Learning on the Job #1

When I made the transition from being a gainfully-employed husband and dad to a stay-at-home father, I had no idea of the depth of the situation I was walking into. I’ve heard plenty of war stories from my own mother and grandmother about the challenges of raising kids, but it’s kind of like when someone tries to explain how good or bad a particular food tastes...you never really “get it” until you taste it for yourself.

After being unceremoniously relieved of my duties at work, I found myself in a brand new reality. My wife had a two-year-plan for me to stay at home with our girls instead of rushing out looking for the first job paying. In hindsight, I’m wondering if she knew what she was doing by enlisting me for this duty as some kind of punishment for some past misdeed or offense. But there I was being offered the opportunity to not have to commute or spend sixty dollars a week on gas, another sixty on lunch, bow down to an incompetent boss or tolerate annoying co-workers. I’d be crazy to turn that down.

So here I am, almost two years into the gig and like they say in the Navy, “it’s not just a job, it’s an adventure!” I’ve been doing hard time with our three-year-old, Zari and our twenty-month-old Morgan, never really certain of who’s who in the inmate/guard dynamic. But I do know that no 9-to-5 could ever offer rewards to match that of watching your children grow and learn or the daily surprises they bring to your life. I’ve learned a lot about my family and myself during this valuable time and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Here are just a few of my favorite situations and lessons learned from a new stay-at-home-dad:

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