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.
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