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Parenting
by Melissa Petri on May 21, 2006
Nigel found himself downsized. Instead of aggressively looking for a new job, he opted to stay home for a year and get to know his 4 kids better. He wanted to change his role as a bit player in the family.
9 months later, tragedy struck. He was offered a job.
Nigel's thoughts on being a SAHD? Would he recommend it?
"No, I'm not recommending anything. I haven't got any answers. But I do look at things differently now. I have stopped looking for perfection. Life is hard. Most of us will have to struggle, whatever choices we make. Admitting this to myself was liberating. I started to put my focus on trying to enjoy the struggle rather than attempting to create a mythical stress-free nirvana. I started to praise myself for the small victories rather than beat myself up for the bigger failure of not having a perfect life.
Now, every time one of the kids does or says something gorgeous, instead of descending into a pit of despair because I'm missing all the other gorgeous moments, I count myself lucky that I was present for that one. I'm grateful for every time I manage to drive the kids to school rather than resentful for those times that I can't."
An interesting point of view on how it is to stay at home with the kids.
Read Nigel's saga over at the Guardian.
Personally, I like how his point of view has changed. And how this 9 month experience has improved his outlook as a person, an employee and as a father. Inspiring, actually.
Permalink: Dad at Home for 1 year
Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/22384
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