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Original poster

Sorry if this offends anyone but...... 'plump' nannies?

255 replies

sunnyjim · 12/02/2007 21:26

Is it just us or are nanny's generally 'plump'? (okay in this specific case I'm talking fat really, size 18+)

We have a new nanny, not started yet, but doing the odd half day alongside me to check that we all get along.

I just have concerns about her ability to deal with DS (active 22 month old) on a day to day basis. She finds it difficult to get up or down from the floor and I found I had to slow my pace massively when we went out to the park today.

I guess a part of me thinks that if she has a weight problem, does this reflect in her willpower/ self motivation in other areas?
Will she feed him decent food?
Will she take him to active sporty things (which he loves) or focus on sitting sitll crafty things (which he hates)

OP posts:
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Caligula · 15/02/2007 09:43

LOL

jura · 15/02/2007 11:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

willow2 · 15/02/2007 11:51

This is an interesting discussion... which I now wish to take to another level. One of the childminders who looks after a child at my son's school is, and there is no question about this, morbidly obese. She is a nice lady, but she is enormous , to the point where she has difficulty walking, let alone running. She also looks after the boy's younger brother. Aside from her own health issues, it has struck me that, should she have to suddenly leap to stop the little boy running in to the road or similar, she couldn't move quickly if she had to. This has made me query whether or not she is fit (and I mean that literally) to look after two active boys. I would have never have hired her for this reason alone. (She's hardly going to take them for a bound around the park.) I also wonder as to the health message it's putting across. I worry for this woman's health. Then again, maybe it's teaching the kids just how important health is? I dunno.

Your thoughts?

eleusis · 15/02/2007 12:15

I think it depends on why they are overweight. If a nanny is overweight (but able to run down the block) because she has an underactive thyroid, that's not a problem for me. If a nanny is overweight because seh likes to sit around eating junk food all day (in front of the kids) and watch daytime telly with the the kids, then that would be a problem.

I've had nannies of varying shapes and sizes and I can't say their weight has ever been an issue.

I had one nanny (who incidentally was not fat at all) who liked to eat chocolate yugurt and chocolate spread on whit toast for breakfast, and of course share it with DD. I was not happy when I discovered this.

speedymama · 15/02/2007 12:17

Would you also make this comment if it was someone who was skinny and unfit? Also, what if she was actually the mother of the two boys? Would you say she was unfit to be a parent?

suejonez · 15/02/2007 12:18

eleusis - if a nanny is overweight because she has an (untreated) underactive thyroid then she wouldn't be able to summon up the energy to open an organic rice cake packet. If its treated shouldn't be impossible to lose weight!

Of course there are metabolic disorders you COULD have chosen which would have worked...

ThinGorgNanny · 15/02/2007 12:22

I would rather employ a 'plump' nanny than work for a shallow, twatish mummy tbh

eleusis · 15/02/2007 12:29

Sue, I think even when they are treated the weight loss can be abit of a struggle.

My point is just that it's the behaviour that I would pay attention to, not the actualy weight.

I think every nanny employer has his/her priorities on what is important. Some people are big on education (i.e. want them to tech childrena foreign language, etc.) other are big on a loving cuddly personality. For me, nutrition is high on the list. There are to be no cookies in the morning, I do not like white bread, etc. So, I would care if the nanny was teaching poor eating habits. But if the nanny was overweight yet tought my kids to eat their veg and cooked wholesome meals, no it wouldn't be an issue.

willow2 · 15/02/2007 12:49

speedymama, she's not their mum. And yes, I'd be concerned either way. As for being skinny and unfit? Well, you'd have to be positively anorexic for there to be similar issues, but, to be honest, I'd worry if anyone I was employing was really, seriously in a bad state as far as their health was concerned. Be they large, thin, heavy smokers, whatever.

As for the lady in question, she is much larger than any of the contestants you see on, for example, The Biggest Loser. I'm not being fat-ist. (I've got an underactive thyroid so know just how hard it is to shift unwanted weight) I'm just raising certain questions. I work from home so I don't have to have a nanny, but if I did I wouldn't hire this woman for all the reasons I have given. Not least because, by being morbidly obese, her life is at risk. Sudden heart attack? Pulmonary embolism? I'm not being dramatic, but these are the sorts of risks you face when you reach that size.

fridayschild · 15/02/2007 13:51

I had an obese nanny who was lazy; might well have been lazy regardless of weight, I had no way of knowing. I had issues with the laziness.

While she looked after DS1 he was always right at the top of the weight charts, despite being what is politely called an Active Boy. Now he is somewhere in the middle. Our current nanny is a perfectly healthy weight, as are we. I do wonder whether obese nanny was anything to do with DS1's weight. This experience would make me think twice about hiring another obese nanny.

Plump though, that's a different matter.

suejonez · 15/02/2007 16:09

ele - you KNOW I am only winding you up...

Mojomummy · 15/02/2007 18:47

why are there so many unpleaseant postings on threads here at the moment ? It's Jade Goody revisited.

If sunnyjim doesn't want a fat nanny, well that's her choice. I wouldn't want either, beacuse I wouldnt want her potentially giving my daughters bad eating habits. The bottom line is fat isn't healthy & unless you have an illness, you don't get fat unless you eat too much.

I agree that a fat person isn't, in all honesty, going to be able to get up & down from the floor. My mum was 2st over weight & she struggled.

If she can't ride her bike or walk over to the soft play area, I think I would have ended it there.

I don't think employees should have to be a specific weight, but be energetic, non-smoking & have healthy eating habits.

alex8 · 15/02/2007 18:51

a fat person can't get up and down from the floor? My god its amazing we aren't all walking over the corpses of rotting obese people who can't move; how utterly ridiculous.

harpsichordcarrier · 15/02/2007 18:54

haha this is the funniest thread I have read in ages.
utterly bonkers.
fat people are all lazy and only eat crap.
obviously

kittywaitsfornumber6 · 15/02/2007 19:19

I've only read the op and a coupleof the following posts.
What strikes me is that she has seen the nanny to be struggling physically and is worried. She isn't saying all fat people are indolent and lack motivation. She is saying the overweight nanny finds it difficult to move. I would be concerned about that somewhat too.

alex8 · 15/02/2007 19:23

I was responding to the previous post to mine, not the op. That poster did claim it was all fat people who can't get up and down. The op just made huge generalisations about movivation, will power and abilty to recognise decent food.

Mojomummy · 15/02/2007 19:28

ok, meant to say, get up & down quickly & easily.

alex8 · 15/02/2007 19:29

You should come to my gym and see the non- slender but fit move very fast

suejonez · 15/02/2007 19:30

Mojo - "I agree that a fat person isn't, in all honesty, going to be able to get up & down from the floor" - are you serious?!

roflaguawaoac (rolls on floor laughing and gets up again without the aid of a crane)

Thats is the funniest sweeping generalisation I think I've ever heard. Do you know any fat people apart from your mother - real, live breathing ones under 50? Would you like me to post photos of me sitting on the floor with my son? Just in the interests of clarification you understand!

suejonez · 15/02/2007 19:31

PS and yes I can do it quickly and easily.

smeeinit · 15/02/2007 19:37

err mojomummy why would you assume that a "fat" nanny would give your dds bad eating habits? or cant get up and down from a floor easily?
you cant judge every fat person by how your mum was?!
im 7 stone overweight,may not be very healthy but im bloody fit! this week in total i have walked 36 miles and jogged 6miles and done 2 aerobics classes and am off to the zoo tomorrow so thatl be another 3/4 miles! how is that unfit? i also have been up and down from my lounge floor more times than i can count this week!

i feel so ashamed at how fat and unfit i must be!!
some people really piss me off with their generalisations

NurseyJo · 15/02/2007 19:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

suejonez · 15/02/2007 19:44

I agree - and its perfectly acceptable to decide a nanny is not fit enough to keep up with your active toddler whether through arthritis or weight or laziness or any number of reasons but I'm gobsmacked and more than a little amused by the sweeping generalisations on here occassionally.

BTW did you know that if you are obese you are more likely to survive a heart attack than if you are either a normal BMI or underweight. True you are more likely to have one but you are 75% more likely to survive than someone underweight and 50% more likely than a normal weight person. (I'm guessing the figures as I haven't read the study in a while but it was something similar)

Mojomummy · 15/02/2007 19:51

that's great, I'm glad you are so fit, certainly fitter than me. However, we're not talking about you or me, we're supposed to be discussing the op's comment about some she may or maynot employ to look after her son.

She is concerned with the nanny's fitness levels & I can agree with her, her concerns with agility. I have no idea of the person in question in size, but i have seen my mother struggle with it.

As the mother of my children, I'll take whatever assumptions I wish. Also, should I assume that despite not being able care for herself that she'll be a good role model ? I doubt it.

smeeinit · 15/02/2007 19:58

yes thats right mojo we are supposed to be discussing the original ops question and its not about you or i. so where does your mum come into all this then?

assume what you may for the welfare of your dds,why wouldnt you,your their mum,BUT you would proberly look at me and ASSUME that im a lazy,fat,unfit slob wouldnt you?!!