Stay-At-Home Dads (FM)

When thinking about who is going to be the primary care provider for your child, more and more dads are agreeing to become At-Home Dads, while their wives are working. According to a U.S. Census survey released in 2006, there are over 160,000 stay-at-home dads (SAHDs) in the United States; which is 2.7 percent of the country's stay-at-home parents -- almost triple the percentage from a decade ago.

I appreciated hearing from Robb and Mike about their view on being at home with their kids. Robb, a father of 2 1/2 year old twins, has taken the approach of connecting himself to a group of like minded fathers, in his community, so that he can meet with them for a play group once a week, he gets together with the fathers once a month for a guys night out, and has attended several conferences held each year for Stay-at-home dads -- to learn what other dads are doing and how they are managing their new roles. I was amazed that even while living in Omaha, NE, instead of a suburb outside of a major city, there were quite a few at home dads that were involved in his group. Tap into their website to learn more www.athomedads.org.

Then with Mike, I was able to see another viewpoint. Mike is considered a stay-at-home dad because he is home during the day with his son, and now 4 month old daughter, but he is also juggling a freelance writing career at nights, on the weekends, and in between naps. So his focus is spending time with his kids and juggling his career -- instead of branching out into the community to seek out other at-home dads. Although I truely appreciated the fact that he taps into his strong family support network to make this juggle work, and also as an outlet for his kids.

It doesn't matter if you are a stay-at-home mom, or a stay-at-home dad, the challenges are the same -- keeping your kids busy all day, managing their schedule of feedings and naps, and not allowing the daily interaction of infants, toddlers or pre-schoolers to turn your mind to mush. As well as lose your self-esteem along the way, while doing the most important job, that many times gets overlooked and is underappeciated.

So I salute all the stay-at-home dads out there that have taken on this role, and are making a major contribution to their child's life by providing a strong foundation for the future.