Male Nursery Staff

[herei]

My child is in Nursery after my return to work. They nursery chain have been hiring make staff recently. My child's nursery has 3 male staff.

My daughter's nappy was changed by a male member of staff. For my own personal reasons I feel upset about this but not sure if I can even say or do anything. I just don't like it.

Rubbish. We had a male teacher in our school nursery for a few years. He was excellent and the children and parents thought very highly of him. Some children really need a good male role model apart from anything else.

I know my view is likely unreasonable but I just seen the make name against my child's record for nappy changing and I'm shocked by my reaction.

There seems to be some males on other nursery's they are trying to be more equally now I guess.

I don't even let other family members change my child's nappy but a male staff member I've never met can do this.

There is supposed to be a 2 staff member ratio but I've seen staff walking out of nappy area alone before. The baby room which is the youngest room, the nappy area is at the back and out of view. The rest of the rooms I'm more comfortable with as more open.

I want to cry I don't want a man touching my child, I don't want a man rubbing cream on my child's genitals

I'd be concerned too. The majority of peadophiles are men and just because they have a clean DBS check doesn't mean they are innocent it just means they haven't been caught.

I wish I could say differently but honestly I'm absolutely not comfortable with this either @herei

For those saying they have police checks, the majority of people have clean records, it doesn't mean they are safe. It means they haven't been convicted of a crime. And we all know that many unsafe people seek out working with children and work in nurseries, schools, churches, hobbies, sport etc.

Then remove her from the nursery NOW instead of wailing on here. It's so easy to solve!

Spot on. Can’t believe people would write whatever suits their agenda regardless if it’s true or not!

Are you over 70? Or the victim of an abusive relationship and a very limited social circle?

Then take your child out and report to ofsted.

I am comfortable with most of the male staff at my daughters nursery but there was a temp one summer who I was a bit un easy about being there. I was reassured when a staff member told me no temps do nappy changes. You need to talk to the staff.

Obviously the vast majority of men aren’t paedos but statistically it is more likely. I just wonder at their motivations

I don't really see why you don't seem to consider it possible that they have the same motivations as female nursery staff.

Also, offenders can change their names at any time

I get where you're coming from so I hate to point this out but the last case I recall about a worker abusing children in a nursery was actually a woman (Vanessa George) New rules were put in place after this to prevent others doing the same.
I didn't want anyone changing my sons nappy because of my past experiences so I waited until he was fully toilet trained (2 and a half years) before I went back to work.
You could try speaking to the nursery to see if that lessens your anxiety or maybe you'd feel more comfortable with a childminder rather than a nursery.

Really? My lovely dad changed my nappy, fed me and looked after me every bit as much as my mother did in the 70s because they were a team. My DH and I were the same in the noughties.

A friend's child had a male childminder he was awesome and they're still in touch.

This is absolutely not a normal view.
I feel for any of the single dads reading this, what if their partner died in childbirth and they are the sole caregiver?

Disgusting paedo, better go pick the kid up from the adoption agency when he hits the legal age of consent.

SMH.

If you don't like, move to another nursery

Op, I would want to know from the nursery what processes are in place to mitigate the risk to your child. Is there CCTV in all areas, including the changing areas? Is there an arrangement so staff are never alone with children during nappy changes?

Wouldn't you want this anyway? Regardless of the sex of the staff? Our nursery doesn't currently have any male staff members (although they did when DD1 started 4 years ago), and the changing area is in the main room, in view. It's sort of behind a half height wall and gate to keep children out but anyone changing a nappy is visible to other staff members.

Wow.

Related males are much less of a risk than unrelated males.

Is that true? I didn't think it was.

Are you for real? This is such a horrible comment. My son is 16 and does voluntary work every week in an infant school, he underwent a DBS; online safeguarding training and training on site before he could start. He is now thinking about becoming a teacher. The children get so excited when he turns up each week, no wonder there aren’t many male teachers in early year settings with attitudes like this.

Surely the solution here is to talk to the nursery about safeguarding. If you are happy then great and if not raise concerns / remove your child.

Don't assume only men abuse though. And don't assume that statistics always give an accurate picture. More girls are abused OR more girls report being abused (you can't know which statement is true).

Personally I understand the concerns but I'd want to be happy with the safeguarding regardless of the gender of the carers.

Listen, you don't have to be an equal opportunities parent. You can acknowledge that men are a bigger risk to children than women and move your child into a different setting. The hurt feelings of other people or society in general are immaterial.

Little Ted’s Nursery in Plymouth. I rest my case as to why you need to wobble your head and this is utter nonsense.

Why do the safeguarding measures need to be "beyond what is in place for a female" surely if those safeguarding procedures are robust then they're enough for nursery staff of either sex? Or are you implying they should, for whatever reason, be more relaxed if it's solely female carers?

Motivation? We have males in other caring professions - nurses, midwives, care workers, doctors - why not nursery staff? Children need to see males and females in all roles.