Gregory J. Tysowski

You’ve heard all about it in recent years – the number of stay-at-home dads in North America just keeps climbing, gender roles are evolving, and the traditional family unit will never be the same. The media loves to spit out endless stats and numbers, while trying to make sense of the broader effects on society at large. But, what all of these news stories are missing is a truly honest and entertaining perspective of an experienced stay-at-home father, and his decade-long journey from a typical working stiff to an atypical house husband.

Life is messy, and so is this story of one man’s decision to abandon his career and embrace child rearing. Nothing about his passage into complete domestic servitude comes easy – starting with getting his wife pregnant, his second thoughts about quitting his job, dealing with colic, challenges with operating laundry machines, his lackluster cooking skills and inability to connect with other stay-at-home parents. This first-hand account of life in the domestic trenches describes how he’s dealt with the reactions and judgments of a society not quite sure what to make of him – from complete strangers, to his very own wife.

There’s an undeniable growth seen in this story that reveals how the author’s early reluctance to fully embrace his role as primary caregiver gave way to a sense of pride and purpose that inspired him to write down his story, and share his unique viewpoint and wisdom. His chronicles reveal how there’s more than one path to successfully holding the household together and making a life at home truly rewarding. This particular stay-at-home dad isn’t trying to tell the world how it should be done, but rather, how he did it – and made it work. The book is upbeat and lighthearted, and is peppered with humorous anecdotes of parenting hits and misses. At times, the views presented are not always politically correct, and push the general theory that men may have an easier time of managing stay-at-home parenthood.

This is definitely not a “how-to” guidebook for prospective stay-at-home dads. Rather, it should be required reading for any married couple thinking about converting a husband from breadwinner to bread maker. For everyone else, it’s an enlightening expedition into the heart of one man’s twenty-year marriage and the parenting challenges and triumphs that came with his life-changing decision to become the primary caregiver.