Ban men from working in nursery settings

[Aliceisagooddog]

After yet another paedophile has been found guilty of awful crimes whilst working at a nursery, surely we need to rethink this. The risks are just too great.

Yabu most abuse happens in the home. Some children have no men in there lives being around male care givers is great for them

And yet some of the biggest news stories are mostly to do with women abusing children in nurserys and several are groups of them 🤔

Men in any care role are dangerous. It doesnt mean I detest them, or think they shouldn't be there, but its a fact

A lot of men wouldnt dream of abusing vulnerable - but its terrifying enough that there are some that would, and then some that are able to

In my heart I worry about this, as my child is vulnerable. I think thats a fair thing to be concerned about.

And tbh men everywhere cause problems for the vulnerable. In the police and fire service, in each profession, women are vulnerable to harassment and sexism, and women in the wider public are also vulnerable

Irl though, men wont be banned from care roles

I understand people’s concerns but this is utter nonsense… it would be like saying let’s ban men from being dads…

The difference with a nursery setting and a holiday club / school / sports activity is that nursery children are completely vulnerable and unable to report abuse or raise any concern in any way at all and are exposed to who ever is changing their nappy etc without any choice in who does it.
They are babies and toddlers and don’t get a say.

Just because we want everything and everyone to be equal doesn’t mean we should ignore nature and statistics leaving babies at risk. A collective gut feeling from everyone just gets pushed aside because we prioritise equality.

Yeah, I agree.

I think character is the most importantly thing.

Sometimes, you pick your child up and the nursery worker is just stony faced. Other ones are always sunny and upbeat. We need happy, patient people who love children to be employed in nurseries.

I may have natural reservations, but I know my DS would love a male nursery worker. Character > sex.

@greenflo. Did you tell them your full name and college? I wondered if they contacted the head of course? I have to dbs by law for any staff with contact to children even if their parents are present (I run a toddler group)

Well the biggest that you see but I can find literally dozens of stories of men around the world sexually abusing children in childcare settings in five minutes. Yet there are far more women in childcare but the risk that men pose in childcare settings is vastly disproportionate to their numbers. as this article discusses.

https://theconversation.com/childcare-sexual-abuse-is-mostly-committed-by-men-failing-to-recognise-that-puts-children-at-risk-260292

Unfortunately many seemingly lovely male carers have proved to be abusers too. The children often like them because they are experts in grooming children and the children are often too young to realise what is happening.

That’s because more woman work in care so statistically there will be more woman that have caused abuse but that’s not proportionate.

YABU @Aliceisagooddog.

I would rather have better safeguarding measures, such as 2 staff present for intimate care. As others have said, men's input in early learning is beneficial for children.

This! Plus this one

https://news.met.police.uk/news/nursery-worker-jailed-for-child-abuse-following-met-police-investigation-501504

Where do you draw the line? Male Obstetricians, Paediatricians, Paediatric Nurses, hospital cleaners, football coaches, holiday club staff, teachers, school janitors and so on?

People tend to focus on sexual abuse and ignore the physical and emotional abuse, and neglect. It's all bad.

Remind me, did those women carry out their crimes alone or with men? The female sex abuser I can remember the case of in a nursery had a male conspirator too I think. The "women do it too" argument doesn't bear a lot of scrutiny in the face of the stats. Particularly as has been noted the pool of males in the profession is so much smaller in the first place.

Totally ridiculous,it is not only men that are abusers.There needs to be better safeguards in place.

Do you suggest there are only female nurses ? Where would it end.

Another issue is that paedophiles are actively exploiting the drive to recruit more men in child care and the insistence that they are necessary to provide nursery aged children with male role models. Hence, men who are sexually attracted to children are 3x as likely to work or volunteer with them as your average man.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-28/paedophiles-share-childcare-abuse-tips-on-dark-web/105938932

It is not a 'collective gut feeling from everyone" - it is a concern from some - according to voting on this thread, about 33%. People are allowed to have concerns and make their decisions for their child based on these. They are not allowed to make decisions for other parents who may make different choices.

I found my 2 year old daughter strapped into a car seat at the childminders with no adults present in the building, apart from an elderly parent upstairs. Did I ever send my child to any childminder again - no. Do I think all childminders be shut down because I would not feel comfortable using one - also no.

What about schools in general though? I once worked with a TA who was later found guilty of extreme child abuse images.

AI tells me that research from the US shows that 60% of abuse in childcare settings is committed by men despite men only making up 10% of staff.

To be honest, I would think more of men who stepped away from this kind of work in support of children and making the point that men as a class need to sort themselves out.

But men rarely call each other out and tend to get jolly cross when men as a class are called out.

Men and male violence are a huge problem for women and girls. And until men start to shame and ostracise badly behaved men, it’ll continue.

100%. Men need to get their house in order. Mind you it's not just men who get cross about it being called out. NAMALT is all over the place on these threads.

Yes. Anecdote after anecdote about how lovely these individual men are, without a shred of consideration for men as a class.

Jesus, how hateful. The best staff we encountered when our children were at playgroup, nursery and primary school were men.

Campaign for better safeguarding. Not to cancel men.

Predators and child abusers are both sexes.

But an overwhelming percentage are male.

I don’t have a strong opinion either way, but internet forums do tend to rely on anecdotes. If there were stories of awful male nursery workers would you mind?

End of the day, everyone has a choice of which childcare provider they use🤷‍♀️