I am going on 6 months now being a Mr Mom. My wife is settled into her new job, and although were makin less than half what we were with me workin, man am I happy. This is the greatest and easiest job ever. Gentlemen, don't ever let women fool you into thinking its soooooo hard and twice as hard as a normal job (greatest myth ever). Don't get me wrong it can get tedious crawling into a plastic princess castle for an hour with a 2 foot door, but my daughter makes good imaginary tea. Today I had the intolerable task of running around a park, making a picnic and climbing jungle gyms. Yesterday I had to jump around in a bunch of inflatable bounce houses at Monkey Joes. Last Thursday I had to go see 2 movies in a row, 2! And always drawing Chalkboard Dinosaurs? Workin on my Art during the 2 hour naps?...the.....suck.....

But I am going to have to go back to work in about a year, I must have full control over spending and money. THAT! I can't stand. Shitty diapers aren't the best either.

 

i fucking hate my job but its cool, im a masochist.

 

I read the book of Job.

Seriously, though...Wow. I wonder if I'll be able to get away with a few months of leave when we have li'l ones in our house. That sounds like a whole lot of fun.  

 

That sounds a lot like me somedays.

 

I hated my previous job too, I think it damaged me as a human being. Made me a worse person. Probably why I love this, its fixing what broke.

 

So because you hated your job and she loved hers is why the decision was made that you would stay home with the kids instead of her?

 

Michael Keaton would be proud.

 

Blue Meanie, do you do dishes and clean around the house?? Taking care of your kids is nice and great, but housewives don't just do that. If you're doing that too and like it, than   to you.

 

QFT

My wife and I decided that she should stay home with the kid. It's working out really well for all of us. My chores went from half (...all while she was pregnant) to taking out the trash. I'll do a chore if my wife hasn't gotten to it by the time I get home from work, but she is Wonder Woman, so that is hardly ever. It's not so bad on the money front either because I just got a new job with an awesome salary. We have to be a more cautious with spending, but that's because we bought a house and started to save more aggressively for retirement. I took on a consulting job just to make extra cash for Botcon  . Either way, I love having her home.

~X

 

I disagree in the most emphatic way possible.

There is no way in hell I would ever want to do everything my wife does with the kids and around the house. The amount of work she puts in is nothing short of amazing. And to top it off, she's essentially on-call 24/7.

Yeah, I've done it, and it's waaaaaay more than what I do in the office.

 

Shoot if my husband was a slob I wouldn't do all the cooking and cleaning even if I was a stay at home wife.

 

I cook, I clean, Mop, walk the dogs, do the laundry, do the dishes, clean up after my daughter, all of it.

My wife had the hardest part when she was an infant because there was nothing I could do. But when i compare it to working at the armory, or at the broker shop where I worked till 9 every night and saw my daughter for an hour in the morning except on Sunday, this is cake. Just chores really. Another kid I can just see it being more effort, but my friend does it with 3, and he says thats work. The hours and never seeing my daughter is why I quit and she took her job. She loves being a Graphic designer and I was a broker for the money, I was an Illustrator/Designer before.

 

I stayed home with our daughter for a week while my wife was in CA when she was 2. Being a single parent was hard, but it was a blast, we got so close during that week.

I will say I can believe that now that we have 2 kids, I wouldn't be able to do it by myself, and give my wife a lot of credit for how well she does with them. Especially with my son in the house, he is two and a few days ago, took a dump while in the bath, then proceeded to throw the poop out onto the floor.  

Congrats to you though, you are getting to experience the fun time with your daughter.

 

Maybe thats the difference, the moment I came home I gained 15 pounds because I wasn't on my feet all day walking untold miles trying to close deals. The money was great but I never saw my kid and it wore me down.

 

I have to say from experience that those are the things that Men simply aren't designed to deal with. At first things like that felt like a crisis, but I got used to it.

 

I get stir-crazy if I'm at home too much. It would be an adjustment not going to a job. Kudos to you.

 

Yeah, my wife and I decided it would not make sense for her to stay at home and I work.

She earned her PhD from a high ranking graduate school and therefore makes a ton more money than I do. We agreed that after so much work put into grad school and the fact that she makes a ton more money, it just wouldn't make sense for her to stay at home and I work.

Granted I'll probably still find a part time job when I can/want to, but kids will be my number one priority when they come. I grew up never spending any time with my dad because he was overseas. I got to see him like twice a year for two weeks.

I am NOT letting my children go through the same experience.

 

What do you do now?

~X

 

Welcome to the club! I've been home with my 2 children for just over a year now. I go stir crazy sometimes and do look forward to getting back to work but I wouldn't trade the time I've had to spend with my kids for anything.