London - Think you’re a pushy parent? Well, just wait till you hear what they’re up to in New York.
As if having a nanny wasn’t already a luxury enough, some wealthy American parents are now employing “nanny doctors” to help them communicate better with the young men and women entrusted to look after their children.
The doctors - or “nanny whisperers” as they are sometimes known - charge up to £130 (about R1 600) an hour to help parents make clear what they expect from their nannies. They can, for instance, help parents draw up detailed plans of their preferred children’s activities, protocols for waking, sleeping and eating, and any dietary requirements - particularly important to neurotic New York mommies and daddies.
The “need” for a doctor apparently arises because parents are reluctant to tell their nannies off and create bad feeling that might be taken out on their children.
The Hollywood actor James Van Der Beek, star of TV series Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill, and his wife Kimberly apparently employed a nanny whisperer to remonstrate with their nanny after she let their baby lie on the floor while she drank her tea.
Nanny whisperers have also been drafted in to deal with staff who spend too much time texting friends and making personal calls while their charges run riot, and for feeding children shop-bought rather than homemade meals. - Daily Mail