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Now it is Manny Poppins

Now it’s Manny Poppins



Manny about the house

Sarah Ebner meets the parents who prefer a shot of testosterone to a spoonful
of sugar

1 She may still be a great nanny in the    have gone up sevenfold in the past
 West End musical, but it appears few months.
 that Mary Poppins is actually out of8    With increasing numbers of
 fashion. According to those in the single parents, as well as older
 know, the woman who was fathers who might struggle to run
 ‘practically perfect in every way’ has around a football pitch, mannies may
 a rival: the manny. well fill a gap. But one recent survey
2    If you’ve never heard the term, suggested another reason for the
 you’re a few steps behind in the rising demand. In an apparent blow
 childcare stakes. For the ignorant, against sisterhood, almost 80 per
 author Holly Peterson is here to cent of mothers admitted that they
 shed some light on the issue. As one felt threatened by attractive female
 of the characters in her new book, nannies, while 94 per cent said they
 suitably named The Manny, would consider a male nanny
 explains: ‘It’s a manny. M for male instead.
 nanny. Think of it as the older9    Craig Smith, 20, works as a
 brother we all dreamt of, but with the manny for Alison and Michael Goff in
 patience only money can buy.’ Sevenoaks, Kent. Craig looks after
3    Peterson first heard about the Goffs’ three sons, from three to
 mannies soon after having her third ten years old. “I couldn’t imagine
 child. She felt that her son, Jack, doing the same thing every day,”
 then three, was being ‘squashed’ by says Smith, who explains that he
 spending days with his older and always wanted to work with children.
 younger sisters, as well as his “Every day is different and really
 mother and nanny. rewarding too.” Smith describes
4    Now it appears that mannies his three charges as ‘sporty and
 are all the rage and the boisterous’ and much of his time
 attractions seem obvious. It’s not is spent in joining them in
 so much a spoonful of sugar as a different sports activities. He
 shot of testosterone around the plays ‘a lot’ of football with all
 house. Mannies play happily in three, but he also attends mother
 the garden for hours, and seem and toddler clubs with the
 genuinely interested in sports, youngest.
 Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man10    “My friends are builders,
 and snails. carpenters and electricians. They
5    “Boys play differently to laughed their heads off when
 women,” says Peterson, 42. “The I told them what I was going to
 nanny is more of a comforter, do. But when I say that I’ve been
 while the manny is a ‘throw me playing in the garden, they’re a bit
 across the room’ kind of guy. jealous.”
 They fool around, play football11    He is sure that he got the job
 and are happy to run around and because the children are boys,
 around the park. I thought Jack but Alison Goff insists that’s not
 would really benefit from it and he true. “People assume that
 has.” because I have boys, I wanted a
6    They may sound like a perfect male nanny, but he was the best
 playmate for any sons you may person I interviewed,” she says.
 have, but what about the girls? “I admit I’ve been surprised to see
 Peterson thinks a male role model is how the kids are happier with him,
 good for them too. “Mannies have a perhaps because he loves the
 different attitude,” she says. “They rough and tumble and is
 see situations in another way.” physically fit and active. If you
7    Peterson’s book is certainly have three boys, it’s no good
 being published at the right time, as having someone who wants to
 mannies have become increasingly plait hair and paint fingernails.”
 popular in Britain. My Big Buddy, an12    Holly Peterson would agree.
 agency specialising in male nannies Then again, she seems to have it
 (www.mybigbuddy.com), was all – the book deal, the
 recently launched in London. And investment banker husband, and
 Gumtree (www.gumtree.com), a even a nanny and a manny. But
 website used by working parents to for those of us in the real world,
 look for childcare, reports that choosing the perfect child-carer
 searches for ‘male’ or ‘male nanny’ might never be the same again.

The Manny by Holly Peterson (HarperCollins) is available for £10 plus £1.25 p&p.
To order, call Telegraph Books on 0870 428 4112.