Would you hire a male babysitter?

[georgarina]

Why/why not?

Yes, if I knew and trusted them.

Of course - subject to the same safeguarding checks etc as I would for any babysitter if they weren't personally known to me.

No.

Not a chance.

Is it though? Huge??

How many teenage boys do you seriously think are going to do anything to a young child?

The risk is really really not 'huge'. There is a very small risk. Slightly higher with men than women but very small overall.

To answer the question - yes within the confines of who I would ask to babysit (family member, family friend, nursery staff etc). I wouldn't use an agency babysitter at the moment whether male or female. My son adores his male key worker at nursery.

Yes - I have used several male teenagers to babysit my sons - they have all been the sons of people I know in our village. I've known them since they were all much younger. My sons know them and were happy to be babysat by them.

(I've also used female teenagers too - it's often been a case of who was free on the night in question)

I wouldn't have anyone I didn't know well watch my kids - whether they are male/female doesn't come into it

No. Male babysitters are a higher risk than females. Statistically males commit the majority of sex crimes.

What a depressing thread.

I would only allow someone to babysit who I new/ trusted. Family friends/nursery staff/club staff/TA's ect.

Would not bother me gender wise.

I've never left my kids with any babysitters. I've left them with family members who I trust, including male, but wouldn't hire a random I didn't know despite whatever qualifications or references they had.

I have two regular paid babysitters, one male, one female. So yes, I would.

Bloody hell, talk about stereo typing. All men are NOT sex offenders!
This is ridiculous, if someone made this kind of generalised statement about women you would all be posting yourselves.

No. As a parent, I want to minimise their risk of harm.

Never used a babysitting service and I can’t imagine doing so really.

I’d be ok leaving my Dc with someone male or female who was known to me and who I’d seen get on well enough with my DC eg a Dad at school who I know well enough or a friend’s husband.

Nobody said they are. But most of those crimes are committed by men. It’s about minimising risk.

I wouldn't hire one, no. If I know and trust a man and my kids like him, that would be different.

Most of my babysitters were male when my kids were young, and they were all great. DH and I both have mostly brothers, nephews, uncles, very few women in our family.
Our nephews and sons of our friends all babysat for us. I don't see why that's anything odd or strange, it never occurred to me not to have them.

I have left oldest DC at play dates where it is the Dad on duty that day - picking up, playing with them, getting them snacks etc. I guess that is really the closest I’ve come to using a babysitter and on play dates I would say it’s been the Dad there quite often.

Not unless it was someone I already knew & trusted.

How can an adult human think this?
Or maybe I have misunderstood the AIBU?
Or maybe I exist in a parallel universe.

Interestingly some posters are reassured by having a male relative or friend... yet, in the majority of cases, the perpetrator is someone who is already known to the child, not a stranger.

Why are you asking OP, are you a male considering babysitting.

family yes
a stranger no

We happily did so. We only used baby sitters known to us but 2 were male (sons of friends).

DH works in a primary (including EYFS), as does my DS. They are both well suited to the role. DD is also involved in education. Her motives for her career are never questioned.
As a child I was groomed and frequently inappropriately touched by a trusted local man but I was also influenced by many great men, including the one that came to our school to talk about Kidscape. He saved me.

One of my Dad's close friends babysat us when we were little. Nothing untoward ever happened to me, and as far as I am aware to my siblings BUT it came out years later that this man carried out an enormously serious sexually assault against a very vulnerable minor.

His victim was most likely chosen because they would have been unable to speak up or report it, and may not even have been aware of the crime that was committed. Perhaps my siblings and I were never at risk but it feels like quite a dodged bullet.

So no, I never would. Of course it's not all men, but it's almost exclusively men.