The stay-at-home dad
Jon Gosselin, 2007: “When I think about what Kate’s doing at home — all day, every day — there is no way I’d want to be there, doing that. I’m grateful for my job.”
Jon Gosselin, 2009: “I’m basically a stay-at-home dad, while Kate’s away promoting her book.”
Jon didn’t want to be a stay-at-home dad. I absolutely think he loves his kids, but didn’t want to be a stay-at-home dad.
And that’s fine.
We’ll never know exactly what happened between him and Kate, but somewhere along the way, they swapped roles. She went from staying home with the kids full-time to traveling to promote her books and her shows. He went from working full-time, out of the house, to staying home with the kids.
I have never been at a stay-at-home parent — not yet, at least — so I really can’t say if I would get sick of it. It’s possible that I will long to return to work full-time before our kids are in school (haha, but doubtful).
But I think it’s strange/telling/interesting/something that it is usually the dads who don’t want to stay at home with their kids. Sure, there are women who would tear off their eyelashes at the idea of staying home. But you must admit — it’s true, for the most part.
While I am salivating at the idea of staying home raising our children, Darling Husband would not choose to stay home. He loves working, to the point where he is getting anxious about his vacay next week. He’ll miss being there, he told me last night. So cute.
He would if he needed to — if we lived in a fantasy world where I made a zillion dollars or something — but he would prefer that it was me. He has often said that he likes the idea of me being home with our kids, because of my schoolteacher-ish ways — reading, healthy snacks, field trips, etc. He admits that if he stayed home, they would lie on the couch and watch TV.
In the words of Carrie Bradshaw, I can’t help but wonder … Are there more stay-at-home mommies because it’s a natural instinct? Because they think it’s “proper”? Is it that the daddies make more money? Is it that the daddies would prefer to be the breadwinners?
I think it’s different for everybody. It’s just a matter of what works best for your family.
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