Nanny Bans Naughty Step

Nanny loves little children, wasn't that a phrase that Mussolini once used as well?

Anyhoo, in Nanny's world all children are above and beyond reproach and adults are either abusers or paedophiles. As such it should come as no surprise to learn that Olive Rack, a nursery school owner with over twenty years' experience, appeared in court the other week on an assault charge after she used a technique inspired by the television show Supernanny to discipline a child in her care.

Mrs Rack has been accused of overreacting when she saw a 2 year old girl hit a baby over the head with a toy brick at the nursery that she runs in Kettering, Northamptonshire.

Mrs Rack is accused of then dragging the girl across the nursery, forcing her to sit down and poking her twice in the forehead with her index finger.

Who brought the prosecution?

The parents?

No!

Other parents?

No!

None other than Northamptonshire Police.

You should at this stage be aware that the girl's parents did not support the prosecution of Mrs Rack, and are continuing to send their daughter to the same school.

Unfortunately for Mrs Rack her school, Tresco House Day Nursery, was being visited in July last year (when the incident occurred) by Nanny's county council education advisers.

Needless to say they reported the matter to the police.

Kirsty Frankham, an assistant at the nursery, said that the 2 year old girl could be jealous and that she had looked at Mrs Rack before hitting the baby. She told the court:

"She could be quite a handful.

She had a temper.

She would push to see how far she could go with adults."

Mrs Rack, who has no previous convictions, claims that the girl hit the baby with a length of wooden railway track.

The case was adjourned until yesterday.

The result?

Mrs Rack won, and Nanny lost.

Congratulations to Mrs Rack.

Meryl Mayo, chairwoman of the bench at Towcester Magistrates' Court, basically called Nanny a liar:

"We have had various versions of this incident.

We feel that the main witnesses, Gillian Whall and Julie Medhurst

(both local authority inspectors) were leaving the nursery.

They may not have seen the whole incident or were possibly mistaken.

There were a number of inconsistencies in the evidence.

We feel there is no evidence that Mrs Rack tapped or poked the child in this way."

The mother of the 2 year old told the court she had every faith in the punishment used by Mrs Rack:

"I believe that the incident has been highly exaggerated."

Politely put, she is calling Nanny a liar too.

Mrs Rack said that Nanny's chums from Northamptonshire County Council had told a pack of lies, and accused them of inappropriately intervening.

That's the third accusation of lying!

She said that they had held a grudge against her since 1993, when she refused to dismiss a manager with decades of experience because she did not have the right formal qualifications.

She won that case, in 1993, as well!

There are two lessons here:

1 Don't expect to hit a baby on the head and not be punished.

2 Nanny should not be allowed anywhere near children.