Should men be banned from working in nurseries?

Whitewavemark2

And don’t forget the benefits system, which will be totally overloaded with many more families being tipped into poverty.

Yep!

Whitewavemark2

And don’t forget the benefits system, which will be totally overloaded with many more families being tipped into poverty.

Overload the benefits system?
Certainly would, especially if being paid to look after your children meant parents would opt for more children.

Tipping families into poverty?
Wouldn’t paying them to look after their children take a lot of non-working parents out of poverty?

Except, with the added difficulty of getting a job when you’ve been out of the public workforce would still exist and probably be used as a reason for needing further benefits to keep the school age children out of poverty.

I hope Rachel is aware of these financial impacts.

40% of parents who are entitled to benefits are in work. It says more about the system surely. Many of the others would like to work but are full time carers to family with complex needs, are disabled themselves or want work but can't get it. This is courtesy of Martin Lewis.
I'm not in favour of any knee jerk decision but would rather parliament looked at the issue. I worked full time when my children were young. Our mortgage rate went up to 17% and if hadn't been working, we would have lost our home. Would that have been better? The proliferation of private nurseries wasn't a thing in the 80/90s. It was childminders or family. I used both at times. Parents nowadays are encouraged to work, expected to work and therefore rely on childcare. Men in nurseries are not the problem. Proper supervision is required of all nursery workers and that requires money. I loathe the anti male/woman as homemaker that's being routed here as the only way.

In theory there shouldn’t be an issue whether it is a male or female childcare worker. But and it a big but- I would feel quite uncomfortable if a male was changing my little girl and taking her to the toilet. My prejudice. Little children are not able to vocalise their fears.

TerriBull

There have been cases of women abusing children in nurseries too. Whilst I think it's pretty unusual to have men working in this sort of environment, maybe not a natural choice, I'm not sure about a blanket ban. Should there not be video cameras monitoring what goes on in the areas where they are changed and the carers would be alone with the baby/child. There was a case where I used to live of a young woman abusing the children, not sexually, but pinching them leaving them with marks on the body. How awful for any parent, paying a fortune to boot, to not have the confidence as to whether their offspring are being cared for properly, worse still the horror to find out that they are being abused.

I agree. Need plenty of video cameras in and out of doors at nurseries. It's a pity but it's true.

Also, I do wonder if training of nursery nurses is adequate . Nursery nurses need pro-active empathy training. It is careless to take it for granted that all trainee nurses have learned empathy with their mother's milk.

How about all the female caregivers that are guilty of neglect, some even leading to the deaths of the children in their care? Should all women be geld accountable for their crimes? You can’t punish an entire gender based on the despicable actions of a few.

Of course not, that means every male role need's to be banned? Sports coach, teacher, heath worker etc etc?
And father's? Unattended with their children

There are sick individuals out there male and female.. I bet if you read about all the abuse that happened in nurseries the % would be higher in females (I appreciate that more females work in care but on the law of averages)

Personal experience. In the nursery my grandsons attended, on pick up one day a toddler was having a complete tantrum having thrown himself in a he floor and crying and screaming. The young male nursery worker was absolutely fantastic. Calmly talking to the boy and staying at his side I was in awe of his patience and kindness

That's completely sexist. Also it ignores the fact that there are female abusers out there as well.

So not with their father?

Kamj

So not with their father?

Sorry this was for the poster who said she wouldn't have left her children in the care of a male carer

Will we be banning male nurses and midwifes too. Females can carry out abuse too.

Absolutely not. My grandaughter's nursery has a man and he's wonderful! You cannot tar everyone with same brush. Thereshould be rigorous child protection measures in place....

Daisycuddles

That's completely sexist. Also it ignores the fact that there are female abusers out there as well.

Yes, about 8% compared to 92% who are male.

Mojack26

Absolutely not. My grandaughter's nursery has a man and he's wonderful! You cannot tar everyone with same brush. Thereshould be rigorous child protection measures in place....

No, you can't, of course not, but nurseries have a duty of care to ensure all their staff are good and trustworthy.

If that means Government funding for nurseries then so be it, but better that than another abused child.

Surely many Dads change their babies nappies now. Bathe their children and so on. Would we say no father should have any physical intimacy with his children? But there are fathers who sexually abuse their own children. A terrible thing.
We need to look at abuse, how and why it happens, how it should be dealt with, how it can be prevented.

To be honest, I feel this is a rather sexist and discriminate comment to make. I am sure if you look at all statistics available, there have been a great deal more reported incidents of females working in nurseries who have been found guilty of sexual abuse. If someone is sufficiently qualified, they should be allowed to apply for a nursery job. Based upon your comment, I am sure you are also of the same opinion that all paramedics, nurses and doctors should be female and males should be banned from the profession, just in case they need to treat a female patient.

Definitely not. Most men are good people and perfectly harmless. It is good for youngsters, especially boys from one parent families, to see that men are fine.

It is very wrong to paint every man with the same evil brush.

I think to blanket ban on men is discriminatory and unfair. There are women who abuse children as well. Most infanticide I can recall was carried out by women. But we won’t ban women. Women would be up in arms if they were told they couldn’t do a certain job. Equality has to work both ways. There are some men doing an excellent job caring for vulnerable people and we would be worse off without them.

I worked with a male nursery worker as long ago as 1972...the kids and parents loved him! He was a retired ballet dancer ( had injured his leg) , not a macho type, nice guy.

If you're going to ban males working in nurseries then they should be banned from primary schools. Also, men should be banned from working in women's prisons and women banned from men's. Ban male nurses from women's wards in hospitals and from following a career in midwifery and paediatrics. The list could go on.

While economics mean that staff will be alone with the children - then yes, females only. NOT because 'men are a danger' but because some men are, it is impossible to tell which - and the children's welfare comes far before any notions of equity. Ideally we would pay enough for there to be plenty of staff about all the time.

KKOB

If you're going to ban males working in nurseries then they should be banned from primary schools. Also, men should be banned from working in women's prisons and women banned from men's. Ban male nurses from women's wards in hospitals and from following a career in midwifery and paediatrics. The list could go on.

Why would you ban them from primary schools? Any intimate contact e.g. sorting out clean underwear has to involve 2 adults, even if only one of them actually assists the child. That applies whether staff are male or female.
Even for SEN provision children are not in my recent experience left alone with a member of staff unless the door is open.
Do I think more men are more likely to take advantage of working with children to abuse them, yes.
But a blanket ban?

A ban would be going backwards in term of what I wanted for men and women long, long ago, when I was part of the Womens Liberation Movement.

Most of us wanted our men to be able change, to be able to express emotions, to be great Dads, to be freed of the straitjacket of what men were supposed to be able to do,

just as we wanted women to be able to advance into equal pay and access to jobs and be given a fair deal - as well as protection against the evils that some men do.

To say, "yes", man should be banned is going backwards as far as I am concerned, and I speak as a victim of male abuse too, standing back I can see the straitjacket he was trapped in due to his upbringing.

Men and women have different strengths to offer the world, but being able to care for the small and the vulnerable is part of our different strengths.