From what I understand this is an exclusively female profession. I have had female classmates who made a decent amount of money working as a nanny, and it made me kind of regret the fact that I’m a guy seems to preclude me from this occupation. I like working with children, in fact all my part-time jobs are associated with children in some way, either helping them cross the street, tutoring them after school, or teaching them piano. I have a pretty large pool of references to draw from, but deep down I feel that the dratted Y chromisome I have in me will prevent me from ever working that kind of job.
I think it is important that children have both male and female role models, and it would be interesting to see some kind of male counterpart to the nanny in the future.
It’s not exclusively a female profession. There just aren’t that many males who do it. I bet if you got a degree in Early Childhood Education and then registered with a nanny service, you would be able to find a decent job. (Not that you need a degree but it helps.)
I bet the first-ever male babysitter and the first-ever male nurse thought the same thing.
Well, the other thing is that I bet with the way things are, a couple would feel less comfortable leaving an adult man alone with their children than an adult woman. But I see your point.
Have you thought of becoming a full-time teacher? My daughter’s 2nd grade teacher is male and I believe there’s a male 1st grade teacher at her school, too. There have also been several male leaders in the before and after school program we use, although I don’t suppose it pays much. We’ve also had male kiddie swim class teachers and day-camp leaders. Not a problem for me, as long as I know it’s a good program and they’ve been vetted.
In some of my parenting magazines, I have read of families that prefer a male nanny (usually called “Manny” in the articles) for their sons (typically). This is especially popular with single moms, it seems.
A few years back, a woman published her memoirs of her childhood spent in Las Vegas when it was being built up. Her Dad was some mafia guy. There was a male nanny/au pair, some man who was always around the house, taking care of her and stuff.
Years later, she figured out he was the family bodyguard.
I was a an au pair for two years in the early 90s in Germany…and I’m male. Four kids (two boys, two girls) aged between 9 and 15. It was pretty cool. The family raised horses and Scottish Highland cows so I actually ended up doing more farmwork than anything else.
And I have never met another “manny” either.
One of my nieces had a male nanny through her infancy and preschool years (she’s 8 now); he was a part-time student and friend of the family who took care of her during the days while her parents were out at work. My brother and sister-in-law simply referred to him as “the nanny.”
My wife used to teach at a nanny school, and handled placement of students into families while they were in school. They had one male student, who we wound up with. He was fine, though very nervous. I believe he did get a job, but we’ve lost touch with him. He was referred to as a male nanny, or just his name.
I know 2 male nannies that did the foreign exchange thing. One from Sweden, one from the Czech Republic. Wait, another from Sweden- 3 male nannies. It happens.