I just started my "new career" yesterday, staying home with my 2.5 year old and 8 week old daughters. My wife and I were already talking about it last year when she became pregnant with our second kid, and then our daycare changed hands and eliminated the policy they'd previously had where, if you have a second child enrolled, the older (cheaper) kid becomes half price. It would have meant an increase of over $400/month by comparrison. And then I found out that I was being laid off in January from the company I'd worked for the past 13 years, and that just sealed the deal. Even if I hadn't been laid off, I'd have essentially been working just to pay for daycare, which is stupid. My wife stayed home for eight weeks after having the baby, and went back to work this week. So far, so good, lol. Its going to be a huge adjustment, but I love the idea of seeing the kids all the time. With my previous job, I often had to work evenings and weekends, often getting home well after 10pm, and sometimes not seeing my older daughter for days on end. Hard on me not to see my family, and it made my wife into a single mom half the time.
Whatever you do, ignore FinD's offers to drive your kids around in his van while you work. He's legally disallowed from doing that. Sent from my LG-MS770 using Tapatalk
Don't throw in her face that you "dont get a lunch break" or you "work 24/7" or "the kids are a harder job than you do" Also, do some nice things like have dinner ready, house cleaned etc for your wife. Source: My wife was stay at home mom for a bit, and those things sucked to hear and were nice to receive.
Also do some educational things with the older one, set guidelines, times for lunch/snack/nap/play time. So he has some structure. Take them to the park for social interactions, so they arent mute crybaby daddy-boys when they start school. It'll be easier for them.
All good ideas. My older one was in daycare from six weeks old until week before last, so the education and social interaction are both high on my list to keep going. She loved school, her teachers and all of her friends. The best laid plans can be laid to waste when you have a screaming infant in one arm most of the day though, lol!
When are you scheduled for the installation of your new vagina? j/k, I think it's great. I mean, no, I really don't; but if you're gonna have kids, this isn't the worst way to go. Just don't become that guy in the playground in 'Rescue Me'...and for the sake of your own sanity, don't get a minivan.
LOL, my first ever car was a minivan. A hand me down 87 Aerostar from my mom when I was 16. Only go up from there! And hey, why would any man complain when his wife makes a good living? (I've never seen Rescue Me, so the reference is lost on me).
Damn close. All light blue. It was a 6-cylinder though, and had good horsepower. I drove that thing to death in like two years, lol.
At least tell us you put shag carpet in it and wore out the shocks with all the high school girls you were dating.
Never did it before. It's a truly sad time in America where it makes more financial sense to EARN LESS to do MORE. If it were me, this is how I would prepare Don't grovel. Ever. Take charge. This is tough. You face a host of enemies here all trying to emasculate you and toss you aside. I'm sure your wife is great, but women have their weaknesses, just like us guys do. Remember in American Beauty when the Kevin Spacey character tells his wife to stop talking to him like he is an employee? Kevin Spacey lost his job. His wife ends up banging a guy with a job. Lesson here: don't become an employee of your wife. An even worse version of this is if your wife acts like you are a child. You become both an employee and a child and get no sympathy. One solution is this: 10 minutes before she comes home everday, put on your tool belt, take off your shirt and start doing manly things around the house and get a good sweat going. Some references: Guys Who Do Housework Get Less Sex Does a More Equal Marriage Mean Less Sex? Wall Street Mothers, Stay-Home Fathers
Only a matter of time till you start setting up play dates and watching guiding light next thing you know, you're yelling at your wife for not bringing you flowers and never appreciating you slaving over a hot stove all day.
Was a stay at home dad as I was a Resident mgr watching my son until he started Preschool, good ole days. As I am newly Unemployed as my bldg was sold and we moved, Did not set up play dates or watch soaps. Would do it again.