MERGE for Equality was honored with an invitation this past season to offer the keynote address for the annual conference of the Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children, VTAEYC.
Being asked to offer the keynote to a banquet hall full of Vermont early childhood educators, administrators, and several national luminaries in the field was a great opportunity to share widely our passion for “Developing Healthy Boys”.
The two day conference took place in Stowe, VT at the Stoweflake Resort and Conference Center. Our talk was scheduled for the first morning and each of us took a component of the training to explain and explore. We followed the keynote with a workshop focusing on our core curriculum.
Three of our senior trainers, who have years of experience training folks in our approach to transforming masculinity and gender as well as reflecting on the essential role of early childhood workers, were eager to engage the audience with the essential elements.
I personally opened with a welcome and provided the history and the reasons for our work. We highlighted that, along with training participants, we are seeking to foster a new humane masculinity that both builds on the healthiest aspects of existing masculinity and fosters and celebrates access to a wider range of self-awareness, emotions, nurturing, compassion, relationships, and gender expression. We then moved into a brief description of our offerings from the workshop to coaching in both English and Spanish followed by a brief description of the co-constructive reading approach and our gender affirming books.
Next James Arana, our most senior trainer, presented the Man Box and the “Story of the Boy” to dramatize the ways in which aspects of traditional masculinity can stifle healthy gender development in boys. He somehow managed to involve the audience as he always does so movingly in the workshop setting even though there were at least 400 people in attendance! That’s the power of the story and James’ delivery.
Finally, our third senior leader, Keira Durrett, an early childhood expert, brought her experience as a childcare provider and director into the presentation and shared her perspective on what the training offers those in the field. She highlighted the awareness she and colleagues gain from the approach taken by “Developing Healthy Boys” and ended the presentation interviewing me about the nature and value of our coaching component.
It was a stirring keynote with great responses from the gathered multitude and we would love to have the opportunity to offer another.
MERGE remains interested in offering creative workshops customized for centers and communities focusing on the needs of boys, fathers and male caregivers.
