Keep Clear of The Slime
By Tony Scanlan
There seem to be very few males in early childhood education these days, but one of the few places where you will find the number of guys actually increasing is Playcentre.
Probably because they are Dads, not employees.
They are still a small percentage compared to the Mums, but the number is groing, maybe it’s due to the new fluidity of the work force, some fathers at Playcentres are shift workers, some are full time fathers like me, some are unemployed, and some are nine to fivers who just thought they’d spend the morning mucking in with the nipper.
What ever their working situation, there they are in the sandpit or pushing a ‘bus’ full of toddlers around the courtyard.
There’s a few differences in how the men interact with the children compared to the Mums. The Dads are often more boisterous, more outdoor adventure orientated and tend to shy away from ‘family corner’ or ‘dress ups’. Carpentry is an area that gets a hammering when there are fathers about.
Is it just the way men are? Or does being in a female dominated area mean we have to take extra pains to appear masculine.
Helping out at playcentre is a messy business. What do you do when they decide to introduce pale blue with yellow polka-dot bibbed aprons for the ‘parent helps’ (used to be called ‘mother-helps) to wear. You refuse to wear them, that’s what, and you demand manly aprons to be made, if there is such a thing.
It is very hard to keep clean at Playcentre, although you must NEVER say you want to keep clean, as the kids will automatically dip their hands (up to the armpits) in finger-paint and then embrace your lower leg. The Mums seem to have an instinct for this and dress accordingly: If it’s a Playcentre day, wear old clothes.
This requires thinking in advance.
I tend to wear the first thing that comes out of the drawer every day. You just have to quietly keep out of reach when the finger-paints are flying, that’s all.
There is another substance I keep well clear of and that’s ‘slime’. It gets made on warm summer days for the kids to squish through their fingers and to fling about when they are outside. It’s usually green and the kids think it’s something really disgusting but it’s really only Lux flakes, water and food colouring.
A lot of time is spent just sitting there doing nothing (when the kids are playing happily without the input of adults). The women make good use of this time by having a wee chat, they don’t exclude the guys, but you can see they want to talk about something other than sport occasionally.
Often they want to talk about the ‘R’ word (relationships), whereupon it’s time to go and stand-by in case little Johnny falls and requires setting back on his feet again. Not that you’re much use if he requires something more than setting back on his pins.
If it’s anything more serious, like wanting Mum, it’s best to get a female, even if Mum is not available.
Once I had a female take my own child from me to comfort, when he was howling over some hurt. That was when I first started at Playcentre, now the Mums just say “Daniel’s crying” and I do the comforting.
There are other things to do, other than standing around looking manly. Like making something out of play dough. Play dough is fun, whatever your age, especially when it is somewhere other than in your own home getting trampled into the carpet.
The Mums tend to roll the stuff into balls, and use the little molds to make models for the kids to squash, but the Dads make more free form things, little aliens, motorcycles, skulls complete with pull out-able teeth…, the kids squash them just the same.
At the end of every Playcentre session there is ‘clean up’, where everyone helps to tidy, clean, wash, and ‘represent’ the place for the following days session.
This is a serious business, and no respector of male and female stereotypes, the men could be doing the dishes and washing the floors, while the women are putting the carpentry tools back into the shed (although I think us chaps do a better job restacking the shed).
It’s easy to see all the differences in Mums and Dads, when they are both doing the same job, but you can also see the similarities.
Whether male or female, the parents at Playcentre are there because they want to be. They want to share and watch their child’s learning during the one time in life when being a male or female doesn’t matter, when the only thing that matters is the consistency of the slime.
Next: Riding Out The Change
