The nanny accused my son of recording her on his phone and being a 'pervert'

"But what I saw in the video was not what she said happened."

I hired a nanny to make our life easier, not harder.

But I should have known this one was trouble the minute she walked in.

Let's called her 'Jade.'

As a single mum who's worked full time, I've always invested in a nanny who can pick my kid up from school, take him home to supervise homework and feed him something. We don't have family in Sydney, so I hired Jade so that I could work a bit later a couple of nights per week, knowing my 10-year-old was safe at home.

But there was one huge red flag I ignored when I hired her. 

She was a bit precious. She was a young lady who was at university, living with her parents, not working anywhere else... and told me that she'd "always be contactable, because my dad pays for my phone plan."

It was a bit of an odd 'confession'.

And yet, she seemed nice enough and I needed help... so I thought I'd give her a go.

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Things were about to get...weird. Source: supplied

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"He's a pervert and a weirdo!"

The second week in was when things went pear-shaped.

As soon as she left one night, my kid quickly told me that she had given him all his maths homework answers by using her phone calculator.

Hmm, well that's not really helping my son, I thought at the time. I had a gentle word to her about it, and she got a little defensive that she'd been 'dobbed' on.

The next week, as soon as I pulled into the driveway, Jade was at the front door.

"I just need to tell you that he was being a bit weird today," she said quietly, gesticulating to where I presume my kid was in the living room.

"I realised he was filming me."

I found that very difficult to believe... especially in the way she was insinuating. Having been the target of some video bullying earlier that year, I knew my son was aware of respectful behaviour with his device.

"What happened?" I asked a stricken Jade.

"He was playing, and I looked up from my phone and saw him recording on his. And the camera was directed at me."

"Where were you?"

"I was sitting on the sofa behind him... Do you think he might be a pervert?"

I went into the house, greeted my son, and didn't even need to ask what had happened.

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Jade was a liar

I could see immediately that my son had been recording himself playing 'ropes and ladders' as he called it, with our bookshelf. He was talking to his YouTube account (set the private with 3 followers back then).

I asked to review the footage. Jade was not being filmed. She was incidentally in the background - and not even doing anything related to her job.

I explained to her that my son was just a kid playing in his own home.  She said nothing.

Jade didn't apologise to me or my kid. It was clear she was uncomfortable.

So, I decided to make it easier for her. I walked her to her car, asked for my door key back, and told her "Good luck for the future."

Because I certainly wasn't going to pay for someone to call my kid weird and a pervert in his own home.

Originally published as The nanny accused my son of recording her on his phone and being a 'pervert'