Making the Decision!

It’s been a few weeks since I finished up in my role as a primary school teacher to take up a year’s leave as a stay at home dad. In many ways it hasn’t sunk in yet as I have been thinking of it as the long break I get every summer and I’ve been able to share it with my wife and son. Now the big difference has been when people ask me what I do, I reply that I’m a stay at home Dad. The response I get from people has been one that has ranged from “That’s amazing,” and “I’m jealous,” to “You’re mad!” I suppose that’s why this blog is called “Slightly Mad Dad” because you do have to be slightly mad to walk away from a paying job that I love into one that has long hours and no pay.

However, the decision to do it was a no brainer. Even before I was married and became a father I think I have always wanted to be a stay at home dad for a period of my child’s life. I’m not sure where the genesis of the idea came from; it seems to have been there for a long time. As a child growing up I was lucky enough that Mum stayed at home but even luckier in the fact that my Dad could often get home early enough for us to spend time playing together. I guess that these formative experiences of having my parents around growing up helped me to realise that it is such an important role and I understand how fortunate we are as a family to be able to do this.

From early in our relationship, even before we were married, I had expressed these ideas to my wife and she was always fully supportive of me being a stay at home Dad. It was broaching the subject with work that could now become the tricky part. Yet once again I was extremely lucky in that I am employed by an institution which is supportive of me taking a year off teaching to be a stay at home Dad. Within a couple of weeks of broaching the subject with my boss (who again was fully supportive and a little jealous too I think!) I had all the paper work done and I was officially taking a year of unpaid leave to be a stay at home Dad.

Once that decision had been made in September I really enjoyed the last term of the school year as I prepared for 2014 and having the year with my son, who is now nearly 11 months old. Added to this pleasure I have also had a fantastic time with my wife as we have enjoyed 7 weeks off as a family and we have another 2 and ½ more before she is required to go back to her paid work. We’ve called it the hand-over period, and while it may have at times seemed indulgent to spend so much time away from paid employment, the joy we have had in sharing time as a family is something that can never be taken away from us and is truly amazing.

So there we have it - I’ve boiled down the last few months into a few hundred words. It seems straightforward now, and in many ways it was, but this once in lifetime opportunity is one that I certainly don’t want to miss. The decision is made and the journey of a year as a “Slightly Mad Dad” has begun.