Baby /toddler sessions run by a man

[SleepingStandingUp]

If you were looking for paid sessions for baby / toddler would it put you off if the person leading it was a man? Would your baby's age make any difference? Talking to a male friend about career options but we were undecided if it would be doable.

Yabu - no one would go
Yanbu - of course people would go

My friends DH is a swimming tutor ,and a couple of Nursery Nurses were male in the Nursery I worked in .All good and bring another dimension to the room . One big Aussie guy the children loved *esp boys) liked footie and every.thing .Friends hubby very good with DC .

Is anyone here familiar with the Fawlty Towers episode, The Kipper and the Corpse ? A man dies in the hotel and has to be kept hidden from the hysterical female guests. One of the female residents accidentally gets shut in the wardrobe with the dead body. She is completely hysterical at having been in close proximity to a man.Mrs Fawlty points out that the man in question is dead but the woman points out that a man is a man. Some posters on here seem similarly terrified of any contact with a man.

@dottydodah . Completely agree about the Aussie teacher. I don't know how London Schools would manage without Aussie supply teachers. They are so cheerful, resilient and good at their jobs.
In contrast, the motherly, middle aged TAs are not popular with kids. Some of the middle aged female TAs also had a tendency to nod off in lessons.
All Head teachers recognise the value of energetic young male teachers as positive role models to boys, particularly disaffected ones.

Wouldn’t bother me. To be honest I have no preference. Male or female, either sex. Comes down whether they are good at it and me and my child enjoy it,

Teaching assistant salaries are poor. It does not encourage young males to want to be one.

@grey12

Wouldn't really care because I would be with the baby all the time 🤷🏻‍♀️ if it was babysitting maybe I would think twice....

So no male baby sitters!!

Such sexist crap,

@Feelingoktoday . A lot of TAs use the job to see if they would like to become teachers. Our local university offers TAs the opportunity to do a part time degree while they continue to work in schools. It helps them earn while they train. They are much more valuable to the school in this capacity rather than someone who sees it as a little job to fit around their children.

The OP never said he was looking to run a new born mum and baby support group.

I’m assuming a play group type thing.

No problem. My step son works in a nursery. He is brilliant, just like all of his colleagues. Long hours, low Pay. Long term he will have to have a different career as the pay is just too low.

[quote Twicklette]@Feelingoktoday . A lot of TAs use the job to see if they would like to become teachers. Our local university offers TAs the opportunity to do a part time degree while they continue to work in schools. It helps them earn while they train. They are much more valuable to the school in this capacity rather than someone who sees it as a little job to fit around their children.[/quote]
That makes sense.

@Feelingoktoday The two years basic education degree accepts applicants from Nurseries too. Your stepson should apply.
I don't want to give the name of my local university but there must be lots of others that also allow for part time education degrees whilst working as a TA or in a Nursery setting.
Interestingly, most of the publicity photos for these courses show men in these roles

https://www.canterbury.ac.uk/study-here/applying/visit-us/postgraduate-routes-into-teaching?utmsource=Google&utmmmedium=PPC&utmcampaign=PGRoutesIntoTeaching&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIm5P4kICM9gIVAu7tCh2ZZAxIEAAYASAAEgKGrvDDBwE

@Sirzy

I wonder how all those who feel so judgemental about a man working with children treat their sons?

Do they tell them they can’t do things just because they are a boy? Treat them like they are wrong for wanting to play with a doll or whatever?

Mommy I want to be a Nanny You can't son Why not? Because you might end up a paedophile darling, so you aren't to be trusted.

@Feelingoktoday

The OP never said he was looking to run a new born mum and baby support group.

I’m assuming a play group type thing.

No problem. My step son works in a nursery. He is brilliant, just like all of his colleagues. Long hours, low Pay. Long term he will have to have a different career as the pay is just too low.

Yeah we were discussing it more around toddlers, so the sensory play or musical sessions, daddy and baby fitness sessions etc. But also him going into nursery years. I just see him with mine and other people's kids and think he's missing somethings

I'd be fine from any age sounds great hope all works out.

I think people are being deliberately obtuse pretending to be puzzled. Of course there’d be women who’d feel it was strange or uncomfortable.

For me, I had a male midwife. I had no problem getting birthing or breastfeeding suggestions from him - he was making evidence and experience based suggestions. I don’t think women are better at this - in fact I found the most judgmental people around birth and breastfeeding were other mothers (even those I saw professionally). They all had skin in the game and a number behaved as though their choices were the ‘correct’ ones and needed defending. Not objective or truly supportive at all.

But then I also think ‘shared experience’ is a bit of a con. It’s really only very narrow minded people who seriously think that one woman’s experience
Of anything is likely to be identical to another’s. All you know from your own experience is what it was like for you.

I found the most judgmental people around birth and breastfeeding were other mothers (even those I saw professionally). They all had skin in the game and a number behaved as though their choices were the ‘correct’ ones and needed defending.
This. The local midwife I was assigned to had 4 children (as she proudly told me first thing) but she was so judgemental and awful. In the end I stopped seeing her (didn’t make a big deal about it, just went to the hospital instead of my GPs). All the other midwives were lovely and I wouldn’t have minded in the slightest if they were male. I was consultant led anyway and half of them were male.

@MissTrip82

I think people are being deliberately obtuse pretending to be puzzled. Of course there’d be women who’d feel it was strange or uncomfortable.

For me, I had a male midwife. I had no problem getting birthing or breastfeeding suggestions from him - he was making evidence and experience based suggestions. I don’t think women are better at this - in fact I found the most judgmental people around birth and breastfeeding were other mothers (even those I saw professionally). They all had skin in the game and a number behaved as though their choices were the ‘correct’ ones and needed defending. Not objective or truly supportive at all.

But then I also think ‘shared experience’ is a bit of a con. It’s really only very narrow minded people who seriously think that one woman’s experience
Of anything is likely to be identical to another’s. All you know from your own experience is what it was like for you.

See that's different. I don't want to get a smear or give birth in front of males and I requested females. I just wouldn't be comfortable.

Our baby swimming classes are led by a man and he is great.

@SleepingStandingUp

The kind of sexualised dressing up that has hit the headlines in the last couple of years: no way! no, he's not considering dressing up sexily to run around after toddlers 🙄

Then he should be fine.

And please don't dismiss that concern: there's plenty of evidence for it.

Well if he wanted to do sexy kids play, I'd have mentioned that in the post.