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I find it very interesting that people find men who want to work with children creepy, or otherwise suspect. Do any of you have children that play sports? Are their coaches male? Do you find them suspect?
I have a 15 year old son who would babysit in a heartbeat. He coaches football and lacrosse and the younger boys (10 year olds) really love having him around. Instead of running laps he takes them on "cross country" runs through the wooded area of the park. He makes drills into games and is just a whole lot more lighthearted than the adult coaches. It really saddens me that people think that just because he is a boy who enjoys teaching and coaching other boys there is something wrong with him.
My so will be a fabulous father and is a good role model for younger boys. It is appalling that people would think he automatically has something wrong with him simply because he is a male who enjoys kids.
I agree, something is wrong with our American way of thinking. Such stereotypes just seem to never go away. It really is sickening that people seem to think every male is a horrible person. It saddens me as well.
Now, having 3 boys, a female babysitter just didn't cut it, especially when one of my sons was told to do something (don't remember what), and he truly told the girl, no, your not my mother, my mother is dead and you cant tell me what to do.....ugh......then I finally had another neighbor boy watch them, and like another poster said, it was like having an older brother to play boy things....and never had problems............
I was the sole babysitter for my entire neighborhood when I was 13-17 years old (male). I hated it, but I was busy every night for years! No one thought anything of it.
Androphobia seems to be a relatively recent addition to our culture of fear. (THis is a fairly severe sociological issue, imo). My mother and her siblings had a male babysitter at times. He used to cover for them when the S hit the fan (toilet clogged, for example), and he had some basic handiness skills to fix something. He was also fun, so of course they loved him. Aside from this seemingly widespread inclination for brutal rape, testosterone seems to give teenage boys a higher tolerance for and appreciation of rambunctiousness.
Back then, baby-sitters didn't need CPR training, Red Cross certification, fluency in a second language, and knowledge of administering epipens. You employed babysitters so that you knew your kid ate dinner, finished their homework, didn't set the house on fire, and were in bed by 9:30.
If my parents had been the interesting sort that went out once in awhile, I'd have preferred a guy. I always wanted someone to play stratego with or who understood the complexities of overrunning a playmobil castle with knights and footmen. A teenage girl would have bored me to death.
I will add to the chorus that molestations typically happen within trusted relationships....mostly family primarily, and then with less frequency teachers or long-time neighbors.
It depends on the male. I wouldnt let some random 15 year old PERIOD watch my daughter. Male or female. I would let my 15 year old nephew babysit my daughter in a heartbeat. I dont think it makes a difference if the person is male or female I guess.
My son is 13 and I've been telling him he should look for a babysitting job. He is great with kids and has lots of energy. I worked in child care for the past 10 years and when he was school-age and would have a snow day I would bring him with me. The kids always loved him and would ask for days after if he was going to come back. A couple years ago I had a family child care. He would always come down after school or during summer vacation and play with the kids. Last summer I took him to work with me (I was subbing at a preschool) and again, the kids loved him especially the older ones (going to kindergarten and school agers). He would play games with them and run around with them.
He would not want to do that for a living, lol, but to make a couple bucks he would be great at it.
And because of most of the responses on this thread, I would encourage him to find boys to sit for even though I know my son would never do anything improper to anyone, especially a young child.
I agree with 'jasper12'... some people are kid people and some people are not. Not all males are horrible people when it comes to babysitting, as the old stereotype says. But that's just it: It's just a stereotype.
I also agree with 'nightcrawler'... Males coach little league baseball games, basketball, football, and a lot of the T-Ball coaches are male. Nobody seems to suspect them while they are coaching their children then, so why should they suspect them as babysitters? I believe that some males just have soft hearts and good souls for children, and there is nothing wrong with that. I have two 3 year old cousins that I love dearly and would never even think of hurting them in any way. And yes, children need male role models in their lives.
For some families, like my Aunt and Uncle's situation, my Uncle works 2 jobs, and my Aunt takes my other cousin (who is 2) to therapy because he has brain damage. My 3 year old cousins spend most of their time at my grandma's house and even then, there is no male in the house for them to look up to because my grandpa works as a delivery courier. So, I babysit them from time to time and it works out for all of us, because my 3 year old cousins have a male role model.
So, bottom line, not all males are terrible people when it comes to babysitting or working with kids. Me, being a male, I've worked with kids before and some adults that I've worked with (most of them females), seem to "label" me as a bad person. For males that have that soft heart, it's unfair to be judged like that.
I have 3 boys also. I was a single parent while my children were at the ages of 1 to 8 years old. I had several female babysitters. It always seemed like I was having the same struggles over and over again. They sat on the phone, their friends came to visit, can they bring a friend with them, the house was always in disarry, the kids ate a lot of junk food, and they were most always still awake when I returned.
One day I could not get our regular sitter, she told me of a friend she had named Jeff and said he was about her age (14) and would really like to earn some money. I gave him a call and he came over to visit with the kids. They enjoyed his company and he was a very nice young man. I even spoke with his parents about this.
Later that week he came down for a trial run. I ran to the grocery store and Jeff sat for me. When I returned home the kids were happy and taking a nap. He said he was sorry but they just got tired. Later when they woke up and Jeff had went home they told me how he played with them, gave them fruit for a snack and how they loved him.
For the next year I used Jeff on a regular basis. I did not have the insecurities that I had with the girls that I used. Kids were always clean, my house was never in disarray, there were no unexpected friend visits and sometimes my boys even asked me to go away and do something so that Jeff could come over.
I would say yes definately to having a male vs female sit for my kids. This one boy was not the only time I had used males, I continued until my oldest child was able to, using male sitters. You would not believe the difference between them.
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