Male Childminder

[hibbykris]

Hi everyone. I'm a 33 year old male who is seriously considering starting up my own Childminding business. I went to college to do my HNC in early education & Childcare but had to stop as my fiancée (now wife) and I were struggling with money in the lead up to our wedding. I also worked for 6 months in a local nursery but again the money side of things took its toll as I could only get 20 hours a week. I'd really love to do this but worry about the lack of Males working in a Childcare environment and the possibility that people may naturally prefer to send their children to a female. I was wondering if there were any other guys out there that have any advice or just anyone's opinion on this? Thank you!!

[Rick]

Lucky you bumped into me then!

I have been registered for almost a year now and have been full since Christmas. I have had to work quite hard though, going to toddler groups almost every day with my son, writing articles for my local website etc. The most important thing is to get yourself out and noticed in the local community because people need to see you and get to know you, otherwise it may be tough. In adverts, people will generally prefer female childminders but I have found at groups etc, people are more likely to go with someone they know, male or female. Some families, particularly single mums may prefer a male role model in their child's life.

I haven't had anything but positive comments from people I meet about me doing this job. If anyone wants to say anything bad I'll just direct them to lots of other people who will tell them what a good job I'm doing and that it doesn't matter if it is a male or female.

Good luck! If you're willing to put in the hard work to get yourself noticed then you can make a success of childminding :thumbsup:

[munch149]

There's a male childminder local to me (only one as far as I know) and he seems to do ok. I think everyone looks for different things in there childcare and whilst you might find it harder you also have being male as an advantage as there are those that would prefer a man and there isn't A lot of choice out there. I wouldn't be at all suprised if you ended up with more boy mindees tho

[hibbykris]

I appreciate your feedback guys. I'm lucky in that the town that I live in is quite small which means networking/getting known is so much easier. A lot of people are aware of my previous studies and experience at the nursery so that's already a small start. I've booked myself onto a course starting in October and have discussed with my wife how we can change the house around to become suitable for child care. We are extremely lucky that our front garden basically looks out on to a large park with swings, slides etc. and that we have rooms to be able to create a playroom. I'm sure you are all appreciate that it's very daunting and I just hope that people are open minded enough to consider me in terms of their Childcare. I know myself that I'd be very good at this, it's just trying to ensure that others think I would be too.

[Rick]

There's a male childminder local to me (only one as far as I know) and he seems to do ok. I think everyone looks for different things in there childcare and whilst you might find it harder you also have being male as an advantage as there are those that would prefer a man and there isn't A lot of choice out there. I wouldn't be at all suprised if you ended up with more boy mindees tho

Not necessarily. I have 6 mindees and 5 are girls! Might be coincidence, I don't know!

[Samijanec]

There's a male childminder just round the corner from me and he's always been fully booked!

[Bluebell]

Men can be really fantastic, caring, and kind carers as well as good role models for young children and its a shame we see it as a predominantly female profession - I guess why there is a push to get men to be primary teachers maybe.
I also agree that those without a father figure at home this would be particularly beneficial and single mums may be drawn to your service as an additional element.

The idea of going to toddler groups and the park and getting to know families so they can get to know you is a great idea.

Take confidence from MTK007 and very best wishes!

[shortstuff]

I think that we need more males in child care full stop. At any age. DS now has a male teacher and he loves going to school again. I should point out that he is nearly 7.

I say go for it and enrich childrens lives. You sound like you have the enthusiasm and drive to be great x

[smurfette]

My daughters school has just one male teacher and he is fantastic! It's been great for them to experience a male teacher as they will have lots in secondary school , but he is also very caring with the little ones and they have all adored him! Best of luck!

[hibbykris]

Thank you all so much for the feedback. I did get a really great response from the majority of parents at the nursery setting I worked in and had a great relationship with the children. This was with 7 other women though so I hope I can generate enough interest initially for me to be able to get myself up and running. I'm genuinely excited about the prospect of doing this, I'm really determined to make this a success. It's not going to easy to begin with though but if I don't do this then I'll really regret it