Suffer the Children


I can’t get this off my mind.

I found myself in a MacDonald’s play area in an affluent part of my county. I was there with a friend and her children. We both diligently watched out for S and J while they played happily on the climbing indoor gym, went down the slide and climbed to the top of the multi-colored plastic maze.

While we talked, we each kept one eye on the children at all times. Even though this play area is constructed to be safe, children still need to be watched.

There were lots of kids in the room, most of them toddlers…loud, happy sounds, a sniffle or two...moms sitting and chatting, moms doing homework, moms with their backs to the play area not watching their kids, moms not noticing when one little boy had a hard collision on the slide with another little boy.

No mom ever came over to see what had happened – to chastise or to console --even though one child was howling. I went over and checked him out, helped him off the slide, glancing around waiting for the mother to come over and maybe smile at me for my concern. But no.

Soon I ended up standing by the slide and giving suggestions on how it’s nice to wait for one person to get off the slide before the next person comes down. One little boy’s nose was running so badly I wanted to swipe as it with a tissue. A little girl had been pushed and was sitting on the floor crying softly.

What on earth was wrong with these mothers? I felt like I was in Twilight Zone – but then the lightbulb went off and I caught on. These women were not mothers they were nannies.

I watched as the four women chatting away without a glance to the jungle gym got up and sternly called out some names in broken English. One little arm was jerked too hard for my taste and another child was told in a gruff voice to “throw out this garbage” …even though the child could barely reach the trash receptacle.

Another blank-faced woman who’d been reading a paperback novel closed her book in a huff when her charge called out her name and said she had to go pee pee. Another woman studying away had to stop at one point and take her child to the bathroom also. She also showed her lack of happiness in having to put down her psychology book to take the child to the restroom.

I did not see smiles or words of encouragement or hugs or snuggles coming from these women. I saw boredom, disinterest, selfishness and disdain on their faces.

I watched them when they made a mass exodus to the parking lot. I watched children standing in the parking lot with no warm loving hand holding theirs…one woman held onto the strap of a child’s overalls, using this grip to toss the kid into the car seat.

Did I see child abuse? No I didn’t, if I had I’d have reported them…what I saw was worse in a way – the invisible wall between the children and their caretakers. A hostility towards the wealthy children the nannies were minding – not a love.

The empty looking faces of the nannies made me think that most likely they were imported here for the purpose of watching children at the cheapest price possible.

I heard one say in reference to her employer: “She give me her old makeup and she think it a big deal.”

Another one said: "How much you get for to take MacDonalds? I only get twenty."

The saddest thing to see was the faces of these poor little rich kids.

Dressed in the finest clothing; living, I’m sure, in beautiful homes with beautiful furnishings, but spending their days with people who not only don’t love them, but most likely don’t even like children much at all.

What’s to become of these beautiful, fragile little souls?