The parents and children were today doing their road safety instruction. They are learning to cross roads, by first crossing the slopes across the pavement. I watched as the instructors explained what to do. The small children not paying much attention. The adults probably less, but it was harder to see. They went for a practice, one of them spotted next doors car in the drive and stopped his parent from walking across the slope - something had gone in. He was learning. Then back to the far corner to be de-briefed.
Nothing unusual there you may say - and you'd probably be right, this sort of thing has gone on for years, minus the fluorescent jackets, of course. So...
So, there were two groups of 6 parent-child pairs. Roughly equal number of girls and boys in the groups. This wasn't a Mother and child event though. At 9:30 on a Tuesday morning one of the groups had a Dad! Not to be out done, the other group had two Dads. Not that I can proved that the carers (minders?) were related to the children of course. It is unusual to see men in that role, certainly at that time of day.
Perhaps the world really has changed. Perhaps there are a number of men doing child care, and it is no longer just a theoretical possibility. Perhaps the roles of men and women are now divided up more pragmatically, and less along traditional gender role lines.
I'm hoping to do a project for my training that is specifically about men reaching men, so I'm watching things carefully.
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