The Rise of the 'Mitter,' the Male Babysitter

Dudes are coming for your extra coins, girls. Male babysitters are muscling in on the time-honored tradition of parents leaving their kids with the girl next door, thanks to websites like UrbanSitter.

They’re called “mitters,” another euphemism for “mannies” or male nannies, and UrbanSitter CEO and co-founder Lynn Perkins made her case for hiring and listing dudes on the Huffington Post. She suggests that hiring guys will help kids “break down gender biases,” which perpetuate the idea that only women and girls are nurturing enough for childcare.

Perkins adds that while some may think only one parent families, like single moms, hire mitters and mannies, two parent households also like the idea of their kids having another male role model in their lives.

In addition, mitters can roughhouse with little boys and do activities outside that the ladies might not be so into.

“After establishing myself as a babysitter in San Francisco, parents in the community quickly came to find out that their little son would prefer a ‘big brother’ figure any day over a female sitter,” said Günter Ryan Lugo, age 21, a pre-med student and a popular sitter on UrbanSitter. “I can flatter a girl’s world by playing prince/princess or entertain a little boy by wrestling for hours.”