I was cruising through the many dad journals today and found a post in Homo Domesticus written by a Texas dad who is home with his 6-year old son Jacob. With his son in the first grade, he found himself in discussions with his wife that you may/will have once your kids are sitting in school buildings six hours a day. He writes, "Trish and I decided that I would get the rest of the year to decide what I wanted to do with myself." what's funny is that like Jammer, I have had the same discussion with my wife from time to time, even one last night. She said "so what are you goals for the rest of your life?" I felt a little defensive, since I didn't do the best clean-up job yesterday and she cleaned the breezeway that was littered from a Christmas party we had last weekend. But on the other hand I even wrote a chapter on it in my book on it with a few dads praising the benefits of staying home, but then again you can wonder in a weak moment.... the kids aren't here, am I really helping them?? After a talk about the benefits the kids get vs. the finances, and an agreement that we would re-visit the issue in a year my wife understood. But I needed more proof.
Now imagine this fine boy below (that's my 9 year old son son David) looking at you... and having this conversation...
Q What would you think if I was not home all day?
A I'D HATE IT!
Q Why?"
A Because you wouldn't be home!
Q Why do you want me home
A I don't know
Q What don't you know?
A I like the feeling that you are home and I like the feeling when you are home when I get home
That's good enough for me, I'm staying home.