A Florida
mother is paying a very high price for a serious babysitting faux pas.
Sarah Slicker, known by the unfortunate nickname “Naked Nanny” in the Tampa Bay
area where she’s from, recently served one year of jail time and two years of
house arrest for taking off her clothes in front of the four-year-old boy she
was babysitting for. She’s now petitioning the courts to reduce her ten-year
probation—which prohibits her from having contact with kids besides her own
children—so that her son can have a normal childhood.
At first glance, I was unequivcally outraged by the excessiveness of
Slicker’s punishment. But the full story makes the case far less clear cut.
Slicker had long been known as a stellar childcare provider in her area. But
one day while babysitting for a four-year-old boy, she put on a James Bond movie
(WTF numero uno). After a love scene, the boy asked her to take off her
clothes. She complied (WTF numero dos). The boy’s mother walked in on the “naked
nanny,” and was quite understandably none too pleased.
Slicker later explained that she simply hadn’t wanted to argue
with the boy because she was “physically and emotionally exhausted.” I think we
can all understand that level of childcare-related exhaustion—but how about Dora
the Explorer instead of James Bond? Or a cookie
instead of full frontal nudity?
Clearly, this woman exercised disturbingly terrible judgment
and she should have been fired from all of her childcare jobs, at the very least. But I can’t
help thinking there’s a hypocritical sexual prudishness at work in her
punishment. It’s perfectly legal for parents in the U.S. to whip their kids, but
a nanny who never inappropriately laid hands on a child loses her freedom for 13
years?
Slicker, who is now married and employed, was denied her
request for a reduction in her probation. Do you think the punishment fits the
crime?
Photo: sptimes.com
