Not sure if this is so original, but here is what I did: I worked in NYC for 15 years on Wall St. Worked a lot of hours and had a long commute. Never saw my son, and was always in trouble at work because they didn' think I was there enough. About a year ago, we moved to Lake Worth, Fl. and I became a real estate agent. Now I work from 5AM-7AM, take my son until his babysitter gets here (my wife works 3 days a week 7AM-6PM out of the house), make sure I am home AT 5, stay with him until 8, and then work 8 till whenever to get my work done. Long story short- I JUGGLE! Unfortunately, with so many balls in the air, sometimes one gets dropped- I just make sure it's not the kid
I'd like to hear more about the non-traditional tasks dads are taking on. In a recent conversation at work, for example, it came out that the vast majority of the men did the primary cooking at home. Also at my daughter's recent birthday party one of the dads brought his kid, and told a funny anecdote about shopping for the gift. I was shocked -- a dad, buying a birthday gift? And then I was shocked at myself for being shocked by this behavior. (That same dad just bought a new van for the family, proudly proclaiming that it could haul the kids but also a pre-hung door. It's all in how you combine it, hmm?)
Not sure if you want moms writing in about their men. Landisdad does all the cooking in our house. On the occasional night that he has to work late, my daughter complains if I try to cook anything more complicated than mac & cheese.
When one of our kids is sick, we alternate staying home with them (although we do have a "important meeting" clause). I realize this isn't revolutionary, but it's more than many dads do. When our daughter was born, he took a month of paternity leave after I went back to work. With our son, he went to a part-time schedule when I went back to work part-time. For us, since we both work, it's more about balancing the parenting equally (although that does mean that at times one of us is doing more than the other).
Since I have a job that requires more travel, he is more likely to do what we call 'single parenting' than I am.
How at-home dads get more sex (from their wives) than wage earning dads? That will attract attention.
Hogan
My story for #1 is contained in my book - which you'll be able to pre-order any day now. Hint. Hint. Hint.
I'm so subtle, eh?
Seriously, though - I may publish this chapter as a sample, or see if an online mag like The Morning News will publish it. I'll let you know when it's up.
My DH actually stayed at home for a year and was the primary parent of our at-the-time 2 year old son. He had decided to go back to school, because he wanted a job where he got to see his son during daylight hours.
Now he is a librarian's assistant, working on a masters degree part-time, working 30 hours a week, and is at home 3 days a week with our son. I'm at home with the wee one another 2 days (and at home when DH is at home, but working), and then he goes to day care 2 days a week.
We both decided when I found out I was pregnant that we wanted our child to come before work. I'm a secretary, but work from home 3 days a week.
We switch the sick days and doctors visits between us, and it's relatively easy because of how few days neither of us is free. Of course, this all means that we have to live very frugally. But I'd rather have a small condo and an old car than miss out on my kiddo growing up.
In relation to Jen's previous post on this thread, there is a SAHD in my group, who was erroneously labled a "malcontent" on this site in the past, who was chosen to be the class "parent" for his son's class. Many other SAHM's wanted this coveted title and needless to say there was some grumbling going on about the teachers decision.
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