Why bias against male babysitters

[Anonymous]

There was a thread last week about male babysitters. I can’t find it and don’t know where moved or zapped.

I have two boys about to become teenagers. They have shown an interest in babysitting to earn some money. I hope there truly isn’t a bias against boys. That’s what I and my spouse had growing up! Had the best times too!

[Anonymous]

There so much bias even among my liberal "tolerant" friends. It boils my blood. What other group of people do we feel comfortable talking about like this?

[Anonymous]

Bc it’s odd that a teenage boy would genuinely want to take care of little kids.

I will never have a male babysitter.

[Anonymous]

They can probably make twice as much if they started cutting peoples grass.

[Anonymous]

There is a bias because boys are much much much more likely to abuse kids. Not that your boys would but seriously why would someone take the chance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a bias because boys are much much much more likely to abuse kids. Not that your boys would but seriously why would someone take the chance?

A female babysitter abused my husband. YMMV

[Anonymous]

If I had no choice, I’d choose the best for the job. However, I other than the fact that when my DD was younger, she wanted a babysitter to play dolls and makeup and do hair with her. She was genuinely excited to hang with a teen girl whom she idolized. if I’m hiring someone to just sit with my kid is one thing, but usually I’m hiring an entertainer so it’s worth the win-win.

Likely the boy would let my DD do his hair or would want to dress American Girl dolls, but I know my DH and DS had limited patience with it, so wouldn’t expect a “random” 16yo boy to be much better.

Here comes my bias …. I’m black and if everything was equal and I had the choice (I rarely did) i would want to hire a black female babysitter. Because of the non-diverse areas we always lived, my DD didn’t have a lot of older non-family female teens to emulate, so I took it as a 2 for 1 opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a bias because boys are much much much more likely to abuse kids. Not that your boys would but seriously why would someone take the chance?

Girls are much much more likely to be mean bullies and abuse kids. I only hire teen babysitters whose families we personally know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a bias because boys are much much much more likely to abuse kids. Not that your boys would but seriously why would someone take the chance?

Yes. Nothing is risk free, but males are riskier than females. My sister and l were molested by a babysitter teenaged boy from our church, we were about 3 and 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I had no choice, I’d choose the best for the job. However, I other than the fact that when my DD was younger, she wanted a babysitter to play dolls and makeup and do hair with her. She was genuinely excited to hang with a teen girl whom she idolized. if I’m hiring someone to just sit with my kid is one thing, but usually I’m hiring an entertainer so it’s worth the win-win.

Likely the boy would let my DD do his hair or would want to dress American Girl dolls, but I know my DH and DS had limited patience with it, so wouldn’t expect a “random” 16yo boy to be much better.

Here comes my bias …. I’m black and if everything was equal and I had the choice (I rarely did) i would want to hire a black female babysitter. Because of the non-diverse areas we always lived, my DD didn’t have a lot of older non-family female teens to emulate, so I took it as a 2 for 1 opportunity.

You had a daughter though. As a boy growing up, I had a similar idolizing relationship with the teenage boy next door who would watch me.

[Anonymous]

I have a 10yo DD and I work in LE. I would hire a male sitter for her now because she’s older and k owe what is appropriate and what isn’t. She knows what red flags are. I wouldn’t have hired a male sitter when she was a toddler or preschooler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a bias because boys are much much much more likely to abuse kids. Not that your boys would but seriously why would someone take the chance?

Girls are much much more likely to be mean bullies and abuse kids. I only hire teen babysitters whose families we personally know.

This is your opinion, not fact. The second part makes sense. Why would you hire someone to take care of your children you didn't know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a bias because boys are much much much more likely to abuse kids. Not that your boys would but seriously why would someone take the chance?

A female babysitter abused my husband. YMMV

It is way more likely a boy abusing kids than girls.

[Anonymous]

The vast majority of sex crimes are committed by males. Let’s not play dumb, this is common knowledge. 80-90% of sex offenders are men.

[Anonymous]

Yes, there is bias. I have boys. I wouldn't do a male babysitter.