For this poll we are going to assume that the hidden cameras are ONLY being hidden in areas legally allowed by the differing state laws; obviously hidden bathroom spy cams are never ok.

I have been reading threads on reddit/other sites about hidden cams in common areas (playroom, baby’s room, living room). Some nannies said they will quit if they find a hidden camera as the parents never mentioned this as being part of their job contract.

Others said they wouldn’t care bc they understand the concerns of parents, and they like having the cameras to protect themselves in case of false accusations or misconstrued events.

Others said hidden cameras are creepy and hinder their job performance; many find it hard to sing/do goofy stuff with the children when they feel they’re being watched by adults, especially when they don’t know who else has access to the footage/what can be done with the footage.

(As a note, I want to share that cameras can be hacked. One of my security cams for the outdoor portion of my house was hacked last year and I found out that people overseas had been watching me feed my cats for days. Pretty weird to think that they could’ve hacked into my hypothetical child’s cam and watched them sleep or play or something.)

They also mentioned it can be hard to live normally while being watched; they feel weird about fixing a wedgie or blowing their nose or basically doing anything we normally do in our homes while being filmed and it can really disrupt their overall enjoyment of the job as well when they feel that they’re being micromanaged.

What are your thoughts on hidden nanny cams? Do they disrupt job performance? Is it better to tell a nanny about one or not? Would you use one? Would you only put one in if you had suspicions about certain behaviors? How would you make sure that the camera would only be accessed by you, and would you ignore any embarrassing/“normal living” footage? If you were a nanny and found one, how would you handle the situation?