Confessions of a Stay At Home Dad
By Mr.e
I’m a SAHD (stay-at-home-dad).
My wife and I determined early on that one of us would always be at home with
our child.
We also decided not to put our child in some child/day-care program that would
enable us both to tackle some assignment or other. It made no sense to ‘farm’
our child out into the care of a stranger and spending a goodly portion of
the freelance income on ‘that’ seemed like a waste of resources.
It is very important to us to raise our child ourselves.
Both of us are doing the freelance thing in our chosen fields and consequently
are subject to the demands that this approach to work makes of us.
Too soon after the birth of our first and so far only child, it became apparent,
due to the fact that my wife receives more calls in her line of work that
my role would revolve around things child, hearth and home.
It’s been like this for several years and I’m still having a hard
time getting used to the fact that the traditional roles of husband and wife,
breadwinner-dad and homemaker-mom have been entirely reversed in this household.
Were it not for the contact with another stay-at-home dad, albeit infrequently
(it’s not like we meet at the playground on a daily basis or shop together),
it would be an entirely difficult concept to accept.
I recently found a web site for guys like me at http://www.slowlane.com. The
site proffers topics for SAHD’s such as "How does your spouse react
to your new role as SAHD?", "New at home dad anxiety", "My
wife works too much", "Macho SAHD’s (haven’t checked this
one out yet, but it sounds intriguing) and "How do men potty train girls?"
among others. I must admit that this last topic seemed a bit strange as I
suggest that they be trained in the same manner as boys would be!?
Bottom line, this site offers a forum for discussions between SAHD’s;
something that is lacking in most neighborhood settings. Mind you, I don’t
get out much.
Ok, so the ‘slow-lane’ descriptor is not the best term to use to
characterize stay-at-home parents of either sex. A slow and easy lifestyle
it ain’t. Nosiree!
Squeezing in some time to scribble these lines reminds me of all the stuff
that needs to be done. I have to go do the dishes and scrub the tub, chop
some wood and take out the trash, do some pre-school work with my kid and
then clean the litter box, go up to the deli for some shopping and then vacuum,
pop my kid in the tub, check the home business e-mails and catch up on the
mail, dust and then go for a walk to the playground for a while and then drop
by the library to return the last batch of books and pick up some new ones.
Not necessarily in that order either.
All of you stay-at-home-parents know that this job is demanding. Juggling
schedules, chores and breaking out of set routines are all things that need
to be mastered to make the @home experience rewarding and a success.
T hat’s all for now. Oh gees, its dinnertime already? My significant
other will be home any minute now and I’m just starting to wonder what
to cook. Good thing my office adjoins the kitchen.
Being a SAHD is not for every father, but I quite like it, although I do find
myself dreaming of a job outside of the home sometimes. The coolest thing
today was baking a batch of brownies with my kid. That was fun.
They turned out pretty good too and "Mama will love them!" I’ve
been assured.