Madonna found one, now everyone's desperately seeking a male nanny

Shaun Hume has one of the most fashionable jobs around. He's not a record producer or a guitarist for an edgy rock band, nor is he a stylist to the stars. No, Hume's job is in childcare. "I think it's very fashionable at the moment for mothers to be able to say 'I've got a male child minder'," says 26-year-old Hume, a fully qualified Australian nanny who works for a family in Oxford. He's not wrong. Britney Spears had one, Madonna has just hired one, and there are now books devoted to the joys of employing a "manny".

Hume frequently gets quizzed about his choice of career. "I quite often get comments about being a guy in what's traditionally a job done by women, but I don't mind. I much prefer working with kids than I do with adults – I love interacting with kids and it just feels so natural."

After getting the bug from working with the under-five age group, Hume completed a childcare diploma and got his first nannying job in London in 2003. "The first time I was looking for a proper nanny job it took me five weeks to get a position, despite having some good agencies helping me out. I had to work a lot harder than a woman would," he says. "There were about 12 families where the mother was keen, but as soon as the father found out I was male he just said no. I wouldn't even get an interview. I don't know whether it was an alpha male thing or whether they just thought it was weird that a guy wanted to be a nanny." Traditionally it's far more common, says Hume, for men to be employed in lowlier au pair jobs rather than nannying positions.

But four years after Hume started out, parents are starting to wake up to the fact that having a manny about the house can be a good thing. When Tinies, a UK nanny agency, surveyed more than 1,500 families last year, it found that nine out of 10 parents would consider hiring a male nanny and 81 per cent said it was more acceptable now than it was 10 years ago. In New York, where the phenomenon started, mannies – or "Hairy Poppins" – are popular with parents who want their children to have male role models or simply someone to play soccer with. The term "manny" was coined five years ago by writer Holly Peterson in an article she wrote for The New York Times, and it was this piece that went on to become The Manny, her hit novel about a New York mother falling for her male nanny.

Aside from footballing skills, another reason why mannies are becoming more popular could be down to the green-eyed monster. Seventy six per cent of mothers said they would feel threatened by an attractive female nanny, while only half of the fathers asked said they would feel threatened by a handsome male nanny. After Jude Law's indiscretions with his children's nanny, it's not hard to understand some mothers' motivations in employing a manny. But at the moment in the UK demand is far outstripping supply. Although Norland College in Bath, the best-known nannying school in the country, does receive applications from male candidates, to date the college only has one male graduate.

Hannah Dixon, 43, employed a manny for two years to help look after her sons James (7) and Luke (10). "I was a bit unsure about the idea of having a male nanny to begin with as I had always had female nannies before, but it was great for the boys to have another man around." She wouldn't hesitate in employing a male next time round, but the only problem is finding one. "In my experience of looking for a manny, there tend to be far fewer of them around than female nannies."

Maggie Dyer, who owns the London Au Pair and Nanny Agency, said: "The last time I had a qualified manny on my books, he was so popular that I could have auctioned him off to the highest bidder." Another nanny agency owner said that while mannies are fantastic role models if they're good, since they've become popular, it's much, much harder to find one.

Hume realises that he is one of a rare breed. "I was the only male on my course when I did my diploma," he says. Despite the current obsession with employing a manny, Hume has been in the game long enough to overlook issues of gender. "For me," he says, "it's not whether a nanny is male or female – it's down to the person and what experience they have. Having said that, all of the people that I know who work in childcare are female. I haven't ever met another male nanny – I should set up an agency for mannies. I'd make a fortune."