Nursery World - Barriers to fathers analysed

Practitioners are not seeking to involve fathers in their children's nursery experiences because they are 'paralysed' by the idea that children may be from lone parent families, a childcare expert has argued.

At a Pre-school Learning Alliance (PLA) conference last Thursday, newresearch was presented which found that both children and parents wouldlike to see fathers getting more involved in early years settings. Theproject, 'Where's Dad? Families' views on engaging fathers in earlyyears settings', funded by the Children's Workforce Development Council,coincides with the Government's 'Think Fathers' campaign, which aims todispel the image of fathers as 'the invisible parent' (20 November2008).

Tim Kahn, inclusion manager at the PLA, told the conference, 'Mostchildren do have someone who plays the role of their father and wemustn't be paralysed by the idea that some children's fathers aren'taround. The evidence shows that being a lone parent family is usually atemporary stage. However, we obviously do need to be sensitive to thosechildren whose fathers are not around.'

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