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Has your husband/partner (if you have one) ever considered being a stay-at-home dad? If you've actually tried this arrangement, how did it work for you?”

Asked by TracyB on 20th September 2007 | 11 replies

11 replies so far...

My husband was a stay at home Dad for almost 3 years after he lost his job, and it almost drove him crazy!
He was calling me at work constantly! I think he appreciates now just how much energy and time is involved in raising kids, - meeting their needs, cleaning, cooking, and teaching them right from wrong when the opportunity arises, driving them to school, picking them up, and participating in school activities. Parenting definitely requires a strong, energetic spirit and the ability to set boundaries!
He found that out the hard way and was SO HAPPY to get back to work!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Naturalsoycandles on 7th February 2008
My husband is the wife and I am the husband :) After I tied staying home for over a year and failing at it miserably (I was miserable and slowly going insane) we decided to try it the other way around. For us it has been wonderful! He loves being home with our daughter, cleaning, cooking and even laundry. I work full time now to support us and couldn't be happier with our arrangement. Our relationship is finally back on track and going strong!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Jacq on 27th September 2007
My husband hasn't considered this, but my dad is a stay at home dad. My parents kind of have two families. My youngest two sisters still live at home while me and my other sister are all grown up. My mom stayed home with us (the big girls) when we were little, and my dad stays home with the little girls. Works out nicely I think.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by mamajama on 26th September 2007
My husband is a university professor and we had decided that he should apply for sabbatical for 2007 before we knew we were expecting. Our son was born on Dec. 18, just a few days after my husband filed his grades. While we've used some childcare so my husband could get some research and writing done, for the most part this year he's been a SAHD. It has been fantastic. The baby and his daddy have a wonderful bond and I wasn't nearly as distressed about going back to work when our son was 8 weeks old as I would have been if it had meant 40+ hours of daycare a week. It's going to be rough transition in January when my husband returns to a full teaching schedule.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Morag on 25th September 2007
The plan is for my business to retire my husband in the next 2 years and bring him home. I am pretty sure it won't last long unless he has a project - back to school maybe.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by fhhc on 23rd September 2007
My husband says that he would LOVE to be a stay at home dad - but i think he would last only 1 week!!!! :)

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Victoria on 21st September 2007
my hubby considered it before we actually had our first child. I think he was pretty much cured when he was home with the boy for 3 weeks after i went back to work and before daycare started!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Kate on 21st September 2007
Yes - he would love to... but, if he were to stay home while I worked full-time away from the house - he wouldn't last longer than a day LOL. I work from home - but, sneak to Starbucks with my laptop 1-2 mornings a week while he has bonding time with the kids... as much as he loves the kids, that's about all he can handle ;-) He is looking to work from home too, however, by starting his own online business. He is just starting out - take a peek at his blog: www.adventuredads.com... I'm so proud of him!

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Jenni Hunt on 20th September 2007
No way, no how. He would literally drive himsef and every other person in our household insane long before we'd see the financial hurt of living off of my lowly income.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by The Tattooed Mommie on 20th September 2007
My husband would really like to have the chance to do this, but we just don't see how it can work out financially unless he finally gets a winning lottery ticket. Since the kids are older (13 and 8), I'm really not certain we NEED a full-time at-home parent, but being available before and after school would probably benefit everyone.

Flag as inappropriate Posted by Florinda Pendley Vasquez on 20th September 2007
Well we sort of fell into this arrangement because my husband lost his job and for a whole year he got to stay at home with our daughter... I was jealous because I have been working since she was born and always wanted to be a SAHM and spend more time with her and see her grow and reach certain milestones (of course circumstances would not allow it) but every one is different in our case it did not work out well as for my husband he is back to work and Im trying to start my own business so I can be a work at home mommy ; ) and try to get some quality time in with our baby girl

Flag as inappropriate Posted by hula mom on 20th September 2007