Stay At Home Dad?
 

Last month Essence did an article about the prevalence of stay at home dads. More black fathers are raising children and loving it while black mothers work.

Ladies, how do you feel about working while your husband stay at home to take care of the kids and home?

Men, how do you feel about staying at home while your wife work?

I want honest feedback -- let's talk it out.

I honestly think it can work. If the family can survive on one income, then there shouldn't be a problem finacially. Where i see an issue is that the man needs to be confident in the fact that the woman is the bread winner. The woman also needs to know that she still needs to let him be the "man of the house" in certain situtations.

If I was in that situation, I would want to be the one that worked. And if he is happy staying at home with the baby, then we would be two happy parents.

I'm not sure I'd be happy being a stay at home dad. Not so much because of the "I want to be the bread winner" attitude; I think I'd be extremely bored not working. From dealing with friends' children, I know that raising kids is a full time job, but I just don't think I'd be up to doing it ALL day long

It sounds like an interesting set up that could be comfortable if the household income permits such a situation, but I don't think that would be a good socializing experience for the children. I think both parents should share the workload both outside and inside the home so that their behaviors are showing their children how working and home-making don't have to be gender-based tasks.

My dad was a stay at home dad before it was fashionable. I enjoyed it and I really thought it was normal. He picked me up from school, took me to dance, and came to all of my activities. A lot of times he was the only male but I took pride in seeing my dad there. He always made me feel special.

Same here Pinkies...my dad was the one at home with me mostly because of his medical condition. But he was the one that showed me how to clean,cook, iron all that kinda stuff. So when I hear of stay at home dads I think it can be a great thing if everyone is ok with their somewhat nontraditional roles. It shows the kids that their parents can take on the roles that usually go with the opposite sex and still be ok. When I was dating, if I met a man who could not do those simple things, I would look at him sideways like 'my daddy can do it, why can't you?'

Personally, I wouldn't want to do it just because I wouldn't want to miss that time with my children.

I would love for my husband to do it, for about 2 weeks.

He just recently came to the realization (our kids are 3 and 1) that the kids produce laundry. I don't know how he thought they had clean clothes to wear, but I'm pretty sure he realized that the kids didn't do the laundry themselves. Of course, I hadn't ever ASKED him to do the kid's laundry until a couple weeks ago (I normally just throw it in with mine, but I had already done mine and he was getting ready to do his), so I guess it just never dawned on him.

I personally couldn't do it, but if it works for others I think its great.

I think it's great if that's what works. I would want to work outside the home regardless of my husband working or not. So if he wants to be a stay-at-home dad and we can afford for him to be so, then great. But knowing how I'd feel being a stay-at-home mom, I can't help but wonder if he'd resent the situation. So, only if it truly works for us.