Brave, Courageous, Noble. These are all words. Words defined in Webster’s Dictionary. A few months ago my wife and I hunkered down and questioned whether putting our two kids (4 and 12 months) into daycare was worth it. There were two factors that came to play, 1) Cost: Putting two kids through daycare would pretty much ensure most of my salary would be used paying for it. 2) Did we believe farming out the raising of our kids for 8 to 10 hours a day was really the best thing for our family? The solution was pretty simple. Sell the children. However, it turns out that that Craigslist prohibits the listing of blood, bodily fluids or body parts. Our children are filled with all three of those things. Instead, we decided that my becoming a stay-at-home Dad was the best solution.
I worked at the same place for over 10 years and gave about three months notice at work. Many people question how much notice you should give when about to resign. Normally it’s two weeks notice, if you give three months you will get two things: a lot of nice visits and compliments about your work over the years, and a lot of work. People see it as, “Quick use him for all he’s worth before he goes and takes his experience with him!”
The different reactions of people as I told them my place to stay home with the kids was interesting. Involved parents were envious and wished they could have done the same when their kids were young. Uninvolved parents (mainly Dads) asked how I would be able to put up with the whining and constant need for attention. My answer was, “I can give them a time out, I wasn’t able to do that here when you acted that way.” Some people said I was doing a very brave thing. I don’t think anyone ever says that to the mothers when they stay home, and if I get that comment they sure as hell should. The most interesting comments came from people with no children over the age of 30, which was, “Won’t you be bored?” Spending the entire day with kids is sometimes like kicking a hornets nest, not exactly what I would call boring.
Overall, people were very nice at work and gave me a wonderful send off. You don’t realize the impact you make on people until you are about to leave their lives. I think their is wisdom in that. People brought up things that I did for them that were really run of the mill for me. It’s a good reason to do even small tasks with care. You never know who it might affect.
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| My new employers. Tough as nails and not afraid of layoffs. |
