I won’t lie to you, there are lots of reasons I love being a stay-at-home-dad and I think being a stay-at-home-dad is the greatest job in the world. There hasn’t been a day where I have thought to myself “Man I wish I was back at work,” or “boy I miss those long commutes in rush hour traffic.”
I realize I’m incredibly lucky and I try to soak in all of the moments that I know are fleeting.
If you want to catch up on our story you can read about my journey to being a stay-at-home-dad or our birth story. Otherwise, here are five of the reasons I love being a stay-at-home-dad.
My job is fun
There are early mornings, poopy diapers, crying fits, food stand-offs, snotty noses and any number of other things. There’s the stress of looking after all her needs and making sure she is ok. I constantly worry about her. But you know what? I get to play with my daughter for most of my day. That’s not hard. In fact, it’s really, really fun.
The greatest gift I’ve been given as a Dad is the ability to watch our daughter as she learns new things. As I’m typing this I’m picturing her face when she does something or discovers something for the first time and I’m smiling*.
I’m eternally grateful that my wife works hard to allow me the opportunity to look after our daughter. Not every stay-at-home-parent feels this gratitude to be home with their child and I can’t understand that. On any given day we’re going to the Zoo, or swimming, or exploring Fish Creek and that’s MY JOB. How friggen lucky am I?!
I’ve learned new skills
Having had mostly short hair for my entire life it will come as a surprise to no one that I have never styled my hair in pigtails or a pony tail.
If you’re the parent of young daughters then you know how difficult it is to do their hair while they’re moving around. Clara constantly tries to look behind her to see what I’m doing. And those friggen elastics are so small! My clumsy man-hands have taken awhile to get used to working with them.
I’m far from a world-class hairstylist, but I’m getting much better.
I’ve also acquired a knack for negotiating with a young tyrant.
Clara is currently in the point-and-yell-at-things-she-wants stage and while distracting or negotiating with a 17-month-old may not seem like it’s that hard … you’d be surprised.
I get lots of hugs
I can only speak for Clara and not for other young kids, but she is not afraid to give her mom or I a hug – any time, any place. We love it.
We can be out at a store, or at a play place, or at Grandma’s house. She can be sitting next to me, or playing all the way across a gym and suddenly she’ll come running over and give me hug. Just as quickly she will hop off to keep doing whatever she was doing and I’m left as a pile of goo whose heart just exploded. Of all the reasons I love being a stay-at-home-dad, this is tops.
I’ve learned better time management
I thought I was pretty good at this before we had a child. If I was in a job interview, I would have used time management as one of my strengths. Having Clara has brought those skills to the next level.
Since becoming a stay-at-home-dad I have continued to do some freelance writing on the side. I’ve also started this blog. My hope each day is that Clara will nap for 3 hours and I will be able to get lots done. The reality is that I am only guaranteed 45 minutes and everything after that is gravy. This makes me prioritize what needs to be done that day (do I REALLY need to eat?) and hammer it out with efficiency.
I’m (slowly) becoming a better cook
My wife won’t hesitate to tell you that cooking has never been one of my strengths. This weakness mostly comes from a complete lack of interest. When I was single, eating was about whatever I could get into my body fastest to make sure I stayed alive. As both a Type 1 diabetic and a person that wants to live a healthy life, this was definitely not a good way to go about living.
As a Dad, I’ve started taking on more cooking responsibilities and my repertoire of recipes is slowly growing.
If there’s a stay-at-home-parent in your life feel free to share this post with them, I’d love to hear from them!
*Crying
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