Stay At Home Dad No More

I guess it depends on your definition – but if I use my own criteria then as of today I am officially no longer a stay at home dad.

I have taken on paid work which technically excludes me from this ever growing social group.

Don’t worry – I’ll still be posting articles about parenting and fatherhood and while I may no longer fit the stay at home dad bill I will still be the primary carer of our child during the day.  I can earn some much needed bread during the night.

I suppose that technically I have been earning money while being the primary carer. This blog alone has earned me a whopping $0.72 (before tax) in advertising revenue in the past 12 months  so that’s something I guess.

I wonder if I have to declare that on my tax return?

In my new job I will be working in a team environment with the general public and be earning money and that, in my view, negates two of the most difficult challenges of the stay at home dad. Isolation and emasculation.

It will be interesting to see how my attitude towards parenting and fatherhood changes over the coming months because of these newly found testicles benefits.

The next few months is bound to be a big adjustment period for our family and the juggling could very well make for some interesting moments in itself.

While the situation is not the ideal, it seems to be the only way that we can earn two incomes and care for our own child at the same time. We must divide and conquer.

I still find it amazing that it is no longer possible for a small family to survive on one above average income in this country but I will save that rant for another time.

Anyway, as Kahlil Gibran the poet famously wrote about marriage in his book The Prophet…

“For the pillars of the temple stand apart

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow”

Hi ho, hi ho…