New "Daddy Daycare" Opens in Billings, MT. Life Imitating Art or an Idea Whose Time Has Come?

BILLINGS, Mont. - EntSun -- 2003, the idea of men running a daycare was absurd. Men were a tiny minority of childcare workers. That was the whole premise behind Eddie Murphy's comedy-of-errors movie, Daddy Day Care.

Twenty years later, men are still less than eight percent of the childcare workforce.* Michael Devaney, the owner and director of a new daycare is an outlier in an industry dominated by women. How does it feel?

"I know that having a man in charge at a daycare is an oddity. Daddy Day Care jokes are real. But I don't think about them much. My focus is the business. I'm trying to deliver a premium service to parents and students alike, consistently. Part of that service does include doing more guy stuff, like helping the kids dig for worms instead of crafting. There's not a lot I can do about that because it's who I am. The kids at the daycare, though, seem to love it. They're like the kids set free from Mrs. Harridan's school."

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Daddy Daycare followed other successful movies (Kindergarten Cop, Meet the Parents) in using men working in female-dominated occupations as punchlines. What's changed is that today, a male elementary school teacher or nurse is normal.

Could men in daycare be on the same trajectory? Probably not, for a variety of reasons.* Regardless of demographics, Mr. Devaney is committed to building a sustainable business.

"I figure that quality, as in service, trumps novelty. If I provide excellent childcare, parents will notice. They'll enroll their kids and tell their friends about me. 'Daddy Day Care" jokes? Have at it, they don't bother me."

To find out more about the, um... Daddy Daycare visit https://firstthingschildcare.com/