Posted on 02/22/2005 2:46:56 PM PST by qam1
More Men Go From Boardroom To Playroom
ANNANDALE, Va. -- The job comes without a paycheck. The hours are long. The rewards can be priceless.
It's not something you put on your resume, but millions of men have decided to give up their careers and become stay-at-home dads, Washington, D.C., television station WRC reported.
Some mothers may resent the attention to stay-at-home dads, since they've been doing it for centuries.
But the station looked at the growing trend because it's a option many couples may not have explored.
This is about children, parents and a difficult choice.
That choice was the subject of the popular 1983 comedy "Mr. Mom." In that movie, a laid-off engineer stays home with his three kids while his wife returns to work.
It's fiction becoming a fact of life for a growing number of couples.
Chip and Heather Covell of Annandale made the decision eight months ago. As a special education teacher, Chip needed a break. Meanwhile, his wife's teaching career was taking off.
According to the latest U.S. Census figures, 3.6 million men stay home while their wives work. That's a 54 percent increase since 1986.
Human resource experts say the numbers will continue to climb.
"The so-called Generation X and Generation Y workforce are a little more open to the concept of staying at home and a spouse, in this case a wife, earning more than the husband," human resources manager Steven Williams said.
Damon Riley's wife is the vice president of a marketing firm. Staying home meant giving up his job as director of new student orientation at Georgetown University.
"Her salary was probably more than twice mine at the time, anyway. And having somebody come to the house was going to cost us almost all of my salary," Riley said.
Riley has been staying home since his twin daughters were born seven years ago.
Mothers in their Olney, Md., neighborhood are supportive.
"He's just one of the girls. No offense, Damon, but he's just one of us," stay-at-home mom Sophie Stopak said.
But fitting in can be difficult. That's where a group called DC Metro Dads comes in. The Bowie, Md., chapter meets every Monday.
"It gives us a network of other men, we get to sit around and talk about guy things," one of the dads said.
The couples told WRC that they began by doing the math. They compared child-care costs with the loss of one salary, and decided it was worth the sacrifice.
I lucked out there. By virtue of her occupation, all medical issues are instantly referred to my wife.
Exactly. Go back to work, Dad.
Ugh, I feel your pain there. I am the only female in a house that has three males capable of using the toilets...and yet somehow always being off the mark. LOL I am cleaning them literally every day...and I am not the one making the mess! Same goes for the rest of the house. Hubby works long hours, and my boys are too small to do much beyond picking up their toys, putting their dishes on the counter, and helping to set the table. Keeps you running all day...my vacuum is my best buddy, I think. ROFL
Working a corporate job.
What happened is that half the boomers did not go along with the second-wave feminist agenda. Those who allowed themselves to be indoctrinated screwed this country up big time.
Oh, btw, I forgot...hogswallop= a mishmash of codswallop and hogwash...just silly phraseology on my part.
You care. They don't.
Beeeeeep, wrong answer, you fail Final Jeapordy. Thanks for playing.
I beg your pardon?
who cleans the toilet?
Is that you, Todd?
Jeopardy? Is that what you were playing?
OK, now I see which post you were replying to...and yes, you're right, they don't care. The young ones are just too little to get it, and it's part of my job when you get down to brass tacks. It's just really gross, lol!
That's right. They should be teaching or daycaring other peoples' kids. How dare they become involved in raising their own!
To each his own.
I'd hate to see the example that sets for your daughter ... if you have one ... or for sons ... having women support them. I can't say I'm impressed with a male that cheers his wife on to support him.
Where have all the alpha males gone? *grin*
Oh yeah, I reek femininity, asshole.
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