Editor's note: This guest column is being run anonymously to be sensitive to the author's internal debates with himself and verbal ones with his partner over his difficulty returning to the workforce after years as an at-home father. I’ve been teaching my daughter recently about the concept of something being bittersweet -- of the same thing being simultaneously happy and sad. That’s because, right now, I’m going through a bittersweet experience. After years of being an at-home father to my daughter, I’ve returned to work full-time, and I am both delighted and despondent about … [Read more...]
Bumpy Transition from Stay-at-Home Dad to Return-to-Work Dad
My youngest starts kindergarten this fall. It's the end of the Daddy Era and there has been some pushback. I began to dip my toes in the job market earlier this year. It's more of a casual browsing and applying for positions that interest me. Yet, the refrain from my kids is still: "No, we don't want you to work!" As luck would have it, I found a part-time gig. I work a few days a week at a local nonprofit that manages the historic preservation of a few of Chicago's architectural treasures. It lets me collect a paycheck without jumping into the deep end of the work pool. I get to educate … [Read more...]
Modern Dad Issues Focus of NYC Summit, Annual ‘New Dad’ Report
The modern dad took center stage last week in anticipation of Father’s Day 2017 with a one-day summit in New York City on the role of fathers around the world and with the release of the latest annual “new dad report” from Boston College Center for Work & Family researchers. The first-ever Dads + SocialGood conference on June 13 brought to Manhattan leading experts, public figures, activists and parents to discuss men, their families and how to support their livelihood. Father and family health as well as the ongoing battle to improve parental leave policies in the United States proved … [Read more...]
Part-Time At-Home Dad Feels Full-Time Regrets, Blessings
The whistling I hear breaks my daydreams and delusions of possibility. The whistling is a personification of the years passing me by – the proverbial winds of change. My babies are growing up – and my window of opportunity is closing. I remember when I was 22 and a young student teacher. I completed a semester of my student teaching at my alma mater – the halls of the high school that helped mold me into the individual that I am. We had a set of senior twin boys there who talked about their father being a stay-at-home dad for the first five years of their life. I remember thinking that was … [Read more...]
Dads Can Help Moms in ‘Fifth Trimester’ of Re-entering Workforce
What should a father do if his wife wants to return to her job after she gives birth? Support her all he can and figure out how to make the marital partnership work for each of you, says author Lauren Smith Brody. Brody gives advice on how to achieve those goals on the latest edition of The Modern Dads Podcast where she discusses her latest book, The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, & Big Success After Baby. Based on interviews and input from more than 700 moms who work in a wide variety of occupations, Brody's book is not all opinion and anecdote as she … [Read more...]