a swinging senior social life, Gloria’s profile was like no other.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Dreaming of America
Elena, 55 and divorced, grew up in La Paz, Bolivia. She never had children and lives alone in a rented apartment, but all her family are here in the US. She immigrated 18 years ago following her sister. “I was always dreaming of America. One day I am going to go. I would have dreams in which I would see the freeway with green and ivy, so when I came, I saw the green grass from in my dreams.” Elena made the following observations about other immigrant groups. “Asians are not waiters, or housekeepers, or restaurant workers. It’s only us. They are smart. They try to learn English to get a job as fast as they can.” She also drew these conclusions regarding the Latino model of immigration. “I like Chinese people because they’re hard-working people. When they come to this country, first they go to school. They learn English. They get a job, then get friends and family a job. Latinas are not that way.”
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Eco Nanny post
A rusty steel water fountain jutted out of the sand and soft surfaces of the playground. One day I watched a toddler girl run under it and bump her head on the horizontal portion. She crumpled to the ground and held her hand to her head as tears rolled down sandy cheeks. Her nanny came running over and swept her up. The L-shaped fountain was meant for water play, but its sharp edges needed repair, and it looked out of place among all the plastic play structures.
A few Latina nannies I polled suggested replacing it. I took their request to the City Council via my friend and councilman, Richard. He immediately set plans into action to remove, renovate, and replace the fountain in the interest of safety. When it was completed it looked almost exactly the same except for fresh paint and sanding and blunting the sharp corners.
I asked a few nannies what they thought of the new fountain. Better, said one, but another was less enthusiastic. She noticed that it was too high for the ages of the children here, who were too short to drink from it but too tall to run underneath without getting clipped. She never let her client children play with water because she believed it to be wasteful. She continued that we should conserve resources due to global warming, and neither play in nor waste water. In her country, Mexico, “We always think about it and conserve, because we never have enough.” She thought children here should be taught more about energy conservation, and noted that both the children and the parents she works for lack awareness and frequently leave the lights on, let the water run, etc. She suggested a school or community program to teach young children conservation at a young age.
As green practices spread to all sectors of the economy and all strata of consumers it is useful to consider that lower/middle class immigrants may have brought simple measures with them to this country. I recalled how Lourdes’ mother made soap out of ashes from the kitchen fire. I found it ironic that my ambitious fountain repair actually exacerbated the sort of water waste this nanny identified. However it empowered the nannies to create positive change in their work environment.
A few Latina nannies I polled suggested replacing it. I took their request to the City Council via my friend and councilman, Richard. He immediately set plans into action to remove, renovate, and replace the fountain in the interest of safety. When it was completed it looked almost exactly the same except for fresh paint and sanding and blunting the sharp corners.
I asked a few nannies what they thought of the new fountain. Better, said one, but another was less enthusiastic. She noticed that it was too high for the ages of the children here, who were too short to drink from it but too tall to run underneath without getting clipped. She never let her client children play with water because she believed it to be wasteful. She continued that we should conserve resources due to global warming, and neither play in nor waste water. In her country, Mexico, “We always think about it and conserve, because we never have enough.” She thought children here should be taught more about energy conservation, and noted that both the children and the parents she works for lack awareness and frequently leave the lights on, let the water run, etc. She suggested a school or community program to teach young children conservation at a young age.
As green practices spread to all sectors of the economy and all strata of consumers it is useful to consider that lower/middle class immigrants may have brought simple measures with them to this country. I recalled how Lourdes’ mother made soap out of ashes from the kitchen fire. I found it ironic that my ambitious fountain repair actually exacerbated the sort of water waste this nanny identified. However it empowered the nannies to create positive change in their work environment.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
The child in the middle
My collaborator Lourdes and I dropped by a different children’s playground within the same park complex. With low trees and big rocks, it features a natural setting. We sat at a concrete picnic table and Lourdes struck up a conversation with a talkative Latina nanny who fed her blonde client toddler. She spooned out pasta in tomato sauce from a plastic container she had brought from home. The boy gobbled it hungrily while strapped into his stroller. As I sat down beside them, the nanny explained to Lourdes that the mother never fed her son real food, only gave him formula and Gerber baby food, yet he was 15 months old. There was very little food in the house, and everything was nonfat or lowfat, she added. The boy often acted very hungry, always crying for food when the nanny ate something, so she had begun to bring him food from her home on a daily basis. He told her he was full and she took him out of the stroller. We studied the boy anxiously, straining to determine if his height and weight were normal. At first glance he appeared diminutive, but then I noticed his head looked too large for his skinny body. Lourdes compared him to her grandson who is 12 months and much larger, eating absolutely all foods, no formula and way past baby food jars.
Children should begin to use a spoon and sample new strained foods between 4 and 6 months of age. Cereals are first, followed by vegetables and fruit and finally, by 7 or 8 months, meat and protein alternatives. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises introducing babies between 8 and 12 months to finger foods and mashed and ground up table foods. By 15 to 18 months most children can feed themselves with a spoon and no longer need help. Conventional wisdom dictates the child should be eating the same meals as parents by approximately one year of age.
The nanny pulled a bag of fresh pineapple slices from her bag. Suddenly the boy ran up and reached for them and made a sound. “You want some? Ok,” and she gave him a slice. What does the doctor say about this, Lourdes and I asked. His mother is a doctor, she replied. This is an only child, so the mother is doing what she thinks is right. And the nanny is doing what she thinks is right. She buys and brings food for him without permission and without compensation. Clearly, communication between employer and employee is compromised.
A mother was depriving her child of proper nourishment, and the nanny had grown so accustomed to the situation she chatted about it with total strangers. Did she want someone to report it? I should have asked how long she had worked for the family, how long she had carried on this secret mission. She was very affable and somewhat amused by her employer’s lack of knowledge and experience. She had spoken to Lourdes in Spanish not knowing how much I could understand. As the nanny walked away to join her friends sitting on a picnic blanket with the other children, they eyed me seriously and the boy wolfed down his pineapple. They were in collusion, sharing the blame, the food, the confusion. The nanny found support in her labor network. But it illustrates how employees and employers need to work together.
On the employer’s side, this echoes themes in Searching for Mary Poppins, 2006, Hudson Street Press, in that this mother could be isolated in her professional life without an employer network or parenting classes in which to share information and get feedback. If she is indeed a doctor, her position may make it difficult to reveal her lack of knowledge and ask questions about certain topics such as infant nutrition. With families flung far apart, there may be no family member she could ask. Whatever the circumstance, this mother is alone making potentially harmful decisions about a child’s welfare, and the nanny uses her power and influence to counter them.
Children should begin to use a spoon and sample new strained foods between 4 and 6 months of age. Cereals are first, followed by vegetables and fruit and finally, by 7 or 8 months, meat and protein alternatives. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises introducing babies between 8 and 12 months to finger foods and mashed and ground up table foods. By 15 to 18 months most children can feed themselves with a spoon and no longer need help. Conventional wisdom dictates the child should be eating the same meals as parents by approximately one year of age.
The nanny pulled a bag of fresh pineapple slices from her bag. Suddenly the boy ran up and reached for them and made a sound. “You want some? Ok,” and she gave him a slice. What does the doctor say about this, Lourdes and I asked. His mother is a doctor, she replied. This is an only child, so the mother is doing what she thinks is right. And the nanny is doing what she thinks is right. She buys and brings food for him without permission and without compensation. Clearly, communication between employer and employee is compromised.
A mother was depriving her child of proper nourishment, and the nanny had grown so accustomed to the situation she chatted about it with total strangers. Did she want someone to report it? I should have asked how long she had worked for the family, how long she had carried on this secret mission. She was very affable and somewhat amused by her employer’s lack of knowledge and experience. She had spoken to Lourdes in Spanish not knowing how much I could understand. As the nanny walked away to join her friends sitting on a picnic blanket with the other children, they eyed me seriously and the boy wolfed down his pineapple. They were in collusion, sharing the blame, the food, the confusion. The nanny found support in her labor network. But it illustrates how employees and employers need to work together.
On the employer’s side, this echoes themes in Searching for Mary Poppins, 2006, Hudson Street Press, in that this mother could be isolated in her professional life without an employer network or parenting classes in which to share information and get feedback. If she is indeed a doctor, her position may make it difficult to reveal her lack of knowledge and ask questions about certain topics such as infant nutrition. With families flung far apart, there may be no family member she could ask. Whatever the circumstance, this mother is alone making potentially harmful decisions about a child’s welfare, and the nanny uses her power and influence to counter them.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Perspectives: born in the U.S. v. born south of the border
Both Geralda and Carolina bring age and experience to the child caregiver position. Acting as advisers or maybe more like friendly helpful aunties, both women in their sixties counsel other Latina women. They have the same perspective, yet Carolina was born and raised in California, while Geralda hails from Central America. Carolina’s parents were Mexicans living and working in the Imperial Valley. Her native tongue is English, but she learned Spanish in order to connect with other immigrant nannies in the park. First and foremost she asks her employer to respect her. A former aerospace industry employee, she lets her employer know she does not work for the money. Carolina suffered injury on the job and now receives disability. Rather than sit and home, watch tv, and collect her money, she wants to work. She asks that the employers respect her and not treat her like a nanny. She actually prefers to be “treated like family.” Carolina looked on the internet and found this nanny position on Craig’s List.
Her job history prepared her well to negotiate up front for the same kinds of benefits she received at her aerospace job. As a result, she gets a salary, not an hourly wage, paid sick days, and paid vacation when it is convenient for her, a distinct departure from most who only get vacation when their employers leave town. Carolina’s employer also pays taxes and Social Security. Carolina displays candor and confidence in negotiating. The mother had a new baby and revealed that she wanted to quit her job and stay home. “I said, ‘Go ahead. I don’t need this job. I just do it ‘cause I want to.’” The mother reconsidered because she gets better insurance benefits than her husband.
Most importantly, nannies need back-up, Carolina advises. She lives alone and sets a fine example of self-sufficiency and planning for the future with other income, retirement, and disability pay.
In contrast, Geralda, 58 years old, was born a twin and raised by her grandmother in a rural Central American village. Another nanny moaned about her employer, a teacher, who did not want to pay for childcare over the summer. Geralda sympathized and encouraged her to ask for help with paying taxes. "It’s important when you try to get your papers. Shows you are contributing to this country even though you are undocumented. Pay taxes for your own records and history, not for the employer’s benefit. It’s about respect for yourself and for this country. And you need something for the future."
Her job history prepared her well to negotiate up front for the same kinds of benefits she received at her aerospace job. As a result, she gets a salary, not an hourly wage, paid sick days, and paid vacation when it is convenient for her, a distinct departure from most who only get vacation when their employers leave town. Carolina’s employer also pays taxes and Social Security. Carolina displays candor and confidence in negotiating. The mother had a new baby and revealed that she wanted to quit her job and stay home. “I said, ‘Go ahead. I don’t need this job. I just do it ‘cause I want to.’” The mother reconsidered because she gets better insurance benefits than her husband.
Most importantly, nannies need back-up, Carolina advises. She lives alone and sets a fine example of self-sufficiency and planning for the future with other income, retirement, and disability pay.
In contrast, Geralda, 58 years old, was born a twin and raised by her grandmother in a rural Central American village. Another nanny moaned about her employer, a teacher, who did not want to pay for childcare over the summer. Geralda sympathized and encouraged her to ask for help with paying taxes. "It’s important when you try to get your papers. Shows you are contributing to this country even though you are undocumented. Pay taxes for your own records and history, not for the employer’s benefit. It’s about respect for yourself and for this country. And you need something for the future."
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