The Summit idea grew from a group of men in early childhood who have been meeting informally every six weeks for almost four years. It was billed as an opportunity to be a part of something extraordinary – a national gathering of men who are working and studying in early childhood. The Summit was a first for the field in Australia.

            Twenty five men gathered at the Summit to meet others, to contribute their stories and to bring back to their services new ideas. The most important thing for many was the feeling that they weren’t alone now. The men represented all service types and all levels of training and experience – with the commonality that they were all called to do this work.

The dinner on the Saturday night allowed us to relax and get to know each other. It was amazing to see all these guys in a club, watching the rugby test match, having one or two beers and a laugh, but also talking about their experiences working with young children. It set the scene for the next day – allowing conversations to flow and understanding to develop.

The ‘work’ involved discussing what we have learnt about establishing and maintaining our local network group. We held a panel of four diverse men to open up about their experiences – it was powerful stuff. The discussion flowed. A highlight was the debate around setting up an all male staffed early childhood service. What would that look like? Would parents enroll their child in that service? Would it be accepted?

With hungry bellies we had a massive BBQ lunch and tons of time for talk and laughter.

We then workshopped Child Protection for men and looked at successful overseas models of involvement. We have a long way to go but the spirit is there.

At the end we gathered as a full group to develop our position statement – what do we want to see happening for men in early childhood in Australia? This session united our voices and galvanized our resolve to continue – inspiration was the common feeling.

            I felt privileged to have spent time with this exceptional group of men.