I have never hired a nanny, but I have been hired as one several times, so when I heard about this new nanny invention I was quite intrigued. In a previous blog I wrote about the ingenious individual who came up with the idea to turn a suitcase into a stroller, but the mom who designed this new stroller license plate is worthy of a few headlines herself.
Are you familiar with the signs trucking companies’ display on their vehicles, which ask the public to report unsafe drivers? Well, now you can put a license plate on your baby’s stroller to get feedback on the behavior of his or her nanny… and you have Jill Starishevsky to thank. The New York mother of two and city prosecutor, just launched HowsMyNanny.com, which sells stroller license plates that feature an individually unique number in addition to the website address so the public can anonymously report good or bad nanny behavior.
“It’s a tool to empower the parents and to protect the parents and the children, it’s not a tool to work against nannies. It’s just a tool to give parents peace of mind,” Starishevsky, a lawyer who prosecutes child abuse and sex crimes, told reporters.
If you want members of the public to provide you with updates on your nanny you must first pay $50 for the plate. From there you will be entered into a database. When or if someone reports an incident about your child’s nanny you would receive an email alerting you about the report. You then log onto the website using a password to access the information.
Starishevsky told reporters she came up with the idea after she saw a nanny in a New York City park who for at least an hour ignored the two young girls she was looking after.
“I was so frustrated,” said Starishevsky. “How do I tell the mother that these kids could have run into the street, they could have been taken away at the hand of a stranger?”
Critics of the stroller license plate and the site say that it is impossible to know whether the person pushing the tagged stroller is in fact the child’s nanny or perhaps a friend, relative, or the actual parent. Moreover, opponents maintain that since the site doesn’t offer any real proof (just the words of strangers) it lessens the “scare” factor.
As a former nanny, I really wouldn’t care if my employer signed up for the program. (If you have nothing to hide or be ashamed of why would it bother you?) But, on the flip side I can see why some nannies would be upset that their employer would feel the need to have the world watch their every move. But, then again, how many people do you know who would actually take the time to report an incident. We live in a society littered with people who “just don’t want to get involved.” I have a hard time believing (sad as it may be) that many busy New Yorkers (or residents of any state) would go the extra mile and provide feedback on a bad nanny.
What do you think?