Featured ACCCO student

Kelvin - Family Day Care

Certificate III in Community Services (Children's Services) - 2003
Diploma of Children's Services - 2007

Being a man working in Family Day Care sounds like a male in a bra shop, there is far from few males working in the child care industry which is the type of society we live in today. It seems to be a female dominated workforce as it’s not seen as “normal” for males to care for children as well as females can. Or the other issue that maybe stopping males coming into the child care sector is the label of being gay or a pedophile and being constantly asked, “Why are you working in child care?”

Overcoming all these barriers and having a positive mind that a male can do just as well is testament that I have successfully worked 7yrs in Long Day Care since leaving school. I completed my Certificate III in Children’s Services through ACCCO via a traineeship, and since then have worked my way up the ranks to completing my Diploma through classroom study and became a Group Leader then Assistant Director. I also got married to my wife Danae whom I met at my first child care centre and have had 2 beautiful girls in the past 7 years.

My wife and I had discussed numerous times about working from home and starting our own Family Day Care business however restrictions of renting and never having enough space to do so limited us. With my wife studying full time to be an Early Childhood Teacher, the cost of childcare for 2 full time children was to be expensive for us. With good fortune and some saved dollars we managed to buy our first home in Walkerston about 10mins outside of Mackay, Queensland. Luckily enough it was a 2 storey house so we decided to transform all downstairs into a Family Day Care business which we have calledcalled PLAY PATCH and began operation in December 2007.

Since beginning I have built up my clients and now have a waiting list for my under 5 year old children which is a great achievement for me and makes me feel that I must be doing something right. Each week I receive numerous phone calls which is by word of mouth and seems to be the best advertisement as it’s free! To acknowledge how big an influence my role is I have had a couple of children follow me out of the child care sector and into my business so the positive male role model continues.

With over 7 yrs experience I have come to terms that parents can be funny about having a male caring for their children but once they get to know me, this seems to be pushed aside and they have no issue with leaving their child/ren in my care.

All my families feel a part of our family and feel comfortable to hang around and chat about anything which is how I intend my business to be. I don’t believe in the “drop off/pick up see you later” type mode. It’s very much an impersonal feel
which can make parents feel very undervalued in their role for caring for their children.

The key for me has been really enjoying working from home, it’s a more personal, relaxed, loving, 1-on-1 atmosphere where the children feel secure and can go off exploring and do their own learning with me there as their facilitator to learning. I
love seeing them accomplish challenging tasks, interacting with each other developing social skills that have built their confidence and their list of vocabulary. Same routines each day can be monotonous but the beauty of working with children
is the simplest and most creative change brings such wonderment and awe to their world. We have very few tears and children seem to transition very well into my care, a job made much easier with cooperative and supportive parents.

It is with this proof that my male operated Family Day Care business is booming we should be supporting males coming into the industry and not discriminating them by automatically addressing them as a Ms or Mrs. This is how I feel about my job career choice as quoted by Janice Rockett - "Find your passion and make it your profession ... and you'll never work again".

Kelvin