This morning Liam and went to the park for a few hours to enjoy this weather one last time before the rain moves in. There were two nannies there with their charges (I know they were nannies because the kids called each of them “Nanny” and unless that was some sort of unbelievable coincidence, I’m going with my educated guess here). All the kids played well together (with the exception of the little boy — who I was told is 2 and a half — who informed Liam that *he* would be driving the fire truck and not Liam and then tried to angle is way in on the steering wheel — but he also stopped dead in his tracks when I informed him that there was plenty of room for both of them to play together on the fire truck and got over himself pretty quickly). It was a beautiful morning and lots of fun was had by all.
My learning moment came when Liam started whining (it’s his new thing, joy of joys) because I wouldn’t do for him what he can do for himself (this time it involved walking down the steps of the playstructure — which he’d done as recently as 30 seconds before the whining commenced). I told him that “Mama doesn’t respond to whining, it’s obnoxious.” The nanny who was standing next to us as this happened said “Saying you’re not responding *is* responding, you’ve gotta just walk away.” She was (obviously) absolutely right (and I said as much).
I know that parenting is vastly different from nannying. I’ve now done both, and I can attest to that fact (although I knew it on a different level before). Nannies have the luxury of being somewhat removed from the situation, which makes it much easier to see a problem and correct it. Liam’s my baby. I don’t get to leave at the end of the day (although sometimes I’d really like that opportunity). This isn’t a job I can quit. What I need to work on is reviving a bit of the nanny in me, because as Liam gets older and tests more things, that part of me will come in very handy.
Baby steps.