Since becoming an at-home Dad, I have taken it upon myself to save money by doing things around the house for which I would have previously hired a professional. I am now considering several home improvement projects. The first was installing new toilets.

Improving one's home by one's self should be carefully measured. From my days as the service manager at my family's garage, one concept stands out: it is one thing to change a part, it is another to diagnose a problem and then repair to solve that problem.

Unlike other father blogs, journalist Matthew LaPlante chose to address his daughter directly in his articles. The result is the very personal and beautiful blog "Dear Spike, Love Dad".

Stefan talks to Matthew about the adventures of being a stay-home-dad, sleep deprivation and trusting your fatherly instincts.

A Podcast hosted on International Dad featuring show hosts Scott Lancaster and co-hosts Eric Mooij and Stefan Korn from DIYFather.com.

Interview with Greg Barbera.




In his blog "Hopeless Cases - confessions of a stay-at-home punk rock dad and all things in between" Greg Barbera writes about his experiences with fatherhood and life in Durham. This podcast is the first in a series of interviews with stay-at-home-dads in 2008.

Over the New Years break I have meet up with a few fathers that have reminded me of why I am involved with DIYFather.

I had a great conversation with a Father who will be a Stay at Home for 6 months of the year, an older father who has a young child and his priorities are with his family he is rough around the edges a mans-man however he is passionate about his life as a father.
I would like to acknowledge this father and all fathers like him for setting themselves up to be able to take the time off for their families.

Another father I spoke to, like myself does not have his children and he finds it hard and unfulfilled as a father. Christmas is a tough time for Fathers that don’t have their children it can be a deeply lonely time for some fathers, as it was for this father.

WHEN A HEAD-BUTT SAYS I LOVE YOU

This morning at 6.45am, not long after we'd finished reading The Chicken Chickens Go To School and James had polished off his bottle, he sat up in bed, smiled and head-butted me right on the nose. I cried out in equal parts shock and pain. It hurt! The look of surprise and remorse on James’s face quickly gave way to protracted wailing. It was clear in his mind this was not the reaction he expected from me.

The head-butt is a recent phenomenon. Previous efforts have been ill-timed, glancing blows off the side of my leg and once or twice our dog Chili has been on the receiving end of James' advancing forehead. I've put it down to an extension of the rough'n tumble play that we were engaging in at the time, accidental collisions as opposed to full on skull warfare. But this morning was different. There had been no roughing or indeed tumbling. We'd just been reading a book. Cuddling in bed, y'know those quiet bonding moments that we parents wish there were more of. But the smile, the force of the blow and the look of shock on his face lead me irrevocably to the conclusion that the head-butt was in fact premeditated; an extension of our bonding session. A short, sharp and painful way for James to say I love you when words, or a hug are simply not enough.

Let’s face it, running a business from home while looking after the kids is an ongoing juggling act.

I’m fortunate enough to have my own home-based business, which I work in part-time. It is a catalogue shopping company specialising in products that are safer for families and the environment. I don’t take any orders, make any deliveries or do any billings. I simply set up my customers’ accounts, and whenever they purchase product it is couriered direct to their doorstep, and I receive a commission. Sounds bliss doesn’t it?

This is a comment about stay at home dads posted by Larry:

A stay at home dad is living off his wife's income, right? So I don't believe it's fair for a single man without kids to pay taxes, especially if the single man gets laid off from his job and earns a low income for the year. The cost of living is very high in Madison, WI and the single man should keep the money he earns. I will contact a senator and congressman about this.

THE LONG DRIVE

My family and I recently had the occasion to drive most of the length of the North Island, returning home from visiting the relatives. It was a landmark journey - the first long haul car trip undertaken with James, whose toddlerish exuberance is still peaking.

Toddlers aren't meant to sit down for extended periods of time - it is hotwired into their developing brains to runjumpbouncecrawlswingplayshout, not sitsitsitsitsit. So the aim of the game was keeping the small person happy and by extension, us. This wasn’t just pure altruism at work either; we wanted to get to the end in one piece. Avoiding minor catastrophes in the back seat was going a long way towards avoiding a major catastrophe on the road. So we thought it out, took all those incremental lessons learnt from short trips and rolled them together into one big ball of diversionary tactics designed to get the most out of the journey for James and us. Here's what we learnt:

Hi,

I have just given up Full Time work and am currently on about 6 months Parential Leave to look after my 4 month old son. I have taken over my partners Maturnity leave for the balance of 12 months, she has been back at work now for two weeks.

These last couple of weeks have been great! Been at home most of the time but find I have sometimes up to a couple of hours a day when I can pop out for a while.

THE MOWER FIXATION

My son James has many fun-triggers - people, activities, toys, filmed entertainment, food - that get him excited. Some of these things are fleeting, mere flings, flights of fancy in his busy life. Some things last longer, reach peaks of enjoyment and then taper away. And some things are hot wired into his remarkable little brain to such an extent that he exhibits Steve Austin-like powers of perception where they are concerned. There is no tapering, no fling, these are the love stories of his toddlerdom.

One such love affair is with the humble lawn mower. The gravitational pull of this mild-mannered grass cutting implement is at its most powerful around my trusty Masport. When I'm mowing the lawn nothing else on earth exists except the dribble down the front of his jumper as he watches me slack jawed through the window.