Indy Dad Publishes Book about His At-Home Parenting

Congratulations to Brian Craig of our Indianapolis Dads Group on the publication of his first book, Lone Pair of Blue Jeans in a Sea of Yoga Pants.

Craig, whose work under the pen name Pete Gilbert for Indy’s Child magazine frequently appears on this blog, self-published this humorous memoir about his recently concluded time as a stay-at-home dad taking care of his three small children.

“It is based on my Indy’s Child stuff. I collected all the posts that are SAHD specific because I wanted to put them together in a collection for my kids. Now seemed like the perfect time, since all three of my kids are in full-time school, thus ending my ‘home with kids during the day’ part of at-home dad life,” Craig told us via instant message.

Craig culled through some 400 posts, five years of his online work, then began a year-long process of editing and re-writing to get it right. Then there was the matter on selecting the perfect cover art which, yes, features his posterior in homage to Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A. album.

“Humorous without being snarky,” raved the Parenting Media Association about Craig’s book. “Written with compassion for the children, it’s also a great look at the trials of being a parent.” For example:

“When you decide you’re going to quit your job and stay at home with the kids you think of a lot of things you will be able to do. You think about big things, like being able to volunteer at school,” he writes in one chapter titled “Running the Sh*t Show While She Makes The Dough. “But rarely do you think about the little things that aren’t super important, but will make life for everyone a little easier, like the 5 a.m. vomiting child that won’t send your whole family into a tailspin.”

Lone Pair of Blue Jeans in a Sea of Yoga Pants is available in paperback or for download on Amazon.