Really offended by this!!

Yep, troll.

And lol, what has aGal done wrong? I see nothing here that suggests that.

...

I shall stop feeding the troll now and be a good girl

maybe you think i am extreme but people are allowed to have opinions and not get hounded out on other posts by an OP. or maybe not. oh and if you bother to read all the posts some people did actually agree with me.

Now if aGalChangedHerName wasnt such a moron then she would read the opposing opinioons and take on board some of the qualms expressed and when a prospective parent/customer next calls her she is sensitive to how some people might react and make it clearer how wonderfully charming her 17 year old son is.

agal - All the childminders I have used have had teenagers. Very odd to be put off by this. I have a teenager of my own at home and if I were childminding and a parent said this I'd think I was well shot.

Womble - no idea whether you are a troll or not but you do seem a tad extreme.

aGalChangedHerName, satisfied with yourself? is your life really that empty that you have to resort to being quite a nastly little piece of work on mumsnet?

I hope womble is a troll or having an EXTREMELY bad day

I think I'd be more offended if they'd met my sons then said that.
At least you can just put it down to prejudice and their shortcomings.

teenagers out in the world can be totally different to teenagers at home though.

Womble a troll or something?

On the petty 17yo argument, it's people like you who just make everything worse for young people. Get over your ignorance and treat teenagers like people, as that is what they are. I'm 20 now, but at 17 I was running the college's charity group, was one of the lead councillors in my local youth council, studying in college and holding down a job. Funnily enough, there were teen boys involved in all of those as well.

Now, I volunteer at a charity shop, school and swimming pool, all of which have young (16-20) male volunteers.

I wish people would stop judging the whole of this generation based on the actions of the minority GR

My CM has 2 older boys & 2 younger ones and her boys are one of the reasons why we wanted her as a CM for ds. We will have no concerns at all about sending dd too when she's a bit older. In fact one of her older boys babysits for my two occasionally, he is fab with little children. I did however, have a few reservations about another CM whose very surly teenage boy put me off a bit as I wondered if he would find ds a bit irritating - ds likely to hero-worship.

Daft man, aGalChangedHerName, totally agree with your assessment of him.

surely teenage boys would not be hanging around the house in the daytime when the mindee is there?

or do they make a very domesticated kind of teenager these days?

SO your son hasnt actually done anything criminal (thick emiticon).
ABsolutely barmy then.

Probably better off without a family like that tbh.

well i can see why its irritating but tbh i ont think she was being unreasonable,

you need to pick a childminder that you feel totally comfortable with so you arent worrying about your child the whole time you are there, no?

some people say no to those with dogs, some dont want those with pools etc. for whatever reason they felt that a house with teenage boys in wouldnt be great for their daughter

god knows why, i think dd would be fine (she is also 3) but they made a choice based on their child and their comfort zone, they may have any kind of terrible past experience or may not

but at least they werre honest with you and didnt waste your time if they werent ever going to go through

or lucky girl having a father who actually thinks about childcare arrangements....

They sound mad and you'd think with that horrid story in the news about the nursery worker that people would realise that women can be abusers too. (Assuming the husband is worried from that perspective).

Definitely better off without them.

Thing speaks sense - you honestly are better off without them.

I was thinking it was a daft reason to turn cm down but wombleprincess reminded me that i did once nanny in a house for 3 year olds where there was 18 year old who in hols constantly had people over, drank, played music with bad lang. and loud bass, including at nap time. Even though he'd turn it down when asked the next day it would just happen again. And one parent was often there and did nothing, except they occasionally argued to add to the mix. He didn't do it at 17 and in fact used to be quiet and reserved.

I would assume a cm has any teens under control else wouldn't be cming. Though Tamarto i wouldn't necessarily count on a teen life easier and more in control than with little ones. When teens are naughty they are not cute.

They're loons. They'd be nightmare clients. You are better off without them.

just to clarify nannynick, i have absolutly no problem with male carers, i would have a problem with the 17 year old son.

Do i need to get over myself about this?

Yes, nothing you can do about it so move on... find the next customer.

As a male childcarer I've come across similar reactions plenty of times, once they realise I'm male. I'm surprised you are getting that reaction as you would be the primary carer, not your DSs. But there is no knowing what is going through her DH's mind!

by ALOT i meant emotional energy more than anythng. thats as tiring as scrubbing kitchen floors any day.