I’ve arrived in Honolulu, HI for the first World Conference for men in early childhood education. It’s been over five years in the planning and it’s amazing to think it will be happening starting on Tuesday.
A group of us are meeting Monday and Tuesday to go over the agenda but also to strategize about the future movement. There have been gatherings in all regions of the world – for example, Kenny Spence and his crew have offered a European gathering. In the United States, MenTeach put together the first United States gathering. In New Zealand, Sarah Farquhar and her crew of guys held a national gathering and in Australia, Craig d’Arcy hosted a national gathering. And then in Canada, Ron Blatz has worked regionally to organize centers and programs. And there may be others that we don’t know about.
But it’s really difficult to express how meaningful this event is – let’s put it this way – in all of human history – there has never been a gathering of men and women to talk about and focus exclusively on men teaching young children.
That’s a long time.
Thanks to so many people for putting this together. First to Don Piburn for having the original idea and putting so much energy into making it happen! And to all the Leadership Team for their willingness to work together. And finally to Bonnie and Roger Neugenbauer for their incredible expertise and support to make this happen. It’s been such a thrill to see this coming together!
We’ll be posting information about this event as time permits.