Men

Experts: Men needed in young kids' lives

Ryan Holland
The Enquirer

Comment: This is for Mr. Tom who we treasure.

Early childhood education is a woman's world, but it would be nothing without a man to care.

This was the message Tuesday at Kellogg Community College's Men Matter to Kids event, which drew about 250 students and professionals to the school to learn how to get more men involved in children's early years.

Speakers diagnosed the lack of male involvement and provided tips on how to get involved, while attendees participated in sessions concentrating on things like brain research and community resources.

"We're trying to get the word out there that male involvement, and parent involvement in general, is so vital to kids' success and for them to be prepared for school," Dawn Larsen, program manager of the Early Childhood Education program at KCC, said.

That men were not as prevalent in early childhood was even evident at the event itself, where a large majority of those attending were women.

Only about 10 of 300 students in Larsen's KCC program are men, Larson said.

Low pay, social stigmas and fear of molestation accusations all have contributed to a lack of men in the classroom, especially in kindergarten and pre-kindergarten, said featured speaker Wes Garner, a professor at Tri-State University in Angola, Ind.

"Men teachers want to be caring just like the female teachers in the building, but too often they are looked upon as disciplinarians ... or heavy haulers," Garner said.

Garner recommended providing scholarships and allocating more pay to teacher salaries to spur more interest on the part of men in early childhood education.

But speakers said male involvement starts even before the classroom.

The Fatherhood/Male Involvement Program at the Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan seeks to provide support for low-income families in order to ensure fathers are an active part of their childrens' lives.

By supplying a strong role model early, Fatherhood Program Coordinator Barry Smith said, the benefits would accrue later in life.

"This is our time to show ourselves, to pattern ourselves: This is the way you hold a door for a woman, real men are polite, real men stand up for themselves when it's appropriate," he said, speaking to one of the breakout groups.

For 19-year-old KCC student Emerald Diamante, whose only memory of his father was looking up at him as a toddler, the event was an important display of the strength of a male bond.

"This program itself I think is a pretty big step because not too many men are educated about what kinds of things they can do," said Diamante, who plans to study physical therapy and work with children. "All your teachers are predominately women, and we're just as important."