"I Might Be Wrong"
I am about to make some enemies, for today we talk about daycare.
It seems my fellow stay-at-home dad blogger, Jeff, has opened up a can of very opinionated, close-minded and argumentative worms with a similar post. Surely he saw this coming though, right? I mean, who buys canned worms anyway?
I'll let you read Jeff's thoughts on the matter (if you're interested), because anything I could convey would simply be reiterating what he's already written. Okay, lazy, I'll sum it up for you.In sum (but in my words):
-Daycares, while a viable option for some parents, have become vastly overutilized either by parents who had kids because they could but hadn't planned on the economic drain that children cause or by parents who are too preoccupied with climbing the socio-economic ladder to "success" to worry about cutting back to one income.
-Parental care far supercedes daycare, uh, care.
-Kanye West is drastically overrated.
Okay, I may have added that last one in myself. I ain't sayin'.
When Stacey and I were dating and talking about whether we wanted kids or not, she was convinced that she never wanted to place her future offspring in daycare. I was of the mindset that, when I had kids, why wouldn't I put them into daycare? (This even though I never spent a single day in one myself as a lad. Go figure.)
After conducting some intensive research (which mostly just involved watching Daddy Day Care and scratching my butt), I realized that she was absolutely right, but I always assumed it would be her that stayed home. Why wouldn't I? Stay-at-home dads are such a minority, and I never pictured myself staying home to play house. I didn't spend the better part of a decade in college for nothing!
All of which brings us to where we are today: Stacey is working as a clinical psych intern, earning a paycheck (which is so small, my keyboard doesn't have numbers of small enough measure to accurately convey the tiny sum of her "earnings") and I'm at home kicking back, watching Elmo, fingerpainting with lunch, hitting up the nearby playgrounds, and maybe changing a dirty diaper or two... thousand.
We may be poor, but I'm probably the happiest I've been in my life. Besides, I've said too much already and it's likely that some of you won't speak to me again.
It seems my fellow stay-at-home dad blogger, Jeff, has opened up a can of very opinionated, close-minded and argumentative worms with a similar post. Surely he saw this coming though, right? I mean, who buys canned worms anyway?
I'll let you read Jeff's thoughts on the matter (if you're interested), because anything I could convey would simply be reiterating what he's already written. Okay, lazy, I'll sum it up for you.In sum (but in my words):
-Daycares, while a viable option for some parents, have become vastly overutilized either by parents who had kids because they could but hadn't planned on the economic drain that children cause or by parents who are too preoccupied with climbing the socio-economic ladder to "success" to worry about cutting back to one income.
-Parental care far supercedes daycare, uh, care.
-Kanye West is drastically overrated.
Okay, I may have added that last one in myself. I ain't sayin'.
When Stacey and I were dating and talking about whether we wanted kids or not, she was convinced that she never wanted to place her future offspring in daycare. I was of the mindset that, when I had kids, why wouldn't I put them into daycare? (This even though I never spent a single day in one myself as a lad. Go figure.)
After conducting some intensive research (which mostly just involved watching Daddy Day Care and scratching my butt), I realized that she was absolutely right, but I always assumed it would be her that stayed home. Why wouldn't I? Stay-at-home dads are such a minority, and I never pictured myself staying home to play house. I didn't spend the better part of a decade in college for nothing!
All of which brings us to where we are today: Stacey is working as a clinical psych intern, earning a paycheck (which is so small, my keyboard doesn't have numbers of small enough measure to accurately convey the tiny sum of her "earnings") and I'm at home kicking back, watching Elmo, fingerpainting with lunch, hitting up the nearby playgrounds, and maybe changing a dirty diaper or two... thousand.
We may be poor, but I'm probably the happiest I've been in my life. Besides, I've said too much already and it's likely that some of you won't speak to me again.
posted by Carter at 6:32 PM
6 Comments:
And I want more than anything to be home with our baby...the next few years will be very interesting...
I forgot to add that I am so lucky to have a husband who feels this way...all that and looks too.
1. If only you were able to provoke this daycare (we call it "school") mom into not speaking to you that easily. So nice try and all, but you're stuck with me for most of the major holidays for the rest. of. your. life.
2. You may be cash poor, but you've got a family support system worth billions. And access to cable tv on the weekends of your choosing. And many free babysitters. Most folks don't have that. Just sayin'.
well, see, the difference between the reaction you are getting and the reaction he is getting, as far as I can see, may come down to tone. While he takes a wildly judgmental and dogmatic stance on this, you seem to be telling us that this is what you decided and you love it. That's great, I'm happy for you. And I say that with no snippiness. The other guy, however, comes across as a sanctimonious bastard with no room for considering other people's opinions or realitites.
see, it read that way, it really did, and I know how to read carefully. I don't jump to offended quickly, but it really did sound like a blanket condemnation of anyone who decided to have children and work. So mea culpa for the comment, I"m just saying...
Perhaps a few read-out-louds before posting might prevent your post from making you sound more strident than you mean to be?
Carter, I must say I am curious about the above $1500 per month reference too! My mortgage is more than that per month and I don't own a big fancy home- just an average home in a nice-for-families but not ritzy neighbourhood. Rent on a small *basement* apartment in Toronto runs from roughly $600-850. I'm guessing rent/home ownership is much cheaper where you are!!!
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