Culturally speaking, the mom has usually been the caregiver in the family, staying—or working—at home to raise the kids while the dad goes out to do his job. But there’s a growing shift in this child care model and it looks like more men are opting in to do diaper duty.

With an unsteady economy, men are leveraging their paternal knowledge and experience to take on some child care work so they can make some extra money. And the numbers have grown tremendously. Candi Wingate, president of Nannies4Hire.com, says that she’s seen a 10 percent jump in men looking to do child care work. Similarly, Johanna Flattery of Care.com has noticed a 30 percent increase in men advertising for child care jobs on Care.com since October 2008.

These men range from unemployed teachers or day care workers trying to go the “manny route” to regular dads who’ve worked for years running businesses and working for corporate America, that are now looking to tap into daddy day care.   

But since the vast majority of nannies and babysitters in the U.S. are women—and child care is still considered to be a “woman’s job”— there are plenty of people who would raise an eyebrow when approached by a man who’s seeking to provide child care for their little ones. 

But on the other hand, a mom of pre-teen and teen boys may prefer a male that can participate in her boys’ sports and activities. And there’s always a single mom with boys who are lacking a father figure that could also benefit with having a male role model around for her sons.

What about you? Would you hire a “manny” to care for your kids?