Comments on: Dads would happily stay at home, survey says

By: dennis

dennis — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:33:39 +0000

i understand those of you are married and set in your schedule. i am a week on week off dad. so i do all those things laundry, cook, dishes, get clothes ready, make sure teeth are brushed and hair..etc etc..i also have coached my daughters soccer team. gone to scouts, taken off work for doctors visits.. on and on you know the drill. i have had a good career in the music business, i have managed at large trucking firms. i also after being put on disability went to culinary school. i went to Iraq for a year and a half. blah blah blah… so i am now delivering pizzas… yeah great catch huh?? well my daughter thinks so. i dont intend on going for a more substantial career at the moment. i know i have to be there for my daughter. i will be there forever but certainly until she feels comfortable in the real world at eighteen. i am however preparing her for this now. so my point men already do this and do it well..BECAUSE they choose to and commit. period! no different than a wife with or without a job. by the way my xwife now has a good career and a job that she never would consider when married. a new young husband in school. yet she still considers herself the custodial parent or stay at home parent…. so it is all how you choose to perceive things also…. just my two cents… A LOVING DAD WHO WOULD LOVE TO HAVE SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO WORK WHILE I DO WHAT COMES NATURALLY TO ME… i love to pamper my mate and make them happy too… so now i need someone who truly is cool and secure enough to switch roles… Dennis

By: veronica

veronica — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:08:26 +0000

My hubby says the same thing and then prods me to find a better paying job. Too bad that I love my job…unless someone’s gonna pay me $1000 a blog post. ha!

By: mommapolitico

mommapolitico — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:25:21 +0000

I love The hubby and he’s a great dad. But I find that after I’ve been out of town on “Girlfriends’ Weekend” for 3 or 4 days, he’s more than ready for me to take over! I actually recommend this to all my mom friends. You’ll be appreciated more once dad has been mom for a few days!

By: Dads want to stay home too — Mamma Spa - Mamma, Just Relax

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:38:53 +0000

[...] I’m in the former category and I can tell you that it sucks. Sara, of the Work it, Mom site, is surprised by this revelation. I don’t know why — unless you are totally in love with what you do, why would you want to spend [...]

By: April

April — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:30:29 +0000

We fall in the majority.

My husband was out of work for about a year and my son (we only had one then) stayed in daycare. We were lucky that my salary carried us. The last thing he wanted to be was a SAHD.

We did cut my sons hours back and he picked him up at 3pm everyday. They had a few hours to hang together before I got home, which was great for them.

By: Want your husband to help out more? Get your friends' husbands to help out more. - Work It, Mom! Blog - Work It, Mom!

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:57:43 +0000

[...] and scary. With all the talk of changing perceptions and traditional roles, of increasing number of dads who want to stay home full-time with their kids, Ms. Belkin’s article and the research she highlights suggests that we’re not as far [...]

By: Queen Bee

Queen Bee — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:57:30 +0000

My husband used to say this all the time - and since he is a coach, he does stay home with my son during the summe - and is FANTASTIC with our son. But at the end of last summer, he did joke that now he understands why so many stay at home moms end up in the bottle.

By: spacegeek

spacegeek — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:36:39 +0000

I just spent 4 days home with my kids after having been on a long-duration business trip. My husband has *never* spent 4 days home without his mother or our nanny backing him up.
And cooking?! Hah!

He routinely *says* he wants to stay at home, but I don’t think he’d last a week! I think many men have a romanticized notion of what SAH means.

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:03:20 +0000

You’re so right, Lylah- the tips are so impractical and unrealistic! What would they achieve except for a little “fake” bonding? Robyn- great point as well. I actually think my husband would make a terrific SAHD. He’s way cleaner than I, a good cook and is terrific about laundry… hmm…

By: Robyn

Robyn — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:33:27 +0000

My spouse is a fantastic father. He’d love to stay at home with our son full-time. But frankly, he’d make a terrible SAHD. He has no household management skills - can’t cook, his laundry skills are OK, his folding skills are terrible, cleaning the bathrooms would just never make it onto his to-do list. The house could be falling apart and he just wouldn’t notice since the household stuff just doesn’t bother him. I think HE thinks being a SAHD is all about playing and napping with our son all day long. It’s a romantic dream - and when reality set in that he was now in charge of the house, I think he would quickly fall apart.

I sometimes wish that we could just simply afford to have the option for one of us to stay at home. But if the option was for him, he would have to make serious changes to be successful.

Because really, nothing would irritate me more than being asked “What’s for dinner?” after working a long hard day at the office while he was home playing with the kiddo.