5 Essential Tips for the Modern Stay-At-Home Dad
5 essential tips for the modern stay-at-home dad
It’s the year 2018, and traditional gender roles are becoming increasingly less common. Women are no longer trading in their computers and board meetings for diapers and dirty dishes. These days, it’s not abnormal to see the dads coordinating carpool and pushing through tummy time. In fact, as of 2012, the Pew Research Center reported 2 million stay-at-home dads—and that number has likely doubled in the past six years.
In the spirit of Father’s Day and all things dad this week, we thought we’d focus on our stay-at-home dads. We did our research online and in real life. Here are five of our favorite tips for keeping the peace and staying sane, all of which came straight from other dads.
- Find a dad group. Chris Routly at Huffington Post agrees that this is essential. “Next to having the support of your partner, having a community of fellow stay-at-home dads around you is probably the key factor in success and happiness as a stay-at-home parent. Moms are much more likely to have a plethora of resources and support available to them, so us dads have to be far more proactive in seeking them out and/or starting something new where we are if nothing is available. Believe me, you may feel like the only stay-at-home dad in your area, but you are not.”
The Find a Dad group page on the National At-Home Dad Network’s site is a great resource to get you started on this one.
- Decide on your duties. Your main priority is taking care of the kids, but according to your working wife, this might also mean keeping up with the laundry and making dinner every night. You’ll want to make sure you and your spouse are on the same page. Armin Bott, a stay-at-home dad and founder of MrDad.com, says to “create a list beforehand so they’ll be no arguments later on.”
- Consider the future. This one is our favorite. It’s important to remember that you may not be a stay-at-home dad forever. The guys over at HealthyWomen.org suggest continuing to network within your field and keep up on current events so you don’t feel lost or unprepared should the time to go back to work come sooner than you expected.
- Get out of the house. This one is a no-brainer. It's fun for your kids and good for you, too. It doesn’t always have to cost a lot of money either. Local libraries often offer free book readings or other activities for kids to keep them busy but productive. Other places to check out include the local recreation center or your city website; often there are free community events listed.
- Keep it clean. I know, you probably rolled your eyes and muttered under your breath when you read that. Keeping the house clean is hard to do with little ones determined to mess it up all day long. This tip usually works best when you figure out what works and what doesn’t for your household. Maybe creating a cleaning schedule is the most effective, or maybe giving your kids their own list of chores to do will help. Keeping the house clean will keep you sane and help eliminate the risk of germs and bacteria spreading. Because there is nothing worse than sick kids, you’ll want to make sure you’re also keeping all their (and your) favorite toys and devices disinfected. The HomeSoap is perfect for families because it kills 99.99% of germs* on phones and tablets and anything that fits inside—remote controls, teething toys, game controllers, toothbrushes, and more.
Raising kids is no easy feat, and those who do so should be celebrated and supported. Leave your favorite tips in the comments below to help out your fellow parents.
*HomeSoap has been tested by an independent, third-party laboratory to be 99.9% effective against Salmonella, E. coli, MRSA, Staphylococcus, Coronavirus 229Ein. It has been tested on headphones, jewelry and baby bottles. HomeSoap has also been tested to be 99.9% effective against salmonella using ASTM 3535 for efficacy of UV light on hard non-porous surfaces such as glass, metals, and plastics.
