Yes, I'm a male child care teacher...

[McGoddess09]

My favorite teacher is a male and I student aide for him. Funny how the guys working high school aren't looked at so suspiciously.

I'm sorry you had to deal with crap like this. There could be more mothers like the single mother in the OP, who want a positive male influence for their children, but the potential ones aren't there because of prejudices like that.

Personally, I love seeing men with children,even if they aren't his own. I especially love it when any male in my life (friend or SO) get along with my sister and include her in on things. It warms my heart.

[PepperElf]

probably sold it as scrap metal too.

tho in some cases, having a second person is the best way to handle things. on my first ship, at one point we only had 2 corpsmen on board (both male). so whenever they had to treat a female patient they would call around and find another woman to come up and hang out while the patient got treated. cya

[fireheart]

I'm gonna share a story from the opposite end-older female vs. younger male.

My sister does Scouts (in Australia, Scouts are mixed gender, Guides are female-only) and she's involved in their Gang Show productions every year. My mum isn't a Scout/Guide per se, but she helps with the wardrobe. This consists of the following-

-Taking measurements for about 120 people between the ages of 8-25. Girls and boys.
-Getting those involved to try on outfits, obviously done away from the others for the sake of modesty, but is usually done in front of the wardrobe lady only.
-Helping manage each of the "patrols" (the 120+ kids are divided into groups of about 12-14 called "patrols" which are single-sex patrols) costumes, ironing, fixing seams, hems etc.

She had to do a compulsory course on spotting child abuse (i.e. signs that a child is being abused by their parents or by another staff member) and she was only required to get a police check for that, she didn't have to do one when she first started.

I'm actually shocked that none of the parents have complained about the wardrobe ladies helping out the boys. But then again, most of the ladies are in their 50's and older (mum's in her mid forties)

[Icelator]

I'm reminded of the Arnold movie Kindergarten cop. There's a scene where a bunch of the hens Mothers are clucking talking about the new teacher and they comment that any man who teaches kindergarten must be gay.

[MadMike]

7But I had to call the whole thing off when one kid told me his parents were wondering what a 20 year-old was doing hanging around with a bunch of 14 year-olds. Actually, I could have answered that, it was when that same kid's father started saying I must be a pedophile.

And people wonder why I'm afraid to be near kids now.

That's a shame, especially these days when a lot of kids are growing up without fathers. People complain about boys not having a male role model in their lives, and then they pull this crap.

I wonder if people involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters have to deal with that same nonsense.

[Wingates_Hellsing]

I wonder if people involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters have to deal with that same nonsense.

Guaranteed, if there's one thing I've learned by now, it's that people biased enough to make a stink about this sort of thing* are also stupid or arrogant enough to accuse anyone.

* Especially in cases with no evidence whatsoever.

[PepperElf]

I wonder if people involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters have to deal with that same nonsense.

They do background checks on the adults. One of my old co-workers tried and was turned down. At the time the divorce hadn't been finalized yet, so she suspects her soon-to-be-x-husband's information hurt her application.

[Sheldonrs]

...My sister does Scouts (in Australia, Scouts are mixed gender, Guides are female-only) and she's involved in their Gang Show ...

Sorry, but for some reason this sounded funny to me.