The first childcare center that my son attended was owned by a man. In fact, the Owner was very active in his facility and I was quite comfortable with him.
Moreover, he was very nurturing with all the kids and the parents seemed to really connect with him. However, I could not help but to notice that his staff was predominantly made up of women and this caused me to wonder why there are so few men working in childcare.
In 2000, My uncle decided to care for children in him and my aunts home and offered to babysit my daughter Chasity; while I operated my home daycare. I was excited that he offered to babysit her. In fact, he was more than a baby sitter, he completed his CDA Credential, we attended childcare classes together and I gained lots of insight from him on how to be more understanding with my toddlers.
My husband is a co-owner of my center and he loves to stop by the center to give the children high fives. Moreover, he provides me with great business advice and the kids usually see him working around the building. Also, the kids do not hesitate to point out any broken items around the building, because they know that he does all the building maintenance.
According to Men in Child Care Network of Ireland, Children grow up in a society that is focusing more than ever on equality issues. However, many of the children in Childcare are left in a situation where they have no contact with men between 8 am and 5 pm. In fact, The Child Care Network Ireland believes that there are many benefits to children working around men and they are as follows:
- Children benefit because men bring new ideas and ways of working into childcare.
- Fathers benefit because they have someone to relate to and may feel more at home.
- Staff benefit because more gender balanced staff
- Teams gives different ways of looking at issues facilitating different approaches
- Having men working in childcare shows children that manliness can include caring
Do you have men on your staff?Do you know of any men that own their very own childcare businesses? If so, what are your thoughts about their childcare program?
Be sure to check out my eNewsletter: The Missing Element in Child Care!
With men in childcare in mind,
Shiketa Morgan
Source article: http://www.childcareonline.ie/files/1237391358.pdf
The Child Care Business Owner Institute 
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