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

Todays guest is Marc Rotman, a stay at home dad.

Stefan visits with Richard Dudum about his book,
What Your Mother Never Told You: A Teenage Girls Survival Guide.

Marc Rotman is a SAHD dad and runs downtowndad.blogspot.com in Chicago, USA.

Rotman tells his story on becoming a Stay At Home Dad and his journey.

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. ... read more >>

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.

The Northwestern has just published an article on the rising numbers of Stay-At-Home-Fathers written by Sarah Olson.

In her article she reports some interesting figures from the 2006 US Census:

* 26.4 million fathers are part of married-couple families with children 18 or younger

* 143'000 married fathers of children 15 or younger called parenthood their primary job and remained out of the workforce one year or more.

While the numbers are rising Olson also points out that there is still a social stigma attached to being a stay-at-home-father.

Read the full article here.

-Stef

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. ... read more >>

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. ... read more >>

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? ... read more >>

Here are a few things to consider.

1. Don't get life insurance for your baby
There is no need for it and if someone tries to sell it to you they are taking advantage of your emotions. One rule of life insurance - get it only if the loss of the insured person would have a financial impact on the surviving family members. ... read more >>

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.