Daycare poll

"Tai" wrote in message
...
P. Tierney wrote:
I'm looking for some honest responses. No explanation is required,
and no one will be called upon (by me, anyway) for their responses.
Anyone can answer, regardless as to whether or not it would apply
to you.


Question: If you were looking for a full or part-time at-home
daycare provider and you answered an ad for a new one in
your area and found that it was run by a man, would your
immediate gut reaction....

A. To consider it equally, without care of the gender of
who was running it.
B. Feel a twinge of uncertainty, but would likely get over
it and consider the place.
C. Would consider the place with plenty of reservations,
but probably put it last on your list.
D. Not give it another thought and look elsewhere.

I would almost always choose centre-based care over at-home care but if
that wasn't the case - option B, but only if he was looking after his own
pre-school child(ren) as well - otherwise, option D)..

I hadn't thought about that since most care providers do
start when their own kids are small. But yes, if he wasn't
caring for his own kids (or have been in business long
enough that he started with his own and they've grown),
it would find it uncomfortable.

Follow-up Question: If the daycare were not at home,
but instead at a place of business, would that change your
answer at all to the above question?

All other things being equal I would prefer to send my child to a daycare
centre that had both men and women carers so I would consider him a rare
asset in that environment - option A+

Tai

"Sidheag McCormack" wrote in message
...
richard mowatt writes:

As a male early years student: A. I find prejudices against men working
with children baffling. If anyone would be bold enough to explain why
they feel prejudices towards men in childcare roles I'd very much
appreciate it.

OK, here goes. I'd be very uncomfortable about my pre-verbal child being
cared for by *any* single, unsupervised care provider that I didn't know
well myself.

I understand that. For me, I felt that a home-based childcare was
enough. The provider had several children up to age 5, and so
I figured that *someone* would say something if anything fishy
was going on.

Bizby

wrote in message
ups.com...
As a male early years student: A. I find prejudices against men working
with children baffling. If anyone would be bold enough to explain why
they feel prejudices towards men in childcare roles I'd very much
appreciate it.

The vast majority of pedophiles are men. If that turns out to be
untrue (I haven't researched it) then it's still true that the perception
is that the vast majority of pedophiles are men. Add to that the
fact that men rarely choose child care as a career, and you end
up with uneasiness about putting your child in that situation.

On the other hand, I do know one stay at home dad, and if
he were to open a daycare, I'd have no problems using it
or recommending it, as I know him and trust him.

Bizby

Honestly, I wouldn't consider any new daycare provider, male, female, or
purple with pink polkadots.Almost any situation looks and sounds good when
it's not actually running yet, and you don't see the bugs until you really
get into it. I'd want to be able to talk to parents, observe classes, check
past inspection reports, and all those sort of things.

I've known wonderful male ECED teachers, so I wouldn't have trouble with an
equally experienced male with a similar track record to a female. But I
wouldn't take a new program, male director or female unless it was the only
acceptable seeming option available.
--
Donna DeVore Metler
Orff Music Specialist/Band/Choir
Mother to Angel Brian Anthony 1/1/2002, 22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP
And Allison Joy, 11/25/04 (35 weeks, PIH, Pre-term labor)

P. Tierney wrote:

I'm looking for some honest responses. No explanation is required,
and no one will be called upon (by me, anyway) for their responses.
Anyone can answer, regardless as to whether or not it would apply
to you.

Question: If you were looking for a full or part-time at-home
daycare provider and you answered an ad for a new one in
your area and found that it was run by a man, would your
immediate gut reaction....

A. To consider it equally, without care of the gender of
who was running it.

...but to be fair, I confess to being very cautious
about home daycare providers, especially solo home daycare
providers. Things can go awry in any setting, but I think
it is slightly more difficult to get away with stuff in a
setting with many independent folks present.
Depending on the age and temperament of my child,
I might well consider a solo home daycare situation, and
if I did, I would be looking very carefully for anything
that made my antennae quiver. I can think of a handfull
of SAHDs whom I know well and whom I'd feel comfortable
with, so I don't think gender would put someone at a
disadvantage per se with me. It's hard for me to predict
if I'd be more likely to have antennae quivering with
men than with women on average, though, since I've never
really been in that situation. I.e., if you're a male
daycare provider, if folks are even just a bit less likely
to go for you than a female alternative, that can make
the difference in terms of economic viability, depending
on the market in your area--even if everyone was relatively
open to the idea of a male home daycare provider. Sometimes
you can even run afoul of more subtle issues. E.g., if
someone was sort of unconsciously looking for someone
who exhibited a lot of "mothering" qualities in a
daycare provider, a male provider could lose out just
for not being "motherly" enough even if there wasn't any
hesitation about using a male daycare provider.
If I were a male looking to be a daycare provider,
I might think about ways to leverage it a bit. Maybe those
who are more willing to consider a male daycare provider
would be folks who are looking for someone who could handle
more active kids. One could then present one's self as a
daycare provider who would provide lots of physical activity,
playing outside, going to the park, or whatever. That
might not be the right example, but I hope you see what
I'm trying to say. Sometimes the right marketing can
turn a potential negative into a positive ;-)

Best wishes,
Ericka

"P. Tierney" wrote in message
news:U9yOe.58648$084.12275@attbi_s22...


Question: If you were looking for a full or part-time at-home
daycare provider and you answered an ad for a new one in
your area and found that it was run by a man, would your
immediate gut reaction....

A. To consider it equally, without care of the gender of
who was running it.
B. Feel a twinge of uncertainty, but would likely get over
it and consider the place.
C. Would consider the place with plenty of reservations,
but probably put it last on your list.
D. Not give it another thought and look elsewhere.

C (assuming I don't know the person)

Of course, I would never put my kids in a brand new day care--I'd want a
place to have a certain "track record" before taking my kids there. Unless
it were run by a friend of the family.

Follow-up Question: If the daycare were not at home,
but instead at a place of business, would that change your
answer at all to the above question?

Definitely--I'd love to see more men at daycare facilities. It's important
to me to help my kids trust certain people who aren't family members, both
men and women.


--
Jodi
SAHM to Oliver (4 years),
Arwen (2 years),
and ?? (edd May 2006)

P. Tierney wrote:

I'm looking for some honest responses. No explanation is required,
and no one will be called upon (by me, anyway) for their responses.
Anyone can answer, regardless as to whether or not it would apply
to you.


Question: If you were looking for a full or part-time at-home
daycare provider and you answered an ad for a new one in
your area and found that it was run by a man, would your
immediate gut reaction....

A. To consider it equally, without care of the gender of
who was running it.
B. Feel a twinge of uncertainty, but would likely get over
it and consider the place.
C. Would consider the place with plenty of reservations,
but probably put it last on your list.
D. Not give it another thought and look elsewhere.


Probably B or C. When hiring our nanny for DD1, we did
interview a man, and seriously considered him, but ended
up with a woman who had more experience. The caveat here
was that my husband works out of the home, so any nanny
would have been supervised by him.

Follow-up Question: If the daycare were not at home,
but instead at a place of business, would that change your
answer at all to the above question?

If the only change is change of location, it'd be B or C
still. If the change meant other adults around I'd
probably revise.

My daughters are in a center based daycare that has
employed a few men in the years that we've been there.
Every one of them has been fabulous, and the kids have
really enjoyed having them around.

Now, if this was a SAHD that I knew relatively well, I'd
have fewer reservations.

Mary W.

P. Tierney wrote:

Question: If you were looking for a full or part-time at-home
daycare provider and you answered an ad for a new one in
your area and found that it was run by a man, would your
immediate gut reaction....

A. To consider it equally, without care of the gender of
who was running it.
B. Feel a twinge of uncertainty, but would likely get over
it and consider the place.
C. Would consider the place with plenty of reservations,
but probably put it last on your list.
D. Not give it another thought and look elsewhere.

My dh and I have had this discussion. I'd pick B. Dh would pick D so in
actuality it would never be considered by me because dh wouldn't go there.

Follow-up Question: If the daycare were not at home,
but instead at a place of business, would that change your
answer at all to the above question?

No.

I've visited a lot of home daycares. The only one's I've considered were
run by people I already knew, or that had some pretty outstanding
references.

If I knew the man in question previous to answering the ad, then my I'd
amend my answer to A and I imagine dh would move it up to C.

--
Nikki
Hunter 4/99
Luke 4/01
EDD 4/06

"P. Tierney" wrote in message
news:U9yOe.58648$084.12275@attbi_s22...
I'm looking for some honest responses. No explanation is required,
and no one will be called upon (by me, anyway) for their responses.
Anyone can answer, regardless as to whether or not it would apply
to you.


Question: If you were looking for a full or part-time at-home
daycare provider and you answered an ad for a new one in
your area and found that it was run by a man, would your
immediate gut reaction....

A. To consider it equally, without care of the gender of
who was running it.
B. Feel a twinge of uncertainty, but would likely get over
it and consider the place.
C. Would consider the place with plenty of reservations,
but probably put it last on your list.
D. Not give it another thought and look elsewhere.


B: think it unusual but proceed anyway.


Follow-up Question: If the daycare were not at home,
but instead at a place of business, would that change your
answer at all to the above question?


Thanks in advance for honest responses.


P. Tierney

Nothing.

"bizby40" wrote in message
...

"Tai" wrote in message
...
P. Tierney wrote:
I'm looking for some honest responses. No explanation is required,
and no one will be called upon (by me, anyway) for their responses.
Anyone can answer, regardless as to whether or not it would apply
to you.


Question: If you were looking for a full or part-time at-home
daycare provider and you answered an ad for a new one in
your area and found that it was run by a man, would your
immediate gut reaction....

A. To consider it equally, without care of the gender of
who was running it.
B. Feel a twinge of uncertainty, but would likely get over
it and consider the place.
C. Would consider the place with plenty of reservations,
but probably put it last on your list.
D. Not give it another thought and look elsewhere.

I would almost always choose centre-based care over at-home care but if
that wasn't the case - option B, but only if he was looking after his own
pre-school child(ren) as well - otherwise, option D)..

I hadn't thought about that since most care providers do
start when their own kids are small. But yes, if he wasn't
caring for his own kids (or have been in business long
enough that he started with his own and they've grown),
it would find it uncomfortable.

Follow-up Question: If the daycare were not at home,
but instead at a place of business, would that change your
answer at all to the above question?

All other things being equal I would prefer to send my child to a daycare
centre that had both men and women carers so I would consider him a rare
asset in that environment - option A+

Tai







That would be true for me regardless of the gender of the provider.