Nursery World - Opinion: Letters (94)

Letter of the week

INVOLVING MEN AS CARERS AND FATHERS

I have worked in the childcare sector for almost eight years. Working with children in the early years has been a great passion of mine since I completed my school work experience in a playgroup. This made me decide that it was the career for me.

I particularly enjoy my job because I believe that, having myself had no male caring figure in my early years, the young children benefit from having a man in the nursery. It is important for all children to have contact with positive male role models as well as female ones.

I have seen over time that the boys in particular at the settings where I have worked have gained a lot through a male worker being at the nursery that they attend. It has, for example, given boys the confidence to play with dolls, perhaps start to listen better and gain more personal confidence. Some, I think, settled at the nursery better because there was a man present. I have also enjoyed a lot of physical play with the children.

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