No, I did not retire in my 30’s, win the lottery or just decide to become a recluse – today is my last day of work because I am starting parental leave next week.
For 27 weeks I will be the parent on duty during the day while my wife heads back to work.
Why on earth am I doing this? Because I want to.
So today is my last eight hours of working for the man so to speak. Now don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy my job as a marketer at SimplyCast. The office is fun and I get to do what I do best – write stuff.
But this stay home dad thing has been something I have wanted to do ever since we had our first boy.
It is not a vacation, a break, a rest, a chance to take it easy or any of the many other terms people use when you say you are going on parental leave. It is honest-to-god, hard ass work and for all the parents who do it – my hat goes off to you.
Working in an office all day, sitting in a chair typing is not hard compared to what is in store. But it will also be 27 weeks of fun, learning, laughs, naps, tears, poop, crying and growth. That is not even referring to the baby.
I am going to not only watch my boy grow up in front of me every day, I am pretty sure I am going to learn new limits about myself. I see my wife do her thing in the morning and the evening but I never see the day time. When the literal shit hits the literal fan and you have to just suck it up and do it. There is nobody else there.
I plan on doing some consulting and other work for my company while away but that is my thinking before it all starts. Who knows if I will have the time, energy or brain power to put five words together. That next inbound marketing guide may sound like it was written by a 2-year old for 2-year old. Now would that not sound grand – email marketing for toddlers.
So yes, today is my last day of working – for now. I will be back as hard as it may seem right now. I need to work and I plan to work for many more years to pay for all that stuff our boys are going to need (and eat).
Now for the best part. Like A Dad, what you are reading right now was totally created for this period of my life. As a blogger, it makes sense that I want to document the whole thing and let you come a long for the ride.
There will be photos, posts, tweets, pins, instagrams and everything in between. There will be 20 word posts that make no sense to 6,000 word posts that analyze the history of parenting. There will be breakfast posts, there will be 4am posts and there will be posts that don’t even make sense.
But that is the beauty of it all. You get to sit back and read a long and not have to feel tired or hungry. It is like going to the zoo every day and seeing what is going on.
So as I say at work quite often, get the popcorn ready, the show is about to begin.
Today is my last day of work and I could not be more excited for what is next. I will use Good Friday, the weekend and a Easter Monday to transition in and then Tuesday, it all starts.
Let’s get ‘er done. Mator-style.
This one goes out to my coworkers.
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Congratulations.
Enjoy every second of it.
Good luck in your new role. Enjoy the full time daddy thing.
Thanks Larry.
Talk about a difficult job you are taking on. Babies are non stop need machines, no time for rest, food, entertainment, completely exhausting. I like to add a pet into the mix so when I’m mad at the baby I can talk to the cat about the baby and when I’m mad at the cat I talk to the baby about the cat. Keeps me sane
Congratulations! You’re going to love it!
Thanks Andy.
Way to go, man! Good luck on your new adventure!
I look forward to going along for the ride and being entertained by your stories. I always joked that when my husband took two months parental leave it was really “golf leave”, so I am glad to see a father taking it seriously. Congrats and good luck.
Thanks for the comment Andrea. Nice to know there are those out there who like reading the stories.
parenting is hard job needs lot of time and care i hope you find it easy and enjoy it….
Thanks for the comment Jaykrishna. You are right, it is hard, but a lot of fun too.
Good Luck for the permanent job enjoy every moment of it ,it will be a really a great expierence
Hi, that’s good, many interesting things to try out. Good luck on your way!
Regards,
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