Are There Any Househusbands On Here?

[Jadisssss]

Originally Posted by DrEarth

Smoke pot, have a noon cocktail hour with the stay-at-home-moms in the area, maybe a 2pm 3-way with some bored housewives, and sober up before the wife gets home.

Sign me up!

[Jadisssss]

[quote=cpg35223;25287537]

Originally Posted by SuburbOfMemphisTN

I see you didn't read my post completely. I said, "If you're a SAHM and the kids are in school...." If you have small children who aren't in school, that obviously complicates matters.

Back to my point. If the kids get dropped off at school around 7:30 and get picked up again at 3:15, then you have 7.75 hours to get a few chores done, a vast expanse of time. Here is my typical day:

1. Get up at 6:00 a.m. and get breakfast started. Kids up at 6:15.
2. Feed them breakfast. Make sure they tidy bedrooms. Make own bed.
3. Drive carpool. I'm down to one kid who needs a ride to school, so that's twice a week.
4. Get home by 8:00. Tidy kitchen and run dishwasher. That takes twenty minutes.
5. 8:20-9:00 clean common areas. Take shower.
6. 9:00-3:00 Perform client work.
7. 3:15 Pick up from school. Again, that's twice a week.
8. 3:30 Return home, start homework. Sign tests, permission slips and whatever else. Hand snack to kids.
9. Vacuum or other chore.
10. Finish up my work day. Make client calls.
11. 5:30 Soccer/Lacrosse practice drop off. My daughter drives to violin.
12. 6:00-7:00 Make dinner. Nobody gets in the way while I make dinner.
13. 6:30 MrsCPG walks in door. Hand her bracing cocktail while we compare days.
14. 7:15 pick up from soccer/lacrosse.
15. 7:30 Sit down to eat. On days when there's no kid activity, sit down to eat at 7:00.
16. After dinner, kids clean up, while MrsCPG and I repair to den.

Now, I don't run things with the exactitude of a Swiss watch, but there's a timetable and the kids know their responsibilities. If I didn't spend 6-7 hours during this time doing work for my clients, the place would positively gleam, and I would have read every single book at the cotton-picking library.

So no. Every time I hear a SAHM in our social circle talk about how busy she is, I have to inwardly roll my eyes. Because either she's a terrible time manager or she's just ginning up busywork to keep herself occupied.

Wait, where's:

-Watching Oprah
-Calling up mom
-Chatting with the next door housewives
-Browsing the Web and Facebook
-Posting on CD about how hard it is being a SAHM

?

[SFStay-At-Home-Dad]

Originally Posted by *Sixy*

How old are the kids and how many? Do you have a routine that you follow or do you just take care of what needs attention at that moment?

I have 4 kids ranging from 3 to 13.

I wake up at 5:30, get them ready and take them to school and get back by 9 am.

I work from home with my youngest from 9 to noonish, then head out again to pick up the middle kids and then the oldest. bascially that takes up from 1:00 when they get out to 3:30 when the when the other ones get out. I try to get a bit of housework done inbetween picking the middle kids and the oldest.

By the time I get back with the oldest it 4 pm. From 4 to 8 pm I help with homework, make dinner for the gang, and try to get whatever housework I can done. (We also have 2 dogs and 3 cats--which create there own hassles.)

From 8 to 11 pm I work from home. Then I hit the sack and do it all over again. (Throughout the day I am also doing laundry, getting snacks, etc.)

I never get it all done and spend weekends trying to catch, while fixing the house, doing yardwork and all the rest of it.

I have not been to a movie in 4 years or finished a book for pleasure in 2. Basically, except for taking 5 minutes on a forum like this to blow off steam, I never get a break. I really don't remember what relaxing feels like.

[augiedogie]

I guess you'd say I was from time to time because of changing job situations for both my wife and myself. My job often didn't demand full time hours, didn't have office hours, so I took a lot of the household duties on, cooking, childrearing. I never thought of it in a negative way. I enjoyed it completely. I got to spend a lot more time with my children than the traditional dad who works tons of hours or has to be gone from home a lot.