Greg Carroll left his job as an executive chef in 2009, when his boss asked him to slash his 500-person staff by half. Since then, Carroll has done some catering, some consulting and some cooking in private homes. But full-time work has proven elusive.
So a few months ago, the 51-year-old Carroll posted an ad on Care.com, a site that pairs caregivers with potential employers. As a divorced father of four, he’s changed diapers, coached soccer and cooked healthy meals for his family. “I’m a great dad … so I thought (child care) might be something to look at.”
Some of these men are unemployed teachers, or daycare workers looking to go the “manny route.” Some are dads, like Carroll, with plenty of real-world experience but no formal background in caring for other people’s kids. And some have virtually no child care experience, but hope someone might give them a shot, anyway.Carroll is part of a growing trend of men turning to child care work as a way to earn money in a difficult economy. Candi Wingate, president of the Norfolk, Neb.-based Nannies4Hire.com, estimates she’s seen a 10 percent jump in men looking for childcare work since the economy turned south. Johanna Flattery, with Care.com, said men advertising for child care jobs on the site has risen more than 30 percent since October 2008.
The overwhelming majority of nannies and babysitters in the U.S. are women, and plenty of potential employers reflexively shy away from hiring men to care for their kids. Child care is still considered by many to be a “woman’s job,” and parents may wonder why a guy would want to warm bottles, wipe up snot and play with Webkinz.
There are plenty of reasons why families would want to hire a man to watch their kids, said Flattery. “Anecdotally, we’ve seen a lot of mothers with pre-teen boys and teenagers who tend to pursue a male care provider. The reasons have been because these men can ‘keep up with’ the boys and participate in activities.” And single moms with male children often seek out men as care givers because they want a male role model for their sons.
Travis McGowin, a firefighter and part-time “manny” from Prattville, Ala., started working with children at a local YMCA and kept on doing child care throughout fire school.
“Kids accept people for who they are, instead of superficial things. If you have a genuine interest in what they’re doing, they’re going to be interested in you. If you show them love and interest, they’ll love you,” explained McGowin. “Kids have this whole unconditional love thing, and that’s what kept me in it the longest, more so than the money, actually.” “I do continue to do this for the extra income, especially because of the way the economy has gone in the past few years,” said McGowin. But he also just loves working with kids.
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Don't know what I'd suggest in its place though.
Edited at 2011-10-30 01:42 am (UTC)
So I'm picturing people hiring him. "Hey kids, want to dig a hole with the backhoe?" "YEAH!"
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/g
(The first one I opened also features a half-pound of bacon... dammit, now I want this too.)
"Manny! We need a pallet let down in the freezer! Over!"
Just saw someone asking "What do you think about man purses" and I couldn't articulate why it made me cringe. You spelled it out, exactly.
(I haven't read it but I can tell you it never leaves the library, perhaps because of the stupid title)
Far be it from me to defend sexist attitudes about child-rearing, but I can think of one or two pretty damn good reasons that women especially might be wary of leaving their children alone with grown men.
Now I'm wondering if background checks for child care workers are a national norm. God, I hope so. I really hope so.
When you consider the dismal stats on reports (much less convictions) for the kind of reasons parents should worry, there is still damn good reason to trust women more than men.
LOOK AT THESE POOR MEN! THE ECONOMY IS SO TERRIBLE THAT THEY'RE FORCED TO WORK WITH CHILDREN! YES, WITH CHILDREN! CAN YOU EVEN BEGIN TO BELIEVE IT? MY GOD, THEY'RE EVEN ENJOYING THEMSELVES AND FEELING A SENSE OF FULFILLMENT. THE HELL IS THIS WORLD COMING TO?
Maybe the pedophiles ruined that for him. :(
I totally believe it has to do with socialized gender norms. Guys can be good with kids, but working with little kids and babies? That's considered too close to motherhood, and is therefore deemed undesirable for men. It's like society is saying that women can teach younger kids because it involves a bit more nurturing, but guys are expected to do more of the "real" education, like algebra and history. That right there's a MAN'S JOB (/sarcasm).
At the places where I've worked, there's always been background checks on all the employees, male and female. I feel that this is incredibly important when you're working with kids. Parents want to trust who they're leaving their kids with. However, I have heard that where I'm currently working, there has been at least one incident of parents getting upset that there was a male working in one of the baby rooms. They were cool with him being moved to an older age room, but a man working with babies was too suspicious for comfort.
tl;dr version: Stupid gender norms ruin everything.
A couple of years ago when that trans man had a kid, my son watched the beginning of a news clip about it and his face lit up because he thought maybe a work-around had been found and he'd be able to have a baby. : /
We never left our kids with a stranger...but when we did leave them with someone, the guys we knew were in the running along with the women. I'd definitely leave kids with those guys before I'd leave them with an unknown woman--women are capable of plenty of damage.
I guess I'm lucky my wife doesn't feel this way (points to your post). I hadn't realized so many people made a bad connection between men and babies. That is sad.
ugh