First Holiday Vacation As HouseHusband Not What I Expected
Just finished the holidays for this year. My first as a new full time stay at home dad. Christmas was great we went away to a little Mountain Village get some Skiing, Hot Springs all that stuff. I was really looking forward to it with all the work with the kids and around the house I really did need a break.
A lot of people might think that being a stay-at-home dad you're always home, you're not going out to work every day, no commute, no daily grind, at least as they see it. However if there's one thing I've learned this year taking care of the kids full time, this really is a job. One that is 7 days a week and usually 14 hours a day. My day usually starts around 5 or 6 in the morning when one of the kids gets up and needs me to make breakfast for them. And continues on through the day with all the regular chores and cleaning and taking care of kids that have to go on. Finishing with me putting them to bed around 7 at night. Then a couple hours of truly free time before I to go to bed.
The reality is, you don't get breaks from being a house husband it's all the time everyday because the kids are always there, and they always need to be taken care of, so someone has to do it, that someone is me.
You see I was looking forward to our getaway trip but I didn't realize that it wouldn't be as much of a getaway for me as it was for my wife or my kids. My wife works full-time at her job and it can be very stressful for her, I didn't want to take advantage of having her available and slack off while we are away so I was still the one getting up with the kids in the morning and making most of the meals during the trip.To be fair though we did have extended family there, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and they did watch the kids and have them playing over at their place a few times. Which was nice, and I got a couple of hours of break time in the middle of the day, a rare treat, but hardly the getaway vacation that I had in mind.
I don't know what I really did expect from it knowing that we are going away and that the kids were going to be there Looking back the only things that really were different were essentially my location, and we have more interesting things to do outside of the house which was still fantastic.
I guess I just chalk this one up to one of the many many surprises that I've had along the way on my journey of being a househusband. It was still a good vacation and I made it better for my wife and my kids. It just wasn't as restful and relaxing as it would normally be for me, being more of the same and not really a change from the norm, as much as it would have been in other years.
At least I know what to expect now and if I need a really get away I’ll have to convince grandma and grandpa to take the kids for a week while the wife and I go someplace tropical.
-The Stay At Home Dad
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