Menu
McCook man wins state Head Start Father of the Year honors
A McCook man who traded in a paycheck for changing diapers has been named Nebraska's Head Start Father of the year.
"I wasn't expecting an award for being a parent," Carlos Hernandez said, stay-at-home dad to daughters Olivia, 5, Analise, 3, and son Julian, one month. "I didn't know they gave these things out!" Surprised by the honor, Hernandez insisted he had done nothing extraordinary.
"What I'm doing for my children is because that's what a parent does," he said. "I'm just a dad doing his job."
But the staff at the McCook Head Start, as well as his wife and sister-in-law, beg to differ.
Hernandez became Mr. Mom two and half years ago when he left his job trimming trees at Fort Morgan, Colo. and moved to McCook. Unable to find a full-time job, his wife, Marcy, found work as a corporal at the Nebraska Department of Corrections Work Ethic Camp and what began as a temporary arrangement is still going strong.
"He does it all: cooking cleaning, the laundry," Marcy said, who leaves at 6 a.m. each morning. "A lot of men don't realize the amount of work there is at home. We look up to him quite a bit."
Even if he found a job at this point, the wages would probably be eaten up in daycare costs, they figure, so for the time being he's doing what he can for the family.
"This is what works for us right now," he said.
As his daughters attend Head Start, Hernandez has made volunteering at the center a part of his daily life, yet admitted he never thought he'd be reading books to a roomful of preschoolers. Now, it's something he looks forward to.
"It makes my daughters happy," he said, who doesn't see it as volunteering. "Watching my children grow and learn is what makes it all worth it."
"He didn't just talk the talk, he put in the hours," McCook Head Start director Nikki Banzhaf confirmed, who estimated Hernandez has logged in more than 150 hours this year by helping out in the classroom, the kitchen and on field trips, even staying the entire day when they're short on staff.
He transported another child each morning to Head Start in addition to his own, and being bilingual, has assisted the staff in interpreting with other Hispanic families.
"He's gone above and beyond what a father does," Banzhaf said.
In addition to being the primary caregiver for his children, he also took care of five nieces when his wife's sister and her daughters moved in for a while.
"Their Uncle Carlos is the closest to having any kind of father figure in their lives," Monica Rodriguez wrote in her nominating letter.
She explained how Hernandez "has taught them so many things that I hate to admit I couldn't," such as serving small portions at meals so they'll clean their plate and weaning the two year old off her bottle.
"The one thing he has taught my girls that they'll always remember is it's okay not to have a father when you have an uncle like him," she said, adding, "Never once have I heard him complain of doing the job their fathers were not man enough to do."
Hernandez himself seemed slightly embarrassed by all the attention since the honor.
"I'm just a normal, every day father, trying to do the best for my daughters," he explained.
Besides being there for their daughters and her sister's children, his wife had another reason for Hernandez to be considered for the award.
"Carlos lived with two females and seven little girls," she wrote in a letter to the award committee.
"If that's not enough reason then I don't know what is."