Male childminder kent

[Tommy boy]

Hi I am strongly contemplating setting up as a childminder and argggg I AM A MAN lol

<link removed by admin> I really would like to be able to get OFSTED registered and be a childminder both me and my partner. I am most of the way there through my bus I am enhance crb checked and OFSTED qualified first aid trained. The thought of being able to watch my son grow fills me with joy.

I am worried about people being prejudice against me as oh noooo I am a male childminder, I even put a post on the bus Facebook page just simply asking what people thought to a male childminder. Most loved the idea and said to go for it. One woman said "I wouldn't be happy with that" she had no response to "I have already had your child in my care on the party bus" not in a argumentative way just simply to find out what the difference seems to be.

What are people thoughts on this? As I said my wife will also be getting registered. Will it get in the way or our beautiful 7month old son?

I have so much to offer, I am just a big kid myself

Cheers any advice welcome

Tom

[Rick]

Hi Tommy,

It's nice to welcome a potential male childminder being one myself. There aren't enough of us

Well my experience is that everyone has been so supportive.....I have only ever had good comments from members on here, at play groups, from other childminders etc.

If I can do it as a male childminder working alone then you will be fine working with your wife....in fact you being part of the package may be a plus in parents' eye.

I have recently filled my last space....I am full up! BUT it didn't happen overnight.....I had to get myself out there and known in the local community as the majority of my business is via word of mouth. I went to play groups with my son and also childminding groups just with my son as well. I got some enquiries from fellow childminders who couldn't accommodate the children. I made myself a website, wrote an article for the local website (emailed to 2300 people!) and advertised where I could.

This thread should help explain the process of registering

http://www.childmindinghelp.co.uk/fo...ildminder.html

Good luck, let us know how it goes

[shortstuff]

All I can add is good luck.

I would have a male assistant working along side me, in fact my oh is reg'd as one. He plans on helping me next week as he has a week off from his usual job.

I agree with mkt007 it would be a plus to parents of boys. To have a positive male role model other than dad is great. Also boys not needing to use ladies loos on outings.

[Rick]

All I can add is good luck.

I would have a male assistant working along side me, in fact my oh is reg'd as one. He plans on helping me next week as he has a week off from his usual job.

I agree with mkt007 it would be a plus to parents of boys. To have a positive male role model other than dad is great. Also boys not needing to use ladies loos on outings.

Not necessarily! Out of 7 children on my books, 6 are girls. I would have thought it would be the other way round too, perhaps parents more wary of sending their girls than boys, but nothing of the sort. I thought I might appeal to single mothers who wanted a male role model. It's not happened yet but it is a selling point

[ziggy]

I think we should have more male childminders and more men generally in childcare.

I was at a 3yr olds party yesterday and child's daddy was play fighting with the children and they loved it. mums then got on to conversation about how it is so good for little ones, especially boys to have men around.

Sadly you will always come across ignorant people who think every man is a threat to a child but I personally am getting fed up of that type of person.

Good luck and enjoy it is a wonderful job

[shortstuff]

All I can add is good luck.

I would have a male assistant working along side me, in fact my oh is reg'd as one. He plans on helping me next week as he has a week off from his usual job.

I agree with mkt007 it would be a plus to parents of boys. To have a positive male role model other than dad is great. Also boys not needing to use ladies loos on outings.

Slight adjustment to my wording, i should have typed i agree with mtk007 and my view point is......

[Samijanec]

I think it's fantastic, men have an important role to play in childcare. The more male childminders the better I say.


Good luck, I'm sure you'll have no problems filling your spaces.

[Rick]

I think it's fantastic, men have an important role to play in childcare. The more male childminders the better I say.


Good luck, I'm sure you'll have no problems filling your spaces.

I agree. It took a while to get going but I'm inundated with enquiries now

[shortstuff]

I think we should have more male childminders and more men generally in childcare.

I was at a 3yr olds party yesterday and child's daddy was play fighting with the children and they loved it. mums then got on to conversation about how it is so good for little ones, especially boys to have men around.

Sadly you will always come across ignorant people who think every man is a threat to a child but I personally am getting fed up of that type of person.

Good luck and enjoy it is a wonderful job

I agree, as awful as it is there are threats to children in all walks of life, with no specific gender, race, religion or any other title we can use which can be excluded. We can only try our best to protect them but shielding them too much can have a bad effect too. By that I mean there are only so many safeguards we can put in place before we are wrapping LO's up in cotton wool and not let them actually enjoy themselves.

[Samijanec]

I agree. It took a while to get going but I'm inundated with enquiries now

I think it takes everyone a while to get started male or female.
There's a male childminder just round the corner from me and I know he's full and why shouldn't he be. He's every bit as good at his job as anyone. It's good to see that prejudices are being quashed and we are all appreciated for our worth.

[marie55]

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of childcare
Having a male role model is great for children, boys and girls. At our local playgroups there are 5 childminder couples and many male partner assistants. All valuable members of our network and community and the children love them. Each setting is full with waiting lists.

At PVI meetings there are more and more male childcarers attending from nurseries and childminder settings.

We often have social get togethers and fund raising events with the children e.g. red nose day, Barnado's walk etc.
In an ideal world children would have two parents at home. A few of the children for one reason or another only have Mum at home and need a male role model in their lives.

One of our male childminders only started childminding a year ago and received Outstanding on his first inspection, a great achievement for anybody.
If your heart is set on childminding, do it and enjoy. It's fun, rewarding, hard work, demanding at times but so fulfilling. This forum is a great help for new and established members and there's always someone around to help or support.

Bonus, you will be there to watch your son's milestones as they happen instead of hearing about them by text, video or after a long day at work.
Good luck and enjoy

[blue bear]

Welcome to the forum,

[bunyip]

Hi Tommy

PM sent.

[karen m]

I Agee with everyone else , if my children were still young I would choose which minder had better qualities for my situation not what gender they were . Good luck

[Bumble Beez]

Personally I think there should be more male childminders...I've said before that there is only one in my locality and he is always busy.
I think it sounds like you've made the decision...but just need that little push and support to follow it through
A husband and wife team would be great, I know it works well for others on here...
The impact it has had on my own children are only positives, they're are extremely sociable and outgoing and I find it works very well for me and my family.
Go for it...you won't look back!

Sarah x

[jackie 7]

You must become a childminder. You found like a great person. Ignore the silly comments. Anyone says anything just remind them that it was a female nursery worker who was convicted of abuse.

[dette]

good luck and welcome xx

[Supernanny86]

Good luck, ignore stereotypes, if its what you want to do go for it!

[Kirstylob]

Go for it especially as part of a husband and wife team. There are no male Childminders in my area but there a couple of dads that come to groups and the kids love them. They get to play in a different way with the children and the children love it.
Good luck.

[Cottonsocks]

My husband is a Childminder along with me. He loves it, the children love him & so do the parents. We've had several children from single parents families where the children don't have any male influence in their life. Over the last 10 years he's had one or two comments about parents on benefits with all these children (as the 2 of us are out walking with them all - all 11 of them!! They've got to be joking!) and a couple of disgusted looks attending training courses - FROM CHILDMINDERS!!!!!! But overall he's so glad he's doing this job. It's hard work but the rewards are immense. And ultimately he was around for our 2 children growing up. Do it. You won't look back.