One of cool things about being a SAHD is that we don’t have to always maintain our beards. I personally hate having to shave every day. When I attended college I also worked as an officer for the University Patrol. The department had strict guidelines about maintaining our facial hair. Many companies have the same regulations. As a stay at home dad I don’t have a boss telling me how to shave my face, or how often. Or do I?
My daughter is around me nearly every waking second. Our conversations are just like any other 5 year old conversation would be. Why is that hot? Why does the tree grow that way? Why is there a ball in our backyard? My personal favorite, why do you shut the door when you go to the bathroom? Being a Stay-at-Home Dad can be very lonely even with little feet walking around and asking the dreaded why questions. My daily routine consists of feeding, playing, feeding, playing, feeding, playing and sleep. My only real social environment is my daughter. When my wife is around Johanna wants to consume every second she can with her. My socialization with my wife begins after Johanna goes to bed. Since she works the night shift, her sleep schedule is off kilter which results in her being tired all the time. There are many other SAHD with a lifestyle similar to mine.
Part of being a stay at home dad come with a lot of negative opinions from society. There are a lot of things not to say to a stay at home dad. Fathers can raise children just as well as mothers. Children can be raised with manners, raised with love, and raised to be proper adults in society.
While out with my daughter I’ve heard many things that makes me cringe. Most I believe are not ill intended, but I believe these comments are based on misconceptions of how things are suppose to be. I’m not one to claim the victim card. However, I know it is important to think about what we say. These are my favorite 5.
A few years back I decided to do a photo project with my daughter. I entitled it, “Stay at Home Dad.” My passion for photography and my life of as a dad was blended together in one art form.
I created the project as a self portrait. A self portrait in what it’s like to be a father and more specifically a portrait of one who is actively involved in raising my child. At the time I thought I was complete with the photo series. I documented the photos in my Wedding by Photo website. A few years late I had wished I had continued with the series. With another child on the way I decided I want to continue the series. So as the time progresses I will add more photos to this website.
The original photos that I post below began with a photo I took with Jolene taking away my xbox. That was the only staged photo in the series. That photo sparked my idea for the series. Each photo can be difficult to take, since my hands are in all the photos. So it’s not very easy to get many photos, and often the photos I do attempt to get I never really get. Although, hopefully soon I will have more.
In 2002 if you would have told me that I would be a stay at home dad, I would have thought you were joking. That year I was voted most likely to succeed in my highschool class. I excelled scholastically, I excelled at sports, I was thoroughly involved in school being class vice-president, president of national honor society, received the schools highest Presedent’s Award, and I was thoroughly involved in extra curricular activities. Looking to the future I thought I would become something far different than what I do now.
The problem with being good at everything, is that I’m not necessarily great at one thing. I’m a decent artist, a decent photographer, decent at multitasking, however I have a hard time narrowing down my concentration to one activity. Around 2007 I attended medical school. The problem with medical school is that you have to devote all your time to one thing. My mind does not work that way. I have to expand my knowledge to a broad variety of things and not just one. So I left school to find myself.
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