by Deb Mcnabb

Created on: April 09, 2010   Last Updated: April 10, 2010

Why do people protect their apartments with dogs and double locks?  Why do businesses guard their buildings with vigilant doormen? Why do we need police officers in our public schools?  Why do we need "nanny cams" in our homes?   Do we need to be so dramatic?  Obviously fear and hostility are not limited to our encounters with strange behaving people, thieves or addicts.  By installing "nanny cams", we violate caregivers.  We are shouting without words.  It is similar to leaving home only to return with that gnawing suspicion that some stranger might have broken in and stole our hidden "valuables" .  Instead of seeing caregivers as friends, we assume they are strangers and are a potential danger.

The question I would ask is this, "Is the caregiver a friend or a stranger?"  If a friend, the caregiver must be received in a free and friendly space where they can share their gifts and build deeper friendship.  If a stranger, the caregiver will be treated with hostility, usually pervaded with fear and anxiety.

Installing "nanny cams" shouts fear and hostility.  The caregiver is a stranger and the parents have left their children with a stranger, a potential danger.  To me, "nanny cams" shout hostility, suspicion and blatant aggression.   They speak hostile defensiveness. 

Fear brings out the worst in people.  It ushers in distrust, finger-pointing and despair.  Fear makes people lose the ability to see things in their true perspective.  Irrational fear is called a phobia.  A phobia is what results when fear and reason don't keep in touch.  When fear builds its power over parents, they become shackled and give into the slavery of terror.  The outcome is crazy things like "nanny cams".

If I need a caregiver, my nanny will be a friend not a stranger.  Society seems to be increasingly full of fearful, defensive, aggressive people anxiously clinging to their property.  They look at their world with suspicion.  They constantly expect enemies to appear, intrude and do harm.  There will not be a "nanny cam" at my home.  My nanny will be a friend - a guest that carries precious gifts.  Is your nanny a stranger or a friend?  How would your friend feel if you were tracking their every move, their every response? 

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