Sarah Slicker, The Naked Nanny
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James Joyner | Sunday, May 1, 2005 |
The odd case of a naked nanny (St. Petersburg Times)
To many in the Old Northeast neighborhood where Sarah Slicker lived and babysat, she was a Mary Poppins-like figure with a brilliant smile, bubbly disposition and a natural ability with children. Slicker began babysitting at age 12. She taught Bible classes, helped with Sunday school and worked in the nursery at First United Methodist Church. Her church awarded her a college scholarship and she graduated from Florida Southern College with a degree in pre-K education. She hoped to become a child psychologist.
So when a Snell Isle family that attends First United Methodist was looking for a nanny, a church employee recommended Slicker. The arrangement lasted for three months until the day in January 2004 when Slicker made a life-changing mistake. She was fast-forwarding through a James Bond movie, Die Another Day, when a sex scene appeared. The 4-year-old boy in her care demanded she take off her clothes. Slicker complied, and let him touch her.
The incident shocked those who knew the 23-year-old Slicker. It also split a neighborhood and a church. Some rallied behind her, refusing to believe it happened. Others felt she should go to prison. Parents who had used her for babysitting quietly grilled their children, some of them already in college.
Her outrageous actions became the buzz of the Old Northeast and fodder for Internet bloggers around the world debating what kind of punishment was enough. Today, Slicker sits in jail, labeled a sex offender. She maintains her actions were not sexual, but a horrible moment that was the result of so many other horrible moments. She snapped from overwork, stress and depression. “I knew this was wrong,” she said during an interview. “It was really hard, it’s still hard, to accept that I’d do something so crazy. . . . People are always like, “What were you thinking?’ and I say, “I wasn’t.’ ”
[...]
Slicker admitted she wasn’t good at saying no. She took the job in September 2003, she said, understanding it would be 35 to 40 hours a week. But before long, it grew to 55 to 65 hours a week. The family said there was never an agreement that the hours would be limited, and Slicker was allowed to have the other jobs as long as it didn’t interfere with their needs.
Soon, Slicker estimated, she was working 100 hours a week on all the jobs combined. She became frazzled and forgetful. She locked her keys in her car at least four times. She would go days without showering or changing her clothes. She gained 30 pounds. “Part of the problem was that I had a lot of guilt from feeling overwhelmed,” Slicker said. “It was so difficult for me to admit I was in over my head. I’ve wanted to be a parent my whole life and it was hard for me to admit I couldn’t handle a parent’s schedule.”
Bizarre.
via Fark
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
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