'Beverly Hills Nannies'

The voyeur in me was excited about 'Beverly Hills Nannies'.

As someone who has worked as a nanny, I wanted to see what crazy things these supposedly crazy moms asked their employees to do.

Honestly, I was a little disappointed.

The shows premise is interesting enough. It follows (and I may have lost count here) at least five nannies on their first day with new families. Some of the nannies have worked for years, some of them are new to the California scene, but they all have one thing in common. They all know Kristin, who apparently (according to the show anyway) is some kind of super well-connected nanny extraordinaire.

What's particuarly interesting is that despite the fact that some of the nannies do have college degrees, almost none of them appear to have a real background in child development. Sure, they've all babysat etc., but have they had training that wasn't on the job? I'd think that a potential employer would want that too, but I guess I'm wrong.


I was particuarly puzzled by Justin's interaction with the baby. Of course, it may have only appeared this way because of how it was edited, but he didn't seem to really be playing the baby at all. The child seemed to constantly be placed on a play-mat or in a baby carrier, not being talked to, sung to, etc. I thought that was a little bizarre, and sort of agreed with the mother when she said she felt like he "wasn't doing much". Except, of course, that she was asking him to do ridiculous things like rub her feet and walk her dogs.

I was also surprised by Amanda's reaction to the vegan family. There are tons of vegans in California, particuarly in celebrity families. There are also lots of vegan restaurants. She certainly didn't need to take her charge to a non-vegan bakery and get her a roll. Although, I do have to agree with Amanda that it was bizarre that the family ordered pizza for dinner and just told them to hold the cheese, and considered that an appropriate vegan dinner. Again, there are so many good vegan restaurants in LA I just don't get it.

The nanny "salary" of $40/hr didn't seem unreasonable to me. Especially when you consider the fact that these nannies are expected to do way more than just look after the kids. The cars and full benefits? Those are certainly advantages you don't get everywhere.

What really struck me though was that the mothers didn't come across as especially crazy. Sure one mother asked the nanny to make sure that her child ate "vegan...and natural food", but that's not really unreasonable. Cleaning up bird droppings? Okay, that does seem unreasonable. Rubbing your employer's feet? That also seems unreasonable. Although Justin does market himself as a nanny and "lady sitter" (does that include feet rubbing?). Regardless, I was expecting the mothers' demands to be ridiculously unreasonable since that's how the show was advertised. Perhaps the crazy will really come with next week's episode, or perhaps these mothers are smarter than they seem and are accepting the money but limiting their own screen-time. Guess we'll wait and see.

Did you watch the premiere of 'Beverly Hills Nannies'? Did you like it? Does anyone else have a constant compulsion to refer to this show as 'The Nanny Diaries?'.

'Beverly Hills Nannies' airs on Wednesday at 9/8C on ABC Family.