Male Childminder?? Would you consider ??

[mummyemmy]

My husband and I have a six month old baby and I am due to go back to work at the start of January - aaagghhh! Our plan at present is for us both to work full-time and our baby go to a local childminder 5 days a week. We would just be able to make ends meet by doing this.

We have recently been thinking of other options like me giving up work, cutting my hours etc but the figures just don't add up in our favour.

My husband is seriously thinking of quitting his job in the catering trade to become a full-time childminder. He is fantastic with children, the most hands-on dad I know of and would do so many activities with children in his care.

The only thing stopping us is - would people be prepared to send their child to a male childminder or would we find that the only child he is looking after is our own!!

We would be very interested to hear your opinions and suggestions !!!

I would be more than happy to send ds to a male childminder.

The childminding service I use at the moment is a joint effort by the husband and wife. Whe DS first started he refused to go to anyone but the man.

I would happily use a male cm if I needed one. My friend had a male nanny, his father is a amle cm workingh in partnership with his wife, and they are excellent. I regularly use a male nursery worker as a babysitter - he has a good relationship with my children. Think it is a shamer there are so few men in early years care tbh - there are no male teachers at the infant school my DS goes to. By the way, I am a Cm myself, and it is hard work, and exhausting! good luck

I'm male and work as a nanny. I get sufficient amounts of work. I know of a few male childminders in my locality, though all work in partnership with their wife/partner.

15 years ago men working with children was rare... now it is becoming a bit more common, though still I suspect the percentage of men working in childcare is less than 2%.

Try to do some research... is there sufficient demand in your area? If your husband does not have any childcare related training, could he do some, as something to help convince other parents he does know one end of a child from the other.

I wish him the best of luck, and get him to post here, as he won't be alone... I'm sure we all (regardless of our gender) will give him advice and support.

We had a male childminder in our area until about 3 years ago ( he moved away). He had his own child, then 2 children, at home, and minded a little boy (who lived with just his mum). He was a fantastic childminder, and a great role model for the little boy.

There was a male childminder on my ICP course and he was really nice and I wouldnt think twice about using one, and being a CM myself I dont see it as being a problem at all

We have around 8 or 9 male chilminders in St Albans, not all work with their wives/partners.

My husband has been looking into this too.

We were worried that it would be a waste of money to get set up if he didnt get any business.

Shame really, because just like your DH, my DH is fantastic with the kids and so much better than me!

DH considered becoming a CM while he is at home as we definetly have the demand locally, like you harm he has so much more patientce than me and is excellent with kids.

I know a childminding husband & wife team and being a childminder myself we are "friendly rivals" so to speak. Often parents will visit both of us & its interesting to hear comments they say about the other minders they've visited.

I've found that when looking at lists of childminders, sadly, some parents have dismissed the idea of a male childminder without giving it much thought or even visiting the childminder first. Working with his wife, my friend has gotten some clients who feel that any misgivings they might have are ruled out by the fact his wife is also present. As a team they have many advantages over a lone childminder; they can use the wc without ww3 breaking out in the other room; one can change a nappy/prepare lunch while the other is supervising painting/reading stories etc.

To be honest I think it would be a challenge to start on his own. And that's a shame because some men are fabulous with children and would make excellent Childminders.

Some childminders find it difficult starting up anyway; parents like to see childcare experience and recommendations. In the absence of any formal childcare experience it could be helpful to get an open reference letter from his current/previous employers and/or character references from aquaintances to show parents.

Parents also like to choose childcarers they knew before they needed a childcarer - joining a toddler group or pta committee or helping out at preschool can get your face known in the community. Or just visiting toddler groups regularly and being chatty in the playground can work well too.

Recommend he phone his CIS www.childcarelink.gov.uk and get a list of local childminders - see if you're already swamped with carers in your area or if there's a gap in the market. The CIS will also be able to tell him about the pre-registration meetings where he can find out all the ins & outs of registering before he makes a decision. Good luck.

I would definitely use a male childminder (well, hypothetically -- actually we use a nursery at the moment, but if I were using a childminder the fact he was male wouldn't put me off at all).

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! We have decided to both work full-time for one year and during that year my husband is going to get as many "qualifications / experience" as possible and the decide for sure after that year.

Thanks all for your comments!!!