Would you be a stay at home Dad?

Oh believe me, I said that exact same thing to her. Its understood that, that will not be an issue. And my wife makes a mean !

 

It's an individual choice. Some families can afford 1 stay home parent, some can't. My wife and I are lucky, she runs her Vet business out of the house and has a lot of time to spend with my son but he does go to Pre-school 4 days a week from 9 until 3:30. The school is good for him, they do more than baby sit. They teach science and math and he gets to socialize with other kids. We are also involved in the school so we know the teachers and the parents and all of the other kids. I, personally would go insane as a stay home dad. I have worked all my life and I hate not working, even if it's something I don't like. I go in early so I can leave early. I get to spend the afternoons and evenings with my son.

But in today's world it's not easy for a 1 income couple to float all the bills and save for retirement and college for the kid. It's a tough choice and my choice is right for me but not for everyone.

Good luck on whatever choice you make and you are no less of a man for taking an active role in raising your kid. You are more of a man than those dirtbags that hit and run and never see their kids let alone pay child support.

 

Here is another thing that is making me 2nd guess it too, Now right now I can't stand the direction my job has taken, but from my higher up sorces, they say things are going to chnage. But I have heard that before, also even though I have been doing this job for 14 years, seniority rules and the old times still have the prime days off and good vacation picks. I always told myself I can outlast them cause I'm younger. So this upcoming year or I should say after this upcoming year alot of them are going to retire, putting me in a good position for weekends off and great vacation picks. I'm lucky enough now to be on steady daylight, with the sometimes more than normal forced overtime, and normally at the worst times, but that is what it is. So its also like I have been looking forward to this moment in my work to actually work a somewhat normal schedule with a good chance of weekends off. So this is another reason I keep going back and forth in my mind. My wife made the good point though that I have some time stil to see what is going to happen at my work.

 

Thanks, and I agree.

 

You got some good time in at your current job.

 

^^This... My 10 month old daughter could wear out the most well conditioned athlete there is... Kids are NO JOKE!!!! Still there's nothing like the quality time with them. Do it!

 

My wife asked me the other day if I'd do it, just out of curiosity. Right now I make way more money than she does but she has way more potential than I do. I couldn't do it. Our son is easy enough, he's 9 and aside from being a zombie in the morning and you having to pretty much brush his teeth for him before school he's self sustaining....my 2yo daughter on the other hand is the cutest little devil you'll ever meet and is a manipulative bitch. I wouldn't last a day with her.

My wife is a saint.

Don't think it's going to be all xbox and bonbons, it'll be tough work but worth it when you measure day cares and having someone else raise your kids.

good luck

 

Its been a long 14 years.

This made me LOL! And one thing I have going for me is I'm not a gamer. I have a Wii! And thats broke right now, and was mostly used for netflix.

 

fuck staying at home....see bolded parts
I did this for 3 months last year after I retired from the Navy....I enjoyed the kids but the rest sucked.

 

Go for it then.

 

LOL, thats the thing I least mind doing. I do laundry on my days off half the time anyway, and if I'm bored I end up cleaning the house. I can clean our whole house in about 2-1/2 hours. I like to time myself for fun!

 

Jesus, I hope those words never come out of my mouth. I'm staying 22 forever

 

LOL, I said before, I grew up with clean freak parents. So some of it rubbed off on me. I can't stand seeing shit dirty. Not saying my house is perfect, but its pretty clean.

Oh and inside of my truck always stays pretty clean too!

 

Sure, go for it. I took like 4 months off from work when each of my kids was born. So I've got a flavor for it.

It's a different pace. There's less stress, but more screaming. ;-)

Less to do, but more interruptions. Those guys suggesting that you "use the time to take some classes" have no idea. Trying to do that will be a horrible exercise in frustration and drive you mad. I had some lawn projects I wanted to complete - the only time I ended up doing the work was on weekends when my wife could watch the boy(s).

Kids take naps, sure; but the day you're counting on a two hour nap so you can catch up on studying or whatever, will be the day she cat-naps for 20 minutes and wakes up all cheerful.

Kids can be distracted by a video for a while, but you'll need to use *that* time for cleaning up the sippy-cup-orange-juice-dog-food-crayon-barf-disaster off the white carpet.

For a long time, my wife made more money than me and I figured if we needed a stay at home parent, it would be me. But ultimately, I'm a software developer in Silicon Valley, and bust turned to boom, so now she's the stay at home parent in our family.

One of your biggest challenges will be finding support groups. There are LOTS of "Mom's groups." But it turns out they usually and really are "MOM" groups, not "PARENT" groups and I always felt like a fifth wheel when I took my son to play dates with them. So while you'll probably end up loosely afilliated with one or two, it's likely you may not quite fit in.

 

LOL, ya I figure Not much of anything till preschool age. But once that starts I could find the time. My wife thinks I should be a "handy man" for all the old people in our neighborhood. Which I pretty much am now anyway. When she said that, I though it would be funny to show up to do a job with a tool box and a diaper bag and kid in stroller!

And ya I think I said it before, the MOM group thing scares me. But I have my sister-in-law to help me with that. She has a 2 year old and 3 month old and she stays at home, so she could help me I think.

 

I was a stay at home dad for 6 months. It's brutal, but worth it. I was laid off for a while so it kinda worked out. My wife makes a good salary (more than me) and 3 months is all she could take off. My hats off to stay at home moms or dads. My son started walking at 9 months and he's always on the go. I couldn't imagine following him around all day, it's tough work. When my son was 6 months I got called back to work and we enrolled him in a daycare less than a mile from my wife's job. It's a great place and the only place we felt comfortable with after looking at many. It's not cheap, but neither is piece of mind.

 

My fiance and I have talked about me being a stay at home dad. My daughter is 14 months and my fiance is always saying I wouldn't last a week home alone with my daughter. I'd like to try, but my fiance is going to school and I have to make the money for the family. It would be exhausting, but fun to see all the developments along the way.

 

It's all good brother, my wife and I do run into schudal problums with the CDC. They accommodate the office worker, we both work the flightline 12 hour shifts. I work nights and she works days so there is always some of us to pick up the kido's. We also have complete opp days off so we don't have to worry about finding someone to watch them for the 2 hours that they can't be at the CDC. It's all about self sacerfice for the family. We just got orders to Scott AFB, slower pace and less hours for both of us, time to be a family!!

 

Ya besides the truck and TW which she doesn't understand, I'm pretty lucky. She likes to fish and we have a cabin. So those sort of things I wouldn't have to worry about giving up. Plus she is a bigger football fan than I am! LOL.

Ya this I agree with. I think that would be the most rewarding.