Photocredit: flickr.com:fimbrethil
A stay-at-home dad.
While there are about 5 million stay-at-home moms in the United States, there are only 154,000 stay-at-home dads. Well, now 154,001.
Vanessa and I swapped roles beginning this month. She returned to full-time employment while I began the process of leaving mine. I’ll save the reasoning for my personal site, but in short, it made sense for us to do this. The experiment has yielded some interesting results, reactions and thoughts thus far. I realize that we haven’t seen even the tip of the iceberg.
When telling a group of old college friends (all male), one made the comment about how great it would be since you could get so much done around the house. After two weeks with two girls under two, this is far from true. With the need for military precision when nap time and meal times are concerned, there is a precious small amount of “free” time within the day and the little ones are not satisfied to entertain themselves.
I have great ambitions. I’d like to take the girls to church during the week on a regular basis. Whether this is daily Mass or a visit to the chapel, I want to make this a part of our routine. Besides one stop to the University Catholic Center to say hello to the staff, this hasn’t happened yet. I have realized, though, that this is more important for my sanity than for the kids’ Catholicity at this stage in the game. I want to explore to all of the great places Austin has for kids. I want to do a lot.
These great ambitions have to be tempered by reality. When 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. is the only “unscheduled” time during a day, sometimes minor things like having dinner ready for the older one’s 5:30 p.m. dinner time is more important. We’ve still made some treks, but the notion that everyday could have a fun, unique, interesting field trip was quickly erased.
While I’m too new at this to offer any actual advise or commentary on the subject, what about you? Anything in particular interesting to hear about in the future? Any other stay-at-home dads out there? Stay-at-home moms, any special insights on being at home with the kiddos?
Hey Brandon,
God bless you for being there for your little ones. It is so important, and such a blessing for the whole family. I was blessed to be a stay at home mom and to be able to homeschool my daughters. The best advice I can give you is to not stress yourself and the kids by trying to strictly adhere to a schedule. It is very important that you rest when you can, even little cat naps help. Be flexible and have activities and field trips planned and prepared for whenever the opportunity arises. Moat of all, enjoy! These days will be precious and will fly by before you realize it. May God abundantly bless you!
Judy