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Holly Peterson
By Renee Roberson
Each month, iParenting.com spotlights a mother who inspires and moves us, who embodies the qualities that we all admire in a person, a woman and a mother. Above all, the Mom of the Month is dedicated to her children. Rich or poor, famous or not, she shines as an example of what mothering is all about.
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"Forget the shrink. I'm telling you, get a manny! They give the sons male attention while the daddies are out sucking up to clients in Pittsburgh ... You know who else had mannies every summer ... The Kennedys. All those Kennedy cousins had mannies taking care of them up in Hyannis. Sailing mannies. Football mannies. Only they didn't call them that. They called them governors."
In Holly Peterson's debut novel, The Manny (The Dial Press, 2007), heroine Jamie Whitfield is a part-time network producer and mom to three who lives on the Upper East Side in a gorgeous apartment with her successful lawyer-husband. When she hires a male nanny – or "manny" – to spend some quality time with her depressed 9-year-old son, she gets more than she bargained before when sparks fly between herself and her new charge.
"In the book, the mother is a woman who is desperately trying to have it all and failing," Peterson says. "Working, marriage and kids have her torn in different directions. So she hires a manny that helps ground her. I tried to write about a woman who is very approachable and relatable to other women in this country."
While the book may be a fun read, and Peterson admits she "writes what she knows," this is not a true example of life imitating art. In reality, Peterson does have a male nanny, but the similarities between the relationship of characters Jamie and Peter end there. Unlike the heroine of her novel, who questions her relationship with an insufferable husband, Peterson says she is happily married to husband Rick, and relishes being a working mom to her two daughters and son.
Peterson, 42, enjoys balancing a successful career in journalism with mothering and running a household. She started her career working as a producer for ABC News for more than 10 years. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Harper's Bazaar and Talk. She now works as a contributing editor for Newsweek. While she loves the challenges of writing nonfiction, and counts her favorite book as Tina Brown's The Diana Chronicles (Doubleday, 2007), she decided to delve in the fictional arena with The Manny. She actually had the idea for the novel before she hired her "manny," Sunshine.
According to Peterson, hiring Sunshine was her husband's idea. While her children were attending surf camp, Peterson noticed how well the instructor handled the kids out in the water.
"He was so fantastic with my kids," Peterson says. "He could handle four kids at a time in the Atlantic Ocean." Her husband felt that their child, Jack, who Peterson says is sandwiched between two "bossy, bossy sisters," really needed some male attention during the day. Peterson, who has always favored hiring male babysitters to help out with her children, approached Sunshine and offered him a job with her family.
Peterson's days are never dull. Her children, Chloe, 10, Jack, 8, and Eliza, 5, are now school-aged. Peterson works three days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Newsweek offices. For about a year, she went to the local library in the evenings where she worked on her novel.
As for her "manny," he works for Peterson as a personal assistant from about noon to 3 p.m., when he gets on his skateboard and rides down Park Avenue to pick up her kids from school during the year.
"They go to the park, batting cages, bowling and finish up homework," Peterson says. "They just love him."
And while readers of the book may think hiring a manny is something only the "uber-rich" would consider, Peterson doesn't believe that is so. "I don't believe it is a big trend anywhere yet," she says. "People might want to think about being open to it. Having a manny is not an urban or upper-class phenomenon at all."
"People are looking for alternative childcare options all over the country," Peterson says. "Male babysitters are sloppy, rambunctious, and it's nice to have a guy making them macaroni and cheese and putting them to bed."
At the end of the day, Peterson is a mom who knows she is indebted to her children for allowing her to be their mother while maintaining a creative side. In the acknowledgment section of her book, she writes: "And last, but not least, to Chloe, Jack and Eliza, who make me so very happy and so very proud. My favorite moment of every day is waking up and remembering I get to be their mom."
