Obviously many of us have been mistaken for the babysitter or the nanny (thanks to those of you who have emailed me to share your stories!). Because of her Hispanic background, she's fought similar preconceptions all her life:
I've been mistaken for baby sitters all my life, or waitresses, sales clerks, even the occasional cleaning lady -- but it's a whole new experience to have it happen in front of my child.Rose Arce brings up a good point. When Sophia was younger and couldn't understand the implications of "Oh, you're not the nanny?" I didn't have to worry how I responded. I often felt shocked and angry the first several times it happened to me. I might not have responded in the most tactful manner, if I responded at all.
Now that I'm wrangling 2 kids instead of 1, I don't hear the nanny comments as often. Mostly, strangers compliment me on how beautiful my children are. (Yep, I'm biased, they are beautiful.)
Reading this article reminded me that our kids see our internal struggle when strangers say things like that to their parents. The way we respond will model how they will respond to similar comments in the future about their heritage.
They're going to get more questions and comments than I will.
How do you respond to the nanny-type comments? Is your response different when your kids can hear you versus not?
