I am not anything special.
If you were to look at the parenting hierarchy right now, stay-at-home dads (SAHDs) are at the top of the list. It seems to be all that anyone is talking about anymore. It's as if we are the first people on Earth that are doing what we are doing, yet clearly, we are not. We are seemingly a special breed. We are a growing bunch of guys, but still a small minority in the parenting populace. Article after article talks about the rise of guys like me and how it's the wave of the future. Some people even consider it the "New Normal."
I am not one of them.
I'm just a guy that is taking care of his kids the best that he can. I get depressed at times, overwhelmed at others, but at the end of the day, I know that not everyone is as lucky as I am to be spending time with the greatest kids on Earth. Which leads me to who I think is the greatest parent in the world: The working mom.
My wife and children
I was never one to consider what I do a job. If you are a stay-at-home parent, you are entitled to feel that way, but I don't consider cleaning up, doing dishes, doing laundry and the thousand other minute tasks that we perform throughout the course of the day a job. I don't get in a car or hop on a bus or train to commute to a job that I might hate on any given day. I don't have to deal with people that I am trying to get money from or employees that might not be doing their job. I don't have to fire people and I don't have to answer emails or phone calls at all hours of the day, including AFTER the kids are asleep.
That's what my wife does. THAT is a job.
I am not the one who made a sacrifice to stay home and help raise the kids. My wife is the one who makes sacrifices every day for us. I know that she would rather spend more time with the kids and me, but she is the one that provides us with everything that we need in life. Me not working is not a sacrifice. Her not seeing us when she wants to, THAT is a sacrifice.
Me, special?
Compared to my wife and all the other working moms? I am not even close.
This piece first appeared on Dadsroundtable.com