



Was that a REALLY bad attempt at a joke, was she mad at him, or was she just being an a@@clown? Either way totally out of line. I've been there although no one has ever said THAT word to my face. But I've had DCPs, coworkers, and others assume I was gay and tell me how stunned they were when they find out I have a wife and kids. For people who have issues with men in ECE it is a common thought about any guy working in ECE. Pretty lousy logic: guys don't want to work with kids=guys who want to work with kids must not be "real men"= guys who work with kids must be gay. Stupid I know. Strangely enough one of the other big assumptions was that I was just trying to meet women. :confused:
So very true, he has definately been getting some attitude from a few parents, one DCD even shook his had extremely hard, showing him to man up I guess. I told him the pitfalls of working in a womens field, so he is aware and up for the challenge. Alyhough I never considered that women would think he is looking for a date:

If he didn't already he needs to tell his supervisor ASAP. This is no different that a DCP using a racial, ethnic, or religious slur at a staff. None of those should be tolerated either. Even if he shrugs it off (usually what I did too in annoying situations) they need to be made aware of it. Because unless this was some weird attempt at a joke that DCM realizes later was inappropriate there will be another issue at another time.
I think he should mention it too, most of the things I would let roll but to me those kind ofremarks cross the line. This is his second summer here and hopefully his last.
Sounds like he handled it just about as well as could be done. Good news is about 75% of people have no issue with men in ECE. of the 25% that do 10-15% can accept it or at least shut up about their problems. It's the 10-15% that are complete and total a@@holes about it that will drive him nuts every so often.
Thank you for sharing these facts, I will pass them on. I truly hope there is more acceptance for men in this field, So many kids need and benefit from male role models in their environments away from home. There are some DCM's that seem to truly appreciate him and the kids think he is awesome. And the staff well...frankly I thimk they take advantage of him but he is getting valuable experience!
Tell Him good luck for me. Hope otherwise he's enjoying himself.[/QUOTE
I will, and thanks again. It's good to hear experiences from other men in this field, I think he will be a great teacher one day! He goes back to school in the fall and has a job lined up at a K-8 montessori school in a nice area near the college. He is loving school and made some great friends there last year, So he is looking forward to this next year once he is done with his current job!
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