Guest Post: Nanny Mandy

Nanny Mandy is no longer a Nanny anymore...but she is a Mom to adorable Molly. Mandy went to high school with my hubby and is an absolute doll! Other than my kid (no bias) she might have created the prettiest little girl in the world.

But Molly is young. She is still innocent and cute. No tantrums to date. But they are a coming girl. Don't be fooled by her sweetness. This is nature's way of making you think she can do no wrong before a demon possesses them and they turn into a flailaholics! Here a few favorite memories from the Nanny Diaries. They bring humor in hindsight..probably not so much in reality.


I was trying to recall some nanny moments I had since I was with Camille for almost five years. Although she was kept on an extremely tight leash by her parents, she still certainly had her moments while she learned her limits. I think a lot of times I was the one that was tested the most as she knew her parents had a “zero tolerance” policy. She was given one warning and then sent to bed (a time out in her room for at least 10 minutes or until she cooled off). By the time she was 3, maybe 3 and 1/2 , all you had to say to tantrums, whining, bad behavior, etc… was “Do you need to go to bed?” and she (desperately sobbing) would say “No!” I’m sure it was the consistency of how all of this was handled over and over and over again that led to the extremely polite, ridiculously grown up little woman she is today.

That being said – there were times when Nanny Mandy did want to go out of the house and sending her straight to bed was not an option.

One Christmas season I physically had to remove Camille from Founders Hall in uptown after she discovered that she couldn’t hug the bears that sing the songs. Her favorite stuffed animal was a teddy bear named “Gee-Gee” so imagine a little girl dressed in her Christmas best, melting into a pile on the floor and then being carried away while screaming “I want big gee-gee!”

She discovered the “Banana Fana” song and loved to sing about everything and everyone – but particularly about animals. This really wasn’t a problem until she would repeat the same line over and over (at the top of her lungs – of course) about Mr. Duck. “Duck, duck, bo-buck, banana fana, fo-F__k….” I tried to ignore this the first few times but people really look at you when you let a little girl say the F-word. Not sure which was worse, the glares or the tantrums from not letting her sing her favorite song.

She has poured entire full cups of beverages on herself when she hasn’t liked an outfit. Talk about not having anything to wear.

She hid from most men or threw a fit it they looked at her for a solid year. (similar to Lily’s recent episode) This included her own father at times.

There were days when she wouldn’t answer to her own name but to the alter ego she made for herself, “Woo-Woo.” When you’re a 25 year old female nanny, people don’t expect you to say “Where’s my Woo-Woo?” You really ought to know by that age.