Hey, one question: How do you think the children reacted when Grace replaced their nannies? We get Vanya's reaction but at some point the other nannies had to go too. I can imagine that Allison for example preferred human nannies since she could use her powers on them and for a little kid it's probably awesome to have your caregiver do whatever you want. Sorry if you've been asked that before. I just had that question writing and would love your opinion on this. :)
I think Grace was probably a bit of a culture shock for them at first. Those human nannies, no matter how patient or kind, would have had their limits; and with seven kids with superpowers to take care of, I imagine the Academy might have been something of That Address for nannies in the city—the place where turnover rates are high and people swear the pay isn’t worth it. Reginald probably made nannies sign pretty stringent non-disclosure agreements, possibly even paying a stipend to those who made it out unharmed in exchange for their silence, but that doesn’t mean people in the city wouldn’t have found former Hargreeves nannies in this bar or that, chugging the most alcoholic thing on the menu with a thousand-yard stare.
So in comes Grace. Where the other nannies panicked at their tantrums, she gently explains to them why they need to calm down. Where the other nannies became exasperated at bouts of stubbornness, Grace waits it out. No matter what the kids do to test her patience, they can’t get her to crack. She always greets their behavior with a gentle smile and softly spoken words. To kids who were used to nannies afraid of bodily harm and a father with little patience to speak of, Grace probably frightened them at first. I think they would’ve been so used to adult authority figures losing their tempers that they wouldn’t have known how to act around Grace.
Allison might have wondered if Grace was a punishment for her specifically, since hers were the only powers that couldn’t affect her at all. None of the other kids could hurt her, but they could lift her, throw knives at her, zip around her, etc. Even Klaus could’ve tried to scare her with gruesome descriptions of the ghosts he saw, had he been so inclined—but Allison? Her powers are useless on a robot. So I have to wonder if she thought, for a while, that Grace was Reginald’s answer to something she did wrong. She might have even been the most rebellious toward Grace, for a while, and the slowest to accept her as part of the family.
Over time, though, as Grace stuck around and became part of their new normal, I think she became a welcome respite from Reginald. If he berated his kids for innocent questions, Grace would answer with a chuckle. If he greeted a broken rule with abuse of one form or another, Grace would remind the guilty child of the rules and tell them to not do it again. She wouldn’t have defied him—if he sent one of the kids to bed without food, I don’t think she would have brought them something to eat unless he gave her permission—but she would have provided as much love and patience to counter the abuse as her programming would allow.