Parents take to the Internet to find a nanny to help raise their children gender neutral

Parents have turned to the Internet to help find a nanny to help raise their children as gender neutral.

The anonymous family from London have placed an advert on childcare.co.uk stating that they are willing to “pay well” for an after-school nanny who is “open-minded” and accepting of the way they choose to bring up their children, who are aged six and two.

The advert explains that the couple have been struggling to fill the position and that previous nannies had been let go after trying to influence the children into choosing a gender.

“I was unsure whether to include the fact that our children are gender-neutral but we’d like to attract the right sort of person for this job,” the ad states.

The part-time role involves picking the children up from school daily and spending time with them until their parents return home from work.

But there are a number of rules that the family are keen that the nanny adhere to including only referring to the children by their names “no pet names such as sweetie or hun and obviously not referring to them as ‘she’ or ‘he’.”

The selected nanny will also be instructed to let the children choose whether to use male or female toilets if they’re out and will be asked not to let their children play with gender-specific toys.

“We have a selection of pre-approved books, toys, TV shows and films for the children to enjoy, please do not deviate from this list,” the advert states. “Characters like Action Man and Barbie only serve to enforce gender stereotypes, for example.”

Commenting on the advert, Richard Conway, the co-founder of Childcare.co.uk, where the ad was posted said: “It’s a shame that these parents have had such trouble securing childcare for their two young children, just because they’re raising them as gender-neutral.”

“Society as a whole has become more accepting and it’s important that child carers respect the parent’s style of parenting, regardless of their own beliefs or opinions.”

“We’ve contacted the family directly about the advert but were only told that although the advert had been viewed many times, the response has been slow, and that the parents would prefer to remain anonymous. As the UK’s largest childcare site though, we thought we’d support one of our community, so if anyone out there likes the sound of this family and is happy with the job spec, please apply!”

The concept of gender neutral parenting has been garnering attention of late after singer Paloma Faith announced last week that she was raising her child as gender neutral.

Speaking at the Q Awards in London last weekend, the new mum opened up about her motherhood journey so far and her decision to bring up her baby free from gender stereotypes.

“I’m loving being a mum,” Paloma told The Mirror. “I want two or three kids in all and they’ll be gender neutral.”

Insisting she won’t be dressing her children in colours associated with sex – such as pink for girls and blue for boys – she added: “I just want them to be who they want to be.”

Paloma is by no means the only celebrity to advocate a gender-free upbringing for their offspring. Russell Brand and his model girlfriend, Laura Gallacher recently announced they would be raising their firstborn daughter, Mabel, gender neutral.

And earlier this year it was also revealed that the late Carrie Fisher had raised her daughter Billie Lourd without a defined gender.

In its basic form the parenting practice is about breaking away from traditional gender stereotypes children are often exposed to and instead allowing them to explore what they like to do, play with, wear.

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