Is a $2,500 Consultant and Cookbook for Your Nanny Worth It?
The New York Times reports on makes me want to remove my eyeballs, roll them, then put them back into my head. And then sigh. I'm a former New Yorker, and I still feel this way. Maybe it's because I once lived among that crowd, the one that's willing to pay $2,700 for a studio apartment with one window, the one that will wait for two hours to get a 10PM table at a hot restaurant, the one that will step gingerly around hulking bags of garbage on city sidewalks--all because it's New York. Or maybe it's because reading the paper can be obnoxious, like when I found out about this:
Apparently there is a new company in New York offering their services as a nanny consultancy. That's right. First, you hire the nanny, THEN you hire these guys to consult that nanny on how to cook cool ethnic fare for your picky eaters. Just in case yours is like the nanny mentioned in the piece and "doesn't know the difference between quinoa and couscous." Silly nannies.
The issue, moms and dads, is that some kids are in a "mac-and-cheese phase" and need help getting out of it. Some parents have been "too basic with food in the beginning" and now need to really diversify those taste buds. And nannies, well they're the worst of all. Some of them are "throwing chicken fingers in the oven, or worse, the microwave--they're doing the bare minimum." And sometimes, sometimes, nannies don't even know how to buy ripe fruit.
What a tough spot to be in! Why not pay the $2,500 for this two-day cooking course--for the nanny, not yourself--that results in a how-to shopping trip to Whole Foods plus a semi-personalized cookbook full of kid-friendly fare, based on the palate of your own budding foodie?
Or just stop.
Related: Celebrity Parents Have Picky Eaters Too, Here's What Works For Them
Here is a tip for parents to whom these businesses are catering to, the "obsessive parents striving to tutor their children's palate much the way they would their math skills." Send your nanny online! Visit Foodlets.com. Pick up the "Weelicious" cookbook. Watch The Food Network. It's not that hard to come up with a few cool ideas for cooking sophisticated food that kids like. Yes, it's trial and error. Yes, it's a process. No, it doesn't have to cost $2,500.
Listen, I love cooking good food for kids. I care deeply whether my three small kids develop a taste for wholesome vegetables and ethnic flavors. I have a whole website devoted the to the topic. But the bigger picture goal for me and mine is this: I want to teach them how good food nourishes their growing bodies AND how eating together as a family, or even friends, can be the glue to rich and satisfying relationships. Breaking bread is one of the oldest traditions in human history. It's something we crave even more than Happy Meals.
Everything doesn't have to be so precious. Or so elite. Quinoa? Couscous? Not fancy. Not difficult. I'm sure your nanny can get the hang of it, and if she doesn't just call me. I'll give her a recipe or two for free.
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