Involving Men in Early Years and Parenting Programmes

1
Involving Men in Early Years and Parenting
Programmes

• We cannot solve our problems with the same level
  of thinking that created them.
• Albert Einstein

2
1955

• Gather up schoolbooks, toys, paper etc and then
  run a dust cloth over the tables.
• Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash
  the childrens hands and faces, comb their hair
  and change their clothes encourage the children
  to be quiet.

3
2006
Working Fathers Earning and Caring, the Equal
Opportunities Commission, confirms that in just
two generations the expectations about mens
roles in childcare have undergone a dramatic
transformation. When both parents are in
employment, two thirds of mothers and three
quarters of fathers report equal sharing in
caring for their children.
4
Early Years

• Men caring for the next generation
• High number of lone parent households
• Role models
• Perceptions
• Implications

5
Supporting ParentsMessages from research

• They wanted
• To be treated as adults
• To be partners in problem solving
• Services to be practical and professional
• To be taken seriously

6
Supporting ParentsMessages from research

• Above all
• It is not just what is offered but how it is
  offered that engages parents

7
Parenting Programmes and men

• Designing services to suit men and women is a
  best value issue
• It is a waste of public money to provide services
  which are not used
• We need to take seriously the voices of men

8
Engaging and Involving men

• Working with fathers and male carers raises many
  issues for us all, both personal and professional
• We all bring values and beliefs related to
  motherhood and fatherhood whether these are
  implicit or explicit.

9
Engaging and Involving men
Is the parenting capacity of men and women
ordained by human nature, biology and
psychology? Or Is it a product of particular
historical circumstances, social processes and
ideologies, and vary with ethnicity, religion and
cultural background?
10
Engaging and Involving men
Policy and implications Transferring policy into
practice How do you meet strategic
aspirations? What is to be done in the future?