Two elementary-aged boys spent part of their day coloring and watching cartoons at the Creighton University School of Law last week.

With Omaha area schools and daycares closed after about 3 inches of snow fell on Jan. 22, but the law school’s doors open, Creighton Law Dean Joshua Fershée realized that faculty and students would be scrambling to find last-minute child care.

Fershée offered to make his office a daycare for the day.

“Students: if you choose to come in and have child care issues, please let me know,” wrote Fershée in a message to the law school community on social media. “While I’m not a licensed provider, I’m generally good with kids and would be happy to watch some little ones, if it helps.”

Fershée’s post was met with thanks from students and colleagues, and one student took the dean up on his offer for their two young boys.

“Thank you for setting such an example of true care for the whole person,” Matthew Reznicek, an assistant professor of English at Creighton, responded to Fershée in a tweet.

The offer also garnered national attention on social media and became a top-trending story on Law.com, an online news platform covering the legal industry, which dubbed the in-office child care service “Law Dean Daycare.”

Each child drew Fershée a picture as a thank you. Both are now proudly displayed on a cabinet door in his office.

He said that the outpouring of support came as a surprise.

“As a teacher I always made the same offer to my students and it was no big deal,” he said. “You do it as a dean, and it’s different.”

Child care is often associated with women, and Fershee believes that the posts’ popularity can be partially attributed to him challenging traditional gender roles. He says that though dads are parents, too, people “don’t often think of men as child care providers.”

“People don’t expect men in my position, or in positions like mine, to talk about child care,” Fershée said.